Lori Handeland's latest book in her Moon series takes place in Georgia, in the little town of Lake Bluff. Claire Kennedy is the Mayor of Lake Bluff, taking over for her father, who was mayor for many years. Since he died, she inherited his position. Though she never wanted to be mayor, and in fact, had left the town for the bright lights of Atlanta years before. She wanted to be a journalist, but her dreams were crushed when the television stations made her well aware that she was not pretty enough, not smart enough and just this side of a small-town hick.
Now Claire is back in Lake Bluff, and doing what she thinks is a pretty decent job of running the town. The town council doesn't seem to have actually done anything in years, and the editor and owner of the town paper, Balthazar Monahan wants her job, thinking she is incompetent to do anything. However, the town Sherriff is her old friend, and supports Claire.
But big times are coming for the town. The yearly Full Moon festival has come around, and Claire must chair the festival, while showing no favoritism and keeping things going on an even keel. But that is going to be harder than ever this year. For one thing, a hiker was bitten by a wolf, even though the local wisdom is that no wolves have been sighted in Georgia for years, and a band of gypsies have been hired to put on shows during the Festival. Even for the usually unbiased residents of the town, nobody seems to trust the Gypsies, including the Sheriff, Grace McDaniel, who happens to be both black and Native American.
The leader of the gyspy band, Malachi Cartwright, is interested in Claire from the first, and Claire, although she has suffered a great betrayal by a man she fell for, is returning the interest. In spades. But can Malachi be trusted, not only in the town, but with her heart.
Soon, greater problems surface. Grace has been looking for the wolf, and the hiker, ever since he escaped from the hospital by leaping out of a second floor window... and who seems to have had all his wounds heal completely. Then Claire's former boyfriend shows up, who had previously raped her, and after Malachi punches him in the nose, disappears. Following that, the newspaperman who had it in for Claire also disappears under suspicious circumstances. And when the body of Claire's ex shows up, broken and bloody at the bottom of a ravine, the coroner says he was killed by a canid, possibly a wolf. This older man also says it reminds him of his time in the army, when he was dropped behind the enemy lines and wound up in Germany, where he encountered real werewolves... And now Malachi must prove to Grace, and Claire, too, that he isn't really a werewolf... and none of his people are, either.
Then Claire is attacked on her way home by a real werewolf, who she recognizes by its human eyes as Balthazar Monahan. But the wolf is killed with a silver bullet, exploding into ash, and Claire doesn't know who killed it. But she definitely heard two wolves calling a few days before, and so it doesn't seem as though their job is over. But who is the werewolf, and where is he (or she) hiding?
Lori Handeland is an excellent writer who deftly interweaves thrilling tension, in the form of the wolf attacks and later werewolves, with the love story between Malachi and Claire, giving equal time to each without making either seem rushed or forced. This book can only be tied into her earlier books through the appearance of the Jager-Suchers, the monster hunters who were formed in an earlier book in the series, though they appear only for a short time near the end of the book. Otherwise, this book could and can stand on its own, being about both werewolves and a love story that has its roots in the far past.
This book is deeply satisfying to read, especially the ending. I would definitely gives this one five stars, if I rated books by stars. In the end, I can only say that if you enjoy supernatural romance, this is one of the finer examples of the genre.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
The Night Tourist
Jack Perdu, a 13 year old Classics prodigy, nearly dies after being hit by a car, but is strangely unhurt. His father, a professor, wonders if Jack was deliberately trying to kill himself, as both of them are still depressed at the death of Jack's mother, Anastasia, eight years ago. Jack fervently denies trying to kill himself, but his father sends him to New York City to see a doctor Jack has never heard of. Jack thinks he is probably a psychologist, but the visit is very short.
The doctor's office is filled with old artifacts, and Jack cannot resist handling an old golden subway token from the 1930's. When the doctor comes in and surprises him, Jack slips it into his pocket, and after the visit, he doesn't give it back. He goes to Grand Central Station, where he listens in to the tour given by a tour guide about how the accoustics of the pillared chamber mean you can hear anything said by one of the pillars at another pillar, even if it is across the room. When the tour guide moves on, he quotes John Donne, and is surprised to hear a female voice complete the poem.
This turns out to be Euri, who offers to give Jack her own guided tour of the station. Nine levels later, they come across a bum who threatens to throw Jack out unless Jack gives him something. Jack, with nothing else to offer, gives the man the old subway token, which he accepts. Jack and Euri enter, only for Jack to find that this is the true underworld of New York, where ghosts live. Or at least, new ghosts and those unable to move on live there, and now Jack is there, too. Euri is already a ghost. She was surprised he was able to see her, and doesn't know how that happened.
Humans are not allowed in the underworld, so Euri has to help Jack hide from the forces that want to kick him out. But more importantly, since New York City is the city in which his mother died eight years ago, Jack wants to find her. Euri promises to help him, and tells him he has three nights in the Underworld before he *must* return or die. The first night, they take a class explaining the Underworld at the Museum, Euri shows him how Ghosts haunt people (which is extremely ineffective as most people can't see ghosts), and they take in a play, at which they meet the ghost who has the records of the people who died eight years ago.
The next night, they set out in earnest to find Jack's mother, only to find that there are no records of her dying eight years ago. This is because, they discover, that she was a ghost long before that point, a ghost who somehow discovered with Jack's father the secret of returning to life. They also discover that the living need a "golden bough", an object that grants them the chance to enter the underworld and appears literally golden to that person alone. Some people may find more than one "golden bough" in their lifetime, others never find one.
Euri eventually reveals to Jack how she became a ghost, and that she, too, wishes to return to life, if she and Jack can find out the secret. But the forces of the ghost law are after them, and don't want anyone to learn the secret of returning. Can Jack and Euri find his mother, the secret, and return to life?
This book is a modern fairy tale, with a melancholy, almost elegiac ending. There is no sign that the author, Katherine Marsh, intends to write a sequel to the book, or that one is even possible for the characters. The living go on, the dead persist, and while Jack achieves a degree of closure over his mother's death, as does his father, not that much has really changed.
An excellent stand-alone novel that charms you as it draws you into the characters and the adventure. As well, Marsh weaves the buildings, statues and parks of New York city into the book, making the city almost a character of its own. This is a book I will be thinking about for a long time, even if it was classed as a "Children's book". Highly, highly recommended.
The doctor's office is filled with old artifacts, and Jack cannot resist handling an old golden subway token from the 1930's. When the doctor comes in and surprises him, Jack slips it into his pocket, and after the visit, he doesn't give it back. He goes to Grand Central Station, where he listens in to the tour given by a tour guide about how the accoustics of the pillared chamber mean you can hear anything said by one of the pillars at another pillar, even if it is across the room. When the tour guide moves on, he quotes John Donne, and is surprised to hear a female voice complete the poem.
This turns out to be Euri, who offers to give Jack her own guided tour of the station. Nine levels later, they come across a bum who threatens to throw Jack out unless Jack gives him something. Jack, with nothing else to offer, gives the man the old subway token, which he accepts. Jack and Euri enter, only for Jack to find that this is the true underworld of New York, where ghosts live. Or at least, new ghosts and those unable to move on live there, and now Jack is there, too. Euri is already a ghost. She was surprised he was able to see her, and doesn't know how that happened.
Humans are not allowed in the underworld, so Euri has to help Jack hide from the forces that want to kick him out. But more importantly, since New York City is the city in which his mother died eight years ago, Jack wants to find her. Euri promises to help him, and tells him he has three nights in the Underworld before he *must* return or die. The first night, they take a class explaining the Underworld at the Museum, Euri shows him how Ghosts haunt people (which is extremely ineffective as most people can't see ghosts), and they take in a play, at which they meet the ghost who has the records of the people who died eight years ago.
The next night, they set out in earnest to find Jack's mother, only to find that there are no records of her dying eight years ago. This is because, they discover, that she was a ghost long before that point, a ghost who somehow discovered with Jack's father the secret of returning to life. They also discover that the living need a "golden bough", an object that grants them the chance to enter the underworld and appears literally golden to that person alone. Some people may find more than one "golden bough" in their lifetime, others never find one.
Euri eventually reveals to Jack how she became a ghost, and that she, too, wishes to return to life, if she and Jack can find out the secret. But the forces of the ghost law are after them, and don't want anyone to learn the secret of returning. Can Jack and Euri find his mother, the secret, and return to life?
This book is a modern fairy tale, with a melancholy, almost elegiac ending. There is no sign that the author, Katherine Marsh, intends to write a sequel to the book, or that one is even possible for the characters. The living go on, the dead persist, and while Jack achieves a degree of closure over his mother's death, as does his father, not that much has really changed.
An excellent stand-alone novel that charms you as it draws you into the characters and the adventure. As well, Marsh weaves the buildings, statues and parks of New York city into the book, making the city almost a character of its own. This is a book I will be thinking about for a long time, even if it was classed as a "Children's book". Highly, highly recommended.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Secrets of the Highwayman
Melanie Jones came to Cornwall at the behest of the Law firm she works for, to put in order the estate of an old woman named Miss Pengorren. On the drive there, she meets and races a man on a horse, who abruptly disappears. The caretaker at the estate of Ravenswood tells her that the man was a ghost, and he was Nathaniel Raven, who lived nearly two centuries ago and who was shot in an act of Highway robbery. Melanie declines to believe that the man she saw was a ghost, but the painting of him she sees at the estate is impossible to ignore.
Nathaniel, meanwhile, is trying to solve the mystery of his murder, and he needs Melanie's help. He doesn't remember what happened to him, but he knows that his friend and commanding officer, Hew Pengorren, had something to do with it. When Melanie stumbles through a hole in a rock on St. Anne's Hill, she finds herself in the world between worlds, facing its queen. The Queen leads her back to Ravenswood, and tells her that Nathaniel needs her help, but it is the Ravenswood of 1813 that she is inhabiting, and Nathaniel introduces her to his family... she can see them, but they cannot see her. He shows her his mother, who is still in mourning, his father having died a mere eight weeks ago, yet that night, his mother announces that she is marrying Hew Pengorren!
Melanie feels a sense of evil radiating from Pengorren, and is afraid of him. She doesn't want to help Nathaniel, especially when he hitches a ride back to the present on her when she goes back through St. Anne's Hill. But she cannot deny the attraction she feels for him, as his trip through the hole in the stone has made him just as human and mortal as she is. But she feels something else as well... there is something in Ravenswood. Something evil that wants her. As she and Nathaniel dig into the mystery of his life in the past, Melanie is menaced by an evil that is very much alive, and wants her for a mysterious purpose that has to do with her own antecedents. As she and Nathaniel slowly fall in love, can she resist the evil that seems to be engulfing her life? And is there any future for a woman from the present and a man from the past?
This book was... okay. I sort of had a "Meh" reaction to it. The story was engaging and engrossing, but in the end, it just didn't do it for me. I do think that the author came up with an unusually twisty and convoluted plot, but even so she made it understandable. I just didn't get all that engaged in the story. There is a sort-of sequel called "Passions of the Ghost", but I'm not going to go out of my way to seek it out.
Nathaniel, meanwhile, is trying to solve the mystery of his murder, and he needs Melanie's help. He doesn't remember what happened to him, but he knows that his friend and commanding officer, Hew Pengorren, had something to do with it. When Melanie stumbles through a hole in a rock on St. Anne's Hill, she finds herself in the world between worlds, facing its queen. The Queen leads her back to Ravenswood, and tells her that Nathaniel needs her help, but it is the Ravenswood of 1813 that she is inhabiting, and Nathaniel introduces her to his family... she can see them, but they cannot see her. He shows her his mother, who is still in mourning, his father having died a mere eight weeks ago, yet that night, his mother announces that she is marrying Hew Pengorren!
Melanie feels a sense of evil radiating from Pengorren, and is afraid of him. She doesn't want to help Nathaniel, especially when he hitches a ride back to the present on her when she goes back through St. Anne's Hill. But she cannot deny the attraction she feels for him, as his trip through the hole in the stone has made him just as human and mortal as she is. But she feels something else as well... there is something in Ravenswood. Something evil that wants her. As she and Nathaniel dig into the mystery of his life in the past, Melanie is menaced by an evil that is very much alive, and wants her for a mysterious purpose that has to do with her own antecedents. As she and Nathaniel slowly fall in love, can she resist the evil that seems to be engulfing her life? And is there any future for a woman from the present and a man from the past?
This book was... okay. I sort of had a "Meh" reaction to it. The story was engaging and engrossing, but in the end, it just didn't do it for me. I do think that the author came up with an unusually twisty and convoluted plot, but even so she made it understandable. I just didn't get all that engaged in the story. There is a sort-of sequel called "Passions of the Ghost", but I'm not going to go out of my way to seek it out.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Shards of Crimson by Various
In the future, Los Angeles has become the Crimson City, fought over by Vampires, Werewolves, Humans and Demons. The last book ended with the portal to the demon realm being closed by a Human Druid, and a peace treaty being signed between the Vampire House of Dumont and the Werewolves. This is a book of four short romance stories set in the city, each by a different author from the original shared universe.
In "Time to Howl" by Liz Maverick, Tajo Maddox and his group of Rogues are going to be hired by someone for a job near Dumont Tower. Instead, it's a setup to blame the Rogues for an attack on Princess Gianna Asprey, one of the three werewolf princesses set to marry the three Dumont Vampire brothers as part of the treaty. Tajo, witnessing the attacks, takes Gia to keep her safe, but someone still wants her dead. Tajo is attracted to Gia, and she to him, but is it right for a Werewolf Princess to forget the treaty and follow her heart? And will Tajo let her?
In "DX" by Carolyn Jewel, Helen "Hell" Marshall is sent by her mentor to track down a DX, or a Demon of Unknown Origin, a Bak-Faru demon, considered by other demons to be the worst of them all, and also the most powerful. For this, she is paired with a hunky Amerindian agent named Jaden Lightfeather. She will also be trailing a Vampire named Tuan Ng, who may have dealings with the DX. But, as Jaden eventually tells her, it is a setup by her mentor, who wants to open the Portal to the Demon world again, and he needs to sacrifice her to the demon to make it possible. Why? Because with the treaty between the Vampires and Werewolves, they will rule the city, leaving the humans in last place. Jaden, too, is a Bak-Faru Demon, and he has been enslaved by her mentor. If she becomes his mate and he protects her, he can save her from the other DX and keep the gate from opening again. But will Hell choose to believe him and abandon her mentor?
In "School Bites" by Jade Lee, Toni Freedman, a teacher at a Crimson City school, is bitten by a Student who just happens to be a Werewolf on the cusp of his first change. She is immediately doctored with SaniLyco, which is supposed to cure Lycanthropy if administered early enough, but which has nowhere near the effectiveness the company that produces and markets it says it does. Toni's Principal, John Wayne Wong, an asian she has always been attracted to, tries to drive her home, but the SaniLyco fails and she succumbs to the increased senses of her Werewolf form and seduces him while they are in his car. He takes her to his house, and tells her he can help her learn to stay human, as he is a druid. At home, she is attacked by a group of teenage vigilantes pretending to be B-Ops, the section of the Crimson City police that deal with the Supernatural, but she and a group of real werewolves drive them off. The werewolves offer to let her ride out her first change in a cage in their tunnels, but she doesn't want to. She knows her career is over, but John refuses to fire her. On Monday, she returns to work, and confesses that yes, she is a werewolf, in front of a crowd of reporters gathered in front of the school. However, to show that she is not a danger to the kids, she will be answering questions put to her in the auditorium at the first moon. But can she pull it off, or will she be destroyed by those who believe that werewolves, and all supernatural beings, are a danger to kids?
In the last story, "Dark Awakening" by Patti O'Shea, Kimi Noguchi is a Kijo, which her Japanese grandmother has always told her means "witch". Two years ago, she started training to use her innate power, and now works for a detective agency where all the women who work there are Maji. She is also attracted to a Demon named Nicodemus, whose half-sister is married to Kimi's uncle, David. When Kimi is attacked by a Bak-Faru Demon named Augustin, who wishes to rape her to drain away her magic, she has no choice but to call on Nic to protect herself. Although she is attracted to him, she once overheard him telling his sister that he was tired of her throwing herself at him and following her around, which hurt Kimi so that she tried to avoid him. Now, when he confesses attraction for her, she isn't sure that he's telling the truth, and since Augustin is a Bak-Faru that even other Bak-Faru hate and fear for his power, Nic, being a combination of less-powerful demon races Grolird and Mahsei, may not be strong enough to defeat him. But since Kimi is a Kijo and can become a demoness herself, will he end up saving her, or will she be forced to save him?
As you can see, this short story collection is weighted towards the demon and werewolf end of the scale, with two stories about each, and vampires being either not present, or in the background, secondary characters of the tales. Nevertheless, most of the tales flesh out the world of the Crimson City, with the exception of the last tale, which could really conceivably have taken place anywhere. Each tale, despite its brevity, was successful, never making me think, "Oh, come on!" or questioning the characters attraction to one another. This is a solid piece of side tales to the shared Crimson City universe, and leaves me looking forward to the next tale set in the shared universe, if there will be one.
Next up, "Secrets of the Highwayman" by Sara MacKenzie.
In "Time to Howl" by Liz Maverick, Tajo Maddox and his group of Rogues are going to be hired by someone for a job near Dumont Tower. Instead, it's a setup to blame the Rogues for an attack on Princess Gianna Asprey, one of the three werewolf princesses set to marry the three Dumont Vampire brothers as part of the treaty. Tajo, witnessing the attacks, takes Gia to keep her safe, but someone still wants her dead. Tajo is attracted to Gia, and she to him, but is it right for a Werewolf Princess to forget the treaty and follow her heart? And will Tajo let her?
In "DX" by Carolyn Jewel, Helen "Hell" Marshall is sent by her mentor to track down a DX, or a Demon of Unknown Origin, a Bak-Faru demon, considered by other demons to be the worst of them all, and also the most powerful. For this, she is paired with a hunky Amerindian agent named Jaden Lightfeather. She will also be trailing a Vampire named Tuan Ng, who may have dealings with the DX. But, as Jaden eventually tells her, it is a setup by her mentor, who wants to open the Portal to the Demon world again, and he needs to sacrifice her to the demon to make it possible. Why? Because with the treaty between the Vampires and Werewolves, they will rule the city, leaving the humans in last place. Jaden, too, is a Bak-Faru Demon, and he has been enslaved by her mentor. If she becomes his mate and he protects her, he can save her from the other DX and keep the gate from opening again. But will Hell choose to believe him and abandon her mentor?
In "School Bites" by Jade Lee, Toni Freedman, a teacher at a Crimson City school, is bitten by a Student who just happens to be a Werewolf on the cusp of his first change. She is immediately doctored with SaniLyco, which is supposed to cure Lycanthropy if administered early enough, but which has nowhere near the effectiveness the company that produces and markets it says it does. Toni's Principal, John Wayne Wong, an asian she has always been attracted to, tries to drive her home, but the SaniLyco fails and she succumbs to the increased senses of her Werewolf form and seduces him while they are in his car. He takes her to his house, and tells her he can help her learn to stay human, as he is a druid. At home, she is attacked by a group of teenage vigilantes pretending to be B-Ops, the section of the Crimson City police that deal with the Supernatural, but she and a group of real werewolves drive them off. The werewolves offer to let her ride out her first change in a cage in their tunnels, but she doesn't want to. She knows her career is over, but John refuses to fire her. On Monday, she returns to work, and confesses that yes, she is a werewolf, in front of a crowd of reporters gathered in front of the school. However, to show that she is not a danger to the kids, she will be answering questions put to her in the auditorium at the first moon. But can she pull it off, or will she be destroyed by those who believe that werewolves, and all supernatural beings, are a danger to kids?
In the last story, "Dark Awakening" by Patti O'Shea, Kimi Noguchi is a Kijo, which her Japanese grandmother has always told her means "witch". Two years ago, she started training to use her innate power, and now works for a detective agency where all the women who work there are Maji. She is also attracted to a Demon named Nicodemus, whose half-sister is married to Kimi's uncle, David. When Kimi is attacked by a Bak-Faru Demon named Augustin, who wishes to rape her to drain away her magic, she has no choice but to call on Nic to protect herself. Although she is attracted to him, she once overheard him telling his sister that he was tired of her throwing herself at him and following her around, which hurt Kimi so that she tried to avoid him. Now, when he confesses attraction for her, she isn't sure that he's telling the truth, and since Augustin is a Bak-Faru that even other Bak-Faru hate and fear for his power, Nic, being a combination of less-powerful demon races Grolird and Mahsei, may not be strong enough to defeat him. But since Kimi is a Kijo and can become a demoness herself, will he end up saving her, or will she be forced to save him?
As you can see, this short story collection is weighted towards the demon and werewolf end of the scale, with two stories about each, and vampires being either not present, or in the background, secondary characters of the tales. Nevertheless, most of the tales flesh out the world of the Crimson City, with the exception of the last tale, which could really conceivably have taken place anywhere. Each tale, despite its brevity, was successful, never making me think, "Oh, come on!" or questioning the characters attraction to one another. This is a solid piece of side tales to the shared Crimson City universe, and leaves me looking forward to the next tale set in the shared universe, if there will be one.
Next up, "Secrets of the Highwayman" by Sara MacKenzie.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Non Fiction day
Reading "Shards of Crimson" was delayed by reading the non-fiction book "They Can't Find Anything Wrong!" which I had hoped would help my mom, but it is chiefly about psychosomatic illness caused by various stressors like depression, anxiety, or mental trauma. I read it and decided not to give it to my mom, because I feel she would think I was saying it was all in her head, which is not really what I feel, nor what the book says.
What the book is saying is that these things do put stress on the body, which will be felt as if they were real. But since the illness is caused by stress, the doctors will rarely find a physical cause that they can treat and have it go away and heal the patient. Because the stress is mental, treating physical causes won't or doesn't help beyond a certain point, because they aren't getting at the *real* cause for the disease.
I also read two more graphic novels: Tony Stark- Director of Shield, and X-Men: Black Panther, both of which are kinda forgettable.
What the book is saying is that these things do put stress on the body, which will be felt as if they were real. But since the illness is caused by stress, the doctors will rarely find a physical cause that they can treat and have it go away and heal the patient. Because the stress is mental, treating physical causes won't or doesn't help beyond a certain point, because they aren't getting at the *real* cause for the disease.
I also read two more graphic novels: Tony Stark- Director of Shield, and X-Men: Black Panther, both of which are kinda forgettable.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Double Contact, by James White
Doctor Prillicla is a Cinrusskin of physical type GLNO, a fragile insectile lifeform known for its avowed cowardice (because of its very fagility) and empathic facility. Now in charge of the hospital ship Rhabwar, because of Conway's promotion to Diagnostician, it is sent off on a mission where no less than three distress beacons have gone off in the same sector of space. One is from a Monitor Corps scoutship, the others from races and species unknown. Since they are in the same sector of space, he is sent to deal with all three.
Travelling to the site of the scoutship disaster, they encounter the ship dead in space, with an alien ship floating nearby. The Rhabwar attemtpts to go to the ship's rescue, since there is no communication from either ship, but the scoutship crew, who are visible through the windows of the control deck, try to wave them off, becoming more and more desperate the closer they come. At last, even under tractor beams, the other ship attempts to flee into the atmosphere of the nearby planet, with predictable results: her hull heats up, nearly cooking the men within. The Rhabwar is able to force her down into the ocean, cooling the hull and saving the men on board, though not without major damage.
Most of the medical team goes down to the planet to help the men from the scoutship, but Prillicla turns his attention to the alien ship still in orbit. He is able to see that the ship is damaged, and to work with the robot on board to find the two still-living inhabitants, members of an alien race who seem to have an innate hatred and aversion to humans. As he works to repair the ship and slowly get them used to the humans of the Rhabwar's crew, Pathologist Murchison, a human female, is having an encounter with the race of creatures living on the planet, spider-like beings who sail the sea on ships, and capture her one day when she goes for a walk. Luckily, she is with Danalta, who warns the other doctors and frees her from the ship, enabling her to swim to shore and escape.
But all is not well. The Spider-creatures gather in great numbers for a war on the doctors and their patients. The outcome of the war is never in doubt, for the spider-creatures are primitives with primitive weapons, and the scout ship could leave at any time. But Prillicla wants to make friends with them, and when some spiders are injured when attacking the hospital, he sees his chance to try and befriend them. But will his plan work in time to do any good?
As always, James White is excellent at introducing alien characters and not having them be simply humans wearing alien skins (that is to say, alien on the surface, but with human thoughts and motivations), and in this book, we get no less than three alien races: Cinrusskin (Prillicla), the Spider-creatures, and the aliens of the spaceship, each of which have their own problems to be overcome. In the end, not only are they overcome, but understanding is reached with all of them, and two of them band together in ways which will make each stronger.
In a way, this series is like CSI: Space Medicine, in a good way, and just as addicting as the shows are. Read one today. You'll be glad you did!
Travelling to the site of the scoutship disaster, they encounter the ship dead in space, with an alien ship floating nearby. The Rhabwar attemtpts to go to the ship's rescue, since there is no communication from either ship, but the scoutship crew, who are visible through the windows of the control deck, try to wave them off, becoming more and more desperate the closer they come. At last, even under tractor beams, the other ship attempts to flee into the atmosphere of the nearby planet, with predictable results: her hull heats up, nearly cooking the men within. The Rhabwar is able to force her down into the ocean, cooling the hull and saving the men on board, though not without major damage.
Most of the medical team goes down to the planet to help the men from the scoutship, but Prillicla turns his attention to the alien ship still in orbit. He is able to see that the ship is damaged, and to work with the robot on board to find the two still-living inhabitants, members of an alien race who seem to have an innate hatred and aversion to humans. As he works to repair the ship and slowly get them used to the humans of the Rhabwar's crew, Pathologist Murchison, a human female, is having an encounter with the race of creatures living on the planet, spider-like beings who sail the sea on ships, and capture her one day when she goes for a walk. Luckily, she is with Danalta, who warns the other doctors and frees her from the ship, enabling her to swim to shore and escape.
But all is not well. The Spider-creatures gather in great numbers for a war on the doctors and their patients. The outcome of the war is never in doubt, for the spider-creatures are primitives with primitive weapons, and the scout ship could leave at any time. But Prillicla wants to make friends with them, and when some spiders are injured when attacking the hospital, he sees his chance to try and befriend them. But will his plan work in time to do any good?
As always, James White is excellent at introducing alien characters and not having them be simply humans wearing alien skins (that is to say, alien on the surface, but with human thoughts and motivations), and in this book, we get no less than three alien races: Cinrusskin (Prillicla), the Spider-creatures, and the aliens of the spaceship, each of which have their own problems to be overcome. In the end, not only are they overcome, but understanding is reached with all of them, and two of them band together in ways which will make each stronger.
In a way, this series is like CSI: Space Medicine, in a good way, and just as addicting as the shows are. Read one today. You'll be glad you did!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Frobisher's Savage by Leonard Tourney
In 1576, Martin Frobisher tried to find a route to Cathay, but ended up in Canada, where he abducted a local native and brought him back to England as a curiosity. Adam, as Frobisher named him (and later, Adam Nemo) was taken by one of Frobisher's men to Essex when the man went home to his family. He intended to turn Adam into a servant, but later gave Adam to another man when his wife objected to living with a savage in her own home. For 20 years, he has been a servant, and is now almost more English than anything else. He still goes to visit John Crookback's home, for he is a friend of John's son Nicholas, born deaf, dumb and mentally handicapped.
One Sunday morning, when most of the town is in church, Adam, who had been left behind took look after a maid of the household taken sick, only to find out she was faking, goes to visit John Crookback. He encounters a beggar on the way, who curses him when Adam chases him off his master's land. When he gets to John's house, outside, his hound is dead, butchered outside. The house is filled with blood, and Nicholas is crying. Nicholas leads Adam to the well, where he sees something in the water.
Leaving Nicholas after ensuring he is all right, Adam runs to church and says there is something very wrong at the Crookback farm. He convinces the other men of the town to come with him, and they find the bodies of John, his wife, and their two younger children, all badly mutilated and dead. The local lord, Sir Thomas, puts Matthew in charge of the investigation, for the sherriff is ill, and dies shortly afterwards. Matthew does his best to investigate, but people in town, along with John Crookback's two older daughters by his first wife, quickly fixate on Adam and Nicholas as the murderers, Adam because he is a foreigner, and Nicholas because of what they see as "God's Curse". Adding to the growing ill-feeling is Agnes Profytt, one of John's older daughters, who is convinced Nicholas did so to inherit John's farm, especially as neither she nor her sister were to inherit. Along with this is the beggar, who returns when hearing about the murder and spreads lies about Adam to get free ale from the men who are interested in the case.
Matthew takes Adam and Nicholas in as his guests, but when a group of townsfolk nearly break in during the night to take their revenge on Adam and Nicholas, Matthew convinces them to leave peacefully. Adam hears the commotion, and flees with Nicholas, which isn't discovered until the next day, and Matthew takes the blame for not holding them more securely. He leaves to track the two men down, along with a posse comitatus of village men and Sir Thomas, while his wife Joan, who feels that neither Adam nor Nicholas were guilty, investigates on her own. It turns out there was a comission to investigate John Crookback when he came home from the sea, as there was some question as to if he was the correct man or not. It was resolved in Crookback's favor, but Joan is not sure if he actually was the man or not.
Agnes Profytt hears of Joan's investigation and tars her as a snooper and a gossip, wanting to get the Crookshank farm for herself and her husband, since if John Crookshank was a fake, his daughters would not inherit. Matthew and company return with the fugitives, who are taken into Sir Thomas' care, and Joan and Matthew both must deal with the fallout from her investigation. Matthew is also convinced neither Adam nor Nicholas was a killer, either alone or together, and he must investigate a letter concerning black rocks containing gold that was found in John Crookback's possession. Did this have something to do with the murder?
When Matthew is attacked and thrown in the selfsame well, he must survive long enough to winkle out the facts, and find the true murderer.
Leonard Tourney is a very gifted Historical mystery writer. This was his last Matthew and Joan Stock mystery, after a series of seven others, and I hope he goes back to writing more, although this was written fourteen years ago. (1994) He gives the feeling of what small-town medieval life must have been like, with fearful, suspicious people who looked on outsiders with nothing but suspicion. (Although I'll admit it's not all that different from rural, small-town life today). With gossip and the tavern being the most anyone got to know of others, and the consequences of being shunned by others in the same town. (Since today, one can simply leave... in Medieval times, most people didn't have that option.) There was also an extreme lack of privacy if you weren't rich... people grew up living in generally the same room, and there was no "Middle Class" like we have today. Leonard Tourney brings it all to vivid life, and reminds me why it's nice to imagine living in the middle ages, but actually living there? A Nightmare for a modern person! And although he doesn't mention the stench, because his characters would be used to it, that would drive any modern man or woman nuts.
Next up, Double Contact, by James White.
One Sunday morning, when most of the town is in church, Adam, who had been left behind took look after a maid of the household taken sick, only to find out she was faking, goes to visit John Crookback. He encounters a beggar on the way, who curses him when Adam chases him off his master's land. When he gets to John's house, outside, his hound is dead, butchered outside. The house is filled with blood, and Nicholas is crying. Nicholas leads Adam to the well, where he sees something in the water.
Leaving Nicholas after ensuring he is all right, Adam runs to church and says there is something very wrong at the Crookback farm. He convinces the other men of the town to come with him, and they find the bodies of John, his wife, and their two younger children, all badly mutilated and dead. The local lord, Sir Thomas, puts Matthew in charge of the investigation, for the sherriff is ill, and dies shortly afterwards. Matthew does his best to investigate, but people in town, along with John Crookback's two older daughters by his first wife, quickly fixate on Adam and Nicholas as the murderers, Adam because he is a foreigner, and Nicholas because of what they see as "God's Curse". Adding to the growing ill-feeling is Agnes Profytt, one of John's older daughters, who is convinced Nicholas did so to inherit John's farm, especially as neither she nor her sister were to inherit. Along with this is the beggar, who returns when hearing about the murder and spreads lies about Adam to get free ale from the men who are interested in the case.
Matthew takes Adam and Nicholas in as his guests, but when a group of townsfolk nearly break in during the night to take their revenge on Adam and Nicholas, Matthew convinces them to leave peacefully. Adam hears the commotion, and flees with Nicholas, which isn't discovered until the next day, and Matthew takes the blame for not holding them more securely. He leaves to track the two men down, along with a posse comitatus of village men and Sir Thomas, while his wife Joan, who feels that neither Adam nor Nicholas were guilty, investigates on her own. It turns out there was a comission to investigate John Crookback when he came home from the sea, as there was some question as to if he was the correct man or not. It was resolved in Crookback's favor, but Joan is not sure if he actually was the man or not.
Agnes Profytt hears of Joan's investigation and tars her as a snooper and a gossip, wanting to get the Crookshank farm for herself and her husband, since if John Crookshank was a fake, his daughters would not inherit. Matthew and company return with the fugitives, who are taken into Sir Thomas' care, and Joan and Matthew both must deal with the fallout from her investigation. Matthew is also convinced neither Adam nor Nicholas was a killer, either alone or together, and he must investigate a letter concerning black rocks containing gold that was found in John Crookback's possession. Did this have something to do with the murder?
When Matthew is attacked and thrown in the selfsame well, he must survive long enough to winkle out the facts, and find the true murderer.
Leonard Tourney is a very gifted Historical mystery writer. This was his last Matthew and Joan Stock mystery, after a series of seven others, and I hope he goes back to writing more, although this was written fourteen years ago. (1994) He gives the feeling of what small-town medieval life must have been like, with fearful, suspicious people who looked on outsiders with nothing but suspicion. (Although I'll admit it's not all that different from rural, small-town life today). With gossip and the tavern being the most anyone got to know of others, and the consequences of being shunned by others in the same town. (Since today, one can simply leave... in Medieval times, most people didn't have that option.) There was also an extreme lack of privacy if you weren't rich... people grew up living in generally the same room, and there was no "Middle Class" like we have today. Leonard Tourney brings it all to vivid life, and reminds me why it's nice to imagine living in the middle ages, but actually living there? A Nightmare for a modern person! And although he doesn't mention the stench, because his characters would be used to it, that would drive any modern man or woman nuts.
Next up, Double Contact, by James White.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Kitty and the Silver Bullet
Kitty Norville is a successful talk show host with a boyfriend/lover who is a lawyer, a massive fan base, and she just happens to be a werewolf on top of it. So is her lover/mate. He was made by a different werewolf, but Kitty adopted him and now they are a pack of two. This doesn't prevent more shit-tastic stuff from happening in her life, however.
To start out with, after one night of life as a werewolf, she wakes up to a massive stomach-ache and some blood seeping out of places that for most women, are intensely private. Even though she knows that werewolves don't get sick, she goes to the doctor, only to learn that she had a miscarriage. This shocks her, mostly because she didn't even know she was pregnant. She calls up a researcher friend, to find out this is common with female werewolves. They will get pregnant, but the fetus cannot change and will be aborted whenever the female werewolf changes to her wolf form. Kitty, even though she didn't want to have kids right now, and didn't think she could get pregnant, is shocked and dismayed. She mourns the life of her fetus with Ben.
She also is approached by her Vampire friend Rick, telling her about an attack by Vampires on the patrons of a club in Denver, with multiple fatalities. Rick can see that Arturo, the current Master of Denver, isn't able to control the vampires there. As this is supposed to be his job, Rick has decided to attempt a coup and take over himself, as there doesn't seem to be anyone else with the power, or the cojones, for the job. But, he wants Kitty to support him. She doesn't want to get involved in any kind of war, so she turns him down.
But all of that gets put on the back burner when her family calls. Her mother is sick. Actually, they found a lump in her breast and need to biopsy it to see if it is cancerous. Kitty promises to return home, even though her former Alpha, Carl, has told her that he would kill her if she ever came back to Denver. Carl, although the leader of the pack of werewolves Kitty ran away from, is real scum, having a strongly sadistic streak and is given to raping women, when not abusing everyone around him in other ways. His mate, Meg, is another piece of work, who actively eggs him on and watches him when he abuses others. Both of them are truly incompetent when it comes to leading the pack, but the sadism and abuse they deal out to the others in the pack allows them to stay on top. Kitty, who was dealt the most abuse by Carl, is terrified of him. Just the thought of encountering him again is enough to send her running, or to make her hyperventilate.
She returns to Denver, hoping to stay low and avoid Carl and Meg, but when she is approached by the manager for the singing (and acting) diva named Mercedes Cook, she is surprised to find out that Ms. Cook is a vampire, and she wants to come out as one and be interviewed by Kitty on her show. Kitty agrees and also goes to see a show by Mercedes as part of her sold-out concert tour. The Interview goes smoothly, and the next day, Kitty and Ben are invited by Mercdes to her room at her hotel for a drink. When she arrives, she finds that Rick is already there, and he's somewhat annoyed that she has come to Denver when she said she would never return the last time he asked her. And even worse, when Mercedes' other guests arrive and they turn out to be Armando, the Master of the City and Carl and Meg. A fight nearly ensues when it turns out that Mercedes has played Kitty like a fish on a line, and the personality she pretended to is anything but the real thing.
They are able to get out without a fight, barely, and Kitty is all for fleeing the city immediately. Ben tells her she can, but she will be leaving without him. Kitty goes, but ends up only visiting Cormac, Ben's brother, in prison. Cormac was a hunter of supernatural things, and he almost stalked Kitty before realizing she was a good person. However, after a number of foes tracked Kitty to a cabin where she was writing a book in the last novel, Cormac took the fall for the deaths that resulted. His years of monster-hunting have given him a lot of information, though, and he tells Kitty that she will keep running unless she takes Carl out. He even gives her a plan for doing so.
Realizing that Ben stands no chance alone, and mainly because she loves him, Kitty returns. One night after her show, she is approached by Jenny, a new member of Carl's Pack. Jenny is young and afraid, a former teenage club-goer seduced by Carl who agreed to become a werewolf because she was in love with him. Now, however, she has Kitty's former place in the pack, as the one Carl most often beats and abuses. She wants the abuse to end, but she still loves him. Kitty has a talk with her, but tells Jenny that Jenny must really want to leave before Kitty will help her. Jenny takes Kitty's card and leaves, but calls her later that night and asks Kitty to help her leave.
Kitty takes Jenny in and helps her makes arrangements to leave the city and stay with Alette, a vampire in Washington D.C. The day arrives and Ben takes Jenny to the airport, leaving her at the gate. But she never arrives and seems not to even have gotten on the plane. Kitty is sad, but becomes devastated when Jenny's body turns up in a warehouse, along with Rick's supporters in his war against Armando, all slaughtered by werewolves and other vampires. Worse, Jenny died long before the others did. Since Carl and Armando are allied, Kitty knows who killed Jenny and the others. This finally makes her take off the kid gloves and decide to deal with Carl and Meg once and for all.
She recruits a member of Carl's pack named Shaun, and with Ben, the three of them go to her old Pack's range and mark all over it with their own scent as a declaration of war. The next morning, they are approached by Becky, another member of Carl's pack, who tells them Carl is going to be mighty pissed, but that she would rather join their pack than remain in Carl's, and she does so.
Carl makes threats against Kitty, but tells her he will go against the things she loves rather than herself or the nucleus of the new pack, and Kitty is afraid for her family. She works with her new pack, the police, and Rick to keep her family safe. Instead, Carl goes after the radiostation where she used to work, KNOB, but she finds out and heads him off there. Some of the wolves are arrested, but Carl gets away. Rick has recruited her in payment for helping her keep her family safe, and she gets caught up in the war with Rick and Armando again, which leads to her finding out that Rick's lieutenant and shape-shifting friend is actually working for Mercedes Cook, who is behind the conflict between Rick and Armando. The Conflict ends, more or less successfully, and Kitty finds out that Ben and Rick's friend were sent to take out Carl. Kitty leaves to find them and rescue Ben, and kills Meg before the rest of the pack take down Carl and eat him. The book ends with Ben proposing to Kitty and she accepting his ring, which looks like silver, but is actually white gold, as something of a joke between them.
This book seems like it might be the transition point in the series, with Kitty undergoing several life changes (having a miscarrige, having a parent get exremely sick and nearly die, facing up to a major fear in her life, taking on the responsibility for a new pack, and getting engaged- all in one book), and, through two of them, she will have to give up her nomad ways of the former books, and settle down in one place. Despite that, it was pleasant seeing Kitty take charge of her life, and both growing and maturing in the process.
We also get to learn a lot more about vampires, and about Rick and the "Long Game" of the vampires. Carrie Vaughn here is in full form, giving an entertaining book that fairly sings along, carrying the reader along with the story. While not frenetic, the pacing is smooth throughout, never feeling rushed or forced. I wish many more authors were as good as Ms. Vaughn!
Next up, "Frobisher's Savage" by Leonard Tourney, a historical mystery set in Elizabethan times.
To start out with, after one night of life as a werewolf, she wakes up to a massive stomach-ache and some blood seeping out of places that for most women, are intensely private. Even though she knows that werewolves don't get sick, she goes to the doctor, only to learn that she had a miscarriage. This shocks her, mostly because she didn't even know she was pregnant. She calls up a researcher friend, to find out this is common with female werewolves. They will get pregnant, but the fetus cannot change and will be aborted whenever the female werewolf changes to her wolf form. Kitty, even though she didn't want to have kids right now, and didn't think she could get pregnant, is shocked and dismayed. She mourns the life of her fetus with Ben.
She also is approached by her Vampire friend Rick, telling her about an attack by Vampires on the patrons of a club in Denver, with multiple fatalities. Rick can see that Arturo, the current Master of Denver, isn't able to control the vampires there. As this is supposed to be his job, Rick has decided to attempt a coup and take over himself, as there doesn't seem to be anyone else with the power, or the cojones, for the job. But, he wants Kitty to support him. She doesn't want to get involved in any kind of war, so she turns him down.
But all of that gets put on the back burner when her family calls. Her mother is sick. Actually, they found a lump in her breast and need to biopsy it to see if it is cancerous. Kitty promises to return home, even though her former Alpha, Carl, has told her that he would kill her if she ever came back to Denver. Carl, although the leader of the pack of werewolves Kitty ran away from, is real scum, having a strongly sadistic streak and is given to raping women, when not abusing everyone around him in other ways. His mate, Meg, is another piece of work, who actively eggs him on and watches him when he abuses others. Both of them are truly incompetent when it comes to leading the pack, but the sadism and abuse they deal out to the others in the pack allows them to stay on top. Kitty, who was dealt the most abuse by Carl, is terrified of him. Just the thought of encountering him again is enough to send her running, or to make her hyperventilate.
She returns to Denver, hoping to stay low and avoid Carl and Meg, but when she is approached by the manager for the singing (and acting) diva named Mercedes Cook, she is surprised to find out that Ms. Cook is a vampire, and she wants to come out as one and be interviewed by Kitty on her show. Kitty agrees and also goes to see a show by Mercedes as part of her sold-out concert tour. The Interview goes smoothly, and the next day, Kitty and Ben are invited by Mercdes to her room at her hotel for a drink. When she arrives, she finds that Rick is already there, and he's somewhat annoyed that she has come to Denver when she said she would never return the last time he asked her. And even worse, when Mercedes' other guests arrive and they turn out to be Armando, the Master of the City and Carl and Meg. A fight nearly ensues when it turns out that Mercedes has played Kitty like a fish on a line, and the personality she pretended to is anything but the real thing.
They are able to get out without a fight, barely, and Kitty is all for fleeing the city immediately. Ben tells her she can, but she will be leaving without him. Kitty goes, but ends up only visiting Cormac, Ben's brother, in prison. Cormac was a hunter of supernatural things, and he almost stalked Kitty before realizing she was a good person. However, after a number of foes tracked Kitty to a cabin where she was writing a book in the last novel, Cormac took the fall for the deaths that resulted. His years of monster-hunting have given him a lot of information, though, and he tells Kitty that she will keep running unless she takes Carl out. He even gives her a plan for doing so.
Realizing that Ben stands no chance alone, and mainly because she loves him, Kitty returns. One night after her show, she is approached by Jenny, a new member of Carl's Pack. Jenny is young and afraid, a former teenage club-goer seduced by Carl who agreed to become a werewolf because she was in love with him. Now, however, she has Kitty's former place in the pack, as the one Carl most often beats and abuses. She wants the abuse to end, but she still loves him. Kitty has a talk with her, but tells Jenny that Jenny must really want to leave before Kitty will help her. Jenny takes Kitty's card and leaves, but calls her later that night and asks Kitty to help her leave.
Kitty takes Jenny in and helps her makes arrangements to leave the city and stay with Alette, a vampire in Washington D.C. The day arrives and Ben takes Jenny to the airport, leaving her at the gate. But she never arrives and seems not to even have gotten on the plane. Kitty is sad, but becomes devastated when Jenny's body turns up in a warehouse, along with Rick's supporters in his war against Armando, all slaughtered by werewolves and other vampires. Worse, Jenny died long before the others did. Since Carl and Armando are allied, Kitty knows who killed Jenny and the others. This finally makes her take off the kid gloves and decide to deal with Carl and Meg once and for all.
She recruits a member of Carl's pack named Shaun, and with Ben, the three of them go to her old Pack's range and mark all over it with their own scent as a declaration of war. The next morning, they are approached by Becky, another member of Carl's pack, who tells them Carl is going to be mighty pissed, but that she would rather join their pack than remain in Carl's, and she does so.
Carl makes threats against Kitty, but tells her he will go against the things she loves rather than herself or the nucleus of the new pack, and Kitty is afraid for her family. She works with her new pack, the police, and Rick to keep her family safe. Instead, Carl goes after the radiostation where she used to work, KNOB, but she finds out and heads him off there. Some of the wolves are arrested, but Carl gets away. Rick has recruited her in payment for helping her keep her family safe, and she gets caught up in the war with Rick and Armando again, which leads to her finding out that Rick's lieutenant and shape-shifting friend is actually working for Mercedes Cook, who is behind the conflict between Rick and Armando. The Conflict ends, more or less successfully, and Kitty finds out that Ben and Rick's friend were sent to take out Carl. Kitty leaves to find them and rescue Ben, and kills Meg before the rest of the pack take down Carl and eat him. The book ends with Ben proposing to Kitty and she accepting his ring, which looks like silver, but is actually white gold, as something of a joke between them.
This book seems like it might be the transition point in the series, with Kitty undergoing several life changes (having a miscarrige, having a parent get exremely sick and nearly die, facing up to a major fear in her life, taking on the responsibility for a new pack, and getting engaged- all in one book), and, through two of them, she will have to give up her nomad ways of the former books, and settle down in one place. Despite that, it was pleasant seeing Kitty take charge of her life, and both growing and maturing in the process.
We also get to learn a lot more about vampires, and about Rick and the "Long Game" of the vampires. Carrie Vaughn here is in full form, giving an entertaining book that fairly sings along, carrying the reader along with the story. While not frenetic, the pacing is smooth throughout, never feeling rushed or forced. I wish many more authors were as good as Ms. Vaughn!
Next up, "Frobisher's Savage" by Leonard Tourney, a historical mystery set in Elizabethan times.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Mine to Possess
I really have to hand it to Nalini Singh. She's created a vibrantly-portrayed, interesting world somewhat analogous to our own, but set years in the future, where there are three types of people: Changlings, Psy, and normal humans. Back in 1973 on this world, the Psychically gifted instituted a program called Silence, which wiped all emotion from the Psy through a program of brainwashing and mental training. Not all Psy submitted or even thought it was a good thing, some broke away from the rest and disappeared, and now, over 100 years later, all Psy are cold and emotionless... or are they?
Holding the Psy together is a construct called the PsyNet, which links their brains together and helps enforce Silence. The Psy look down on the other two peoples who share their world, seeing humans as dull and ordinary, and Changelings as little better than animals. But the Psy are having problems. The minds that anchor the PsyNet are succumbing to madness, and with each anchor that falls away, Chaos grows in the PsyNet. The Shadow-Mind, the Shadow side of the Net Mind that oversees the PsyNet, holds the suppressed emotions of the Psy, and is projecting the dark emotions into the minds of the Psy. Weaker Psy affected by the Shadow-Mind become sadistic serial killers, acting out the repressed and hateful desires locked away by the Silence.
In past books in the series, Psy have met and fallen in love with Changeling warriors, and now the series adds an ordinary, or perhaps not so ordinary, human to the mix. Talin McKade works for an organization called Shine, which is dedicated to finding poor, orphaned and abandoned children of exceptional talent and seeing that they get ahead. But someone has been abducting the children and their bodies are later found beaten and mutilated, missing parts. Talin is angry and heartbroken over the deaths, but is seeking a young man from the Shine program named Jonquil, who has also been abducted. To do so, she seeks out a childhood friend named Clay Bennett, a leopard shifter.
Although they once were friends, Clay and Talin haven't seen each other in years, since the night Clay killed Talin's abusive foster father. Clay went to jail for the act, and Talin let him believe she was dead rather than face her fear of him. Clay might want to turn her down, as he can feel her fear very deeply, and it angers him. Clay has been a broken man since he was told Talin was dead, and he has nearly gone over the edge into forgetting his human self and becoming completely animal.
Talin has another secret she is keeping as well. She is dying, and no one seems to know the cause. She passes out or goes into fugue states where she cannot remember what she has done. She wants to find Jonquil before she can die, because she promised him she would stick by him. Of course, this lends a sense of mystery and urgency to the action, mystery as the reader and the characters around her are baffled as to what could be killing her, and urgency (of course) because there is a question as to whether she will live long enough to retrieve Jonquil. It is specifically stated that she was told by the doctors that she has less than six months to live.
Clay is willing to help her find Jonquil, but he also wants to find out why she had the foster-care people tell him she was dead in a car accident, and in the Changeling way, he touches her and pushes her around with his body, constantly provoking her and her senses. Talin doesn't want to have a relationship with him, other than friendship, but she finds herself reacting with jealousy to other women's relationships with him, and he can smell the hunger for him that she exudes whenever he touches her. Obviously, her body and her mouth disagree on what she wants (I can't even say her brain disagrees).
More details of the world as it is are unveiled in the book, as well as setting up the sequel, but both are introduced in such a way as to not have it obviously shoehorned in. Well, okay, it's a little obvious, but the way it is done still makes it integral to the story. Even in these modern (in terms of the book) times, not every Psy believes that they need to take the Silence a step further and change the Psy into a hive-mind, controlled by the council. However, it seems the council is taking their race in that direction via an implant directly into the brain. Even though there are many obstacles on the path to that goal, and the member of the council overseeing the project will accept any price to bring it to fruition, even the bodies of dead children and teenagers.
While mentioned in the beginning of the book (and in the other books in this series as well), this book delves into what happened to the Psy who dissented with the silence and with their descendents. The beginning of the book presents several speculations, including that they were forcibly brainwashed in "reeducation camps", were killed by the Council who came to rule the Psy and so on. But in the book, we get to see what happened, and how the recent defections from the PsyNet by the former Psy who mated and married Changelings has affected not only the Psy, but the humans as well.
Since this is a romance as well as a Paranormal Sci-Fi book, the story is also about the romance between Clay and Talin. There certainly is a HEA (Happy Ever After, for those of you unfamilliar with the term) that comes organically from the story itself, which makes it even more believable. But though this is a romance book, there is enough plot and backstory and world here to keep even an ardent Sci-Fi fan happy. So, if you are looking for an interestingly well-contructed world with a tense plot, this would fit very well. And if you are looking for a good romance? That, too. And that's one of the things I have to hand it to Nalini Singh for. Not only can she write an excellent romance, but she can write a cracking good Sci-Fi story and intertwine the two so that it feels like an organic whole, not just a romance novel with some vaguely Science-Fictiony stuff thrown in for good measure, and not just a Sci-Fi novel with the obligatory romance languishing in a subplot clearly delineated for it. Combining the stories, and combining them well, is where she excels, making the novel more than the sum of its component parts. Definitely one to grab.
Next up, "Kitty and the Silver Bullet" by Carrie Vaughn, the latest in the Kitty Norville series of novels.
Holding the Psy together is a construct called the PsyNet, which links their brains together and helps enforce Silence. The Psy look down on the other two peoples who share their world, seeing humans as dull and ordinary, and Changelings as little better than animals. But the Psy are having problems. The minds that anchor the PsyNet are succumbing to madness, and with each anchor that falls away, Chaos grows in the PsyNet. The Shadow-Mind, the Shadow side of the Net Mind that oversees the PsyNet, holds the suppressed emotions of the Psy, and is projecting the dark emotions into the minds of the Psy. Weaker Psy affected by the Shadow-Mind become sadistic serial killers, acting out the repressed and hateful desires locked away by the Silence.
In past books in the series, Psy have met and fallen in love with Changeling warriors, and now the series adds an ordinary, or perhaps not so ordinary, human to the mix. Talin McKade works for an organization called Shine, which is dedicated to finding poor, orphaned and abandoned children of exceptional talent and seeing that they get ahead. But someone has been abducting the children and their bodies are later found beaten and mutilated, missing parts. Talin is angry and heartbroken over the deaths, but is seeking a young man from the Shine program named Jonquil, who has also been abducted. To do so, she seeks out a childhood friend named Clay Bennett, a leopard shifter.
Although they once were friends, Clay and Talin haven't seen each other in years, since the night Clay killed Talin's abusive foster father. Clay went to jail for the act, and Talin let him believe she was dead rather than face her fear of him. Clay might want to turn her down, as he can feel her fear very deeply, and it angers him. Clay has been a broken man since he was told Talin was dead, and he has nearly gone over the edge into forgetting his human self and becoming completely animal.
Talin has another secret she is keeping as well. She is dying, and no one seems to know the cause. She passes out or goes into fugue states where she cannot remember what she has done. She wants to find Jonquil before she can die, because she promised him she would stick by him. Of course, this lends a sense of mystery and urgency to the action, mystery as the reader and the characters around her are baffled as to what could be killing her, and urgency (of course) because there is a question as to whether she will live long enough to retrieve Jonquil. It is specifically stated that she was told by the doctors that she has less than six months to live.
Clay is willing to help her find Jonquil, but he also wants to find out why she had the foster-care people tell him she was dead in a car accident, and in the Changeling way, he touches her and pushes her around with his body, constantly provoking her and her senses. Talin doesn't want to have a relationship with him, other than friendship, but she finds herself reacting with jealousy to other women's relationships with him, and he can smell the hunger for him that she exudes whenever he touches her. Obviously, her body and her mouth disagree on what she wants (I can't even say her brain disagrees).
More details of the world as it is are unveiled in the book, as well as setting up the sequel, but both are introduced in such a way as to not have it obviously shoehorned in. Well, okay, it's a little obvious, but the way it is done still makes it integral to the story. Even in these modern (in terms of the book) times, not every Psy believes that they need to take the Silence a step further and change the Psy into a hive-mind, controlled by the council. However, it seems the council is taking their race in that direction via an implant directly into the brain. Even though there are many obstacles on the path to that goal, and the member of the council overseeing the project will accept any price to bring it to fruition, even the bodies of dead children and teenagers.
While mentioned in the beginning of the book (and in the other books in this series as well), this book delves into what happened to the Psy who dissented with the silence and with their descendents. The beginning of the book presents several speculations, including that they were forcibly brainwashed in "reeducation camps", were killed by the Council who came to rule the Psy and so on. But in the book, we get to see what happened, and how the recent defections from the PsyNet by the former Psy who mated and married Changelings has affected not only the Psy, but the humans as well.
Since this is a romance as well as a Paranormal Sci-Fi book, the story is also about the romance between Clay and Talin. There certainly is a HEA (Happy Ever After, for those of you unfamilliar with the term) that comes organically from the story itself, which makes it even more believable. But though this is a romance book, there is enough plot and backstory and world here to keep even an ardent Sci-Fi fan happy. So, if you are looking for an interestingly well-contructed world with a tense plot, this would fit very well. And if you are looking for a good romance? That, too. And that's one of the things I have to hand it to Nalini Singh for. Not only can she write an excellent romance, but she can write a cracking good Sci-Fi story and intertwine the two so that it feels like an organic whole, not just a romance novel with some vaguely Science-Fictiony stuff thrown in for good measure, and not just a Sci-Fi novel with the obligatory romance languishing in a subplot clearly delineated for it. Combining the stories, and combining them well, is where she excels, making the novel more than the sum of its component parts. Definitely one to grab.
Next up, "Kitty and the Silver Bullet" by Carrie Vaughn, the latest in the Kitty Norville series of novels.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Manga Mania
I didn't have much time to read yesterday, and I am still in the middle of Nalini Singh's "Mine to Possess", but I did read a book called "Love's Executioner and other Tales"; ten tales of psychiatric therapy from a Stanford University psychiatrist. Many were successful, others not so much, but each fascinating in their own way. I also got a chance to read some more manga from the library, Dragon Drive 5 and 6, and Ouran High School Host Club 10.
"Dragon Drive" reminds me a lot of Pokemon or Digimon. It's about a young boy who isn't very good in school, but his female friend introduces him to a new game called "Dragon Drive", which is played at underground centers all over Japan. Dragons are assigned randomly, and our young hero is assigned what seems to be an extremely juvenile and useless dragon. However, the dragon is able to transform based on his owner's belief in him, and using the Power of Heart(TM), he is able to overcome dragons much larger and more powerful when he bonds with his own Dragon. Later, he finds out that the duels and games he has been playing is actually due to an alternate universe, and gets sucked into it along with his female friend and worst rival. The Corporation Ri-On is using the game to try and take over this alternate world and steal certain artifacts of power. I wouldn't buy this manga myself, but I will read it from the Library.
"Dragon Drive" reminds me a lot of Pokemon or Digimon. It's about a young boy who isn't very good in school, but his female friend introduces him to a new game called "Dragon Drive", which is played at underground centers all over Japan. Dragons are assigned randomly, and our young hero is assigned what seems to be an extremely juvenile and useless dragon. However, the dragon is able to transform based on his owner's belief in him, and using the Power of Heart(TM), he is able to overcome dragons much larger and more powerful when he bonds with his own Dragon. Later, he finds out that the duels and games he has been playing is actually due to an alternate universe, and gets sucked into it along with his female friend and worst rival. The Corporation Ri-On is using the game to try and take over this alternate world and steal certain artifacts of power. I wouldn't buy this manga myself, but I will read it from the Library.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Voice of Crow
"Voice of Crow" by Jeri Smith-Ready is the sequel to a book I read last year called "Eyes of Crow". In that book, we meet Rhia, a young woman born into a land where the spirits of animals give gifts to young people, leaving them with some supernatural ability. In Rhia's place, she is gifted with the spirit of Crow, leaving her able to hear the voices of the dead. Because there are no other crow-born in her village, she is sent to a neighboring village, guided by a young man named Marek, a wolf-born who abused the gifts of his spirit, and because of this, he cannot turn his gift of invisibility off.
While at the village of Kalindos, she is tutored by her mentor Coranna and falls in love with Marek, even though she can't see him. In the end, they make love, and he is restored to visibility. But her people are under threat by another nation whom they call the Descendents, but who call themselves Illion. Illionders don't have the gifts of the spirit, and their lands are slowly being played out, so they set out to conquer Rhia's people. Of course, they fight back, and manage to drive the Illionders off at Rhia's home village of Asermos, but not without a great deal of lives lost.
In Voice of Crow, Rhia is pregnant with Marek's child, and has entered her second level of power, able to travel into the lands of the dead. Marek, since he once had a wife and child who died in childbirth, is already at his second level of power (second and third levels of power involve the next generation. Second level occurs when you become a parent, third when you become a grandparent). They are traveling back to Kalindos when they find Illionders travelling away from the village. Not knowing what they will find, they hasten back to Kalindos to find it, too, has been attacked. Most of the council who once ruled there are dead, and so are many others, but Coranna is still alive, along with many of the second level wolf-born, who each took a child and turned invisible to keep the children safe, spiriting them off into the forest (literally) unseen.
Despite the attack, Rhia's people feel like they might just have the Descendents beaten, and Rhia and Marek finally marry, to a great deal of celebration by her people, who learn that one of Rhia's children will be the next Raven born. She is also the most powerful Crow-born in several generations.
Meanwhile, back in Asermos, a Illionder named Filip is recuperating from having half of his leg chopped off. Despite the fact that they were enemy combatants, Rhia's people saved them from dying, mostly in order to get information about Ilion. Filip is suicidal over his leg, which will make him less than human in the eyes of his people, and shame his family. But he is also convinced that he is going insane, as he can hear the voices of the birds around him as human speech. And he isn't the only Ilionder having this problem, as another young soldier named Kiril can now create a ball of light with his hands. Kiril is determined to escape, but Filip, now maimed, cannot return home to his people. He will let Kiril escape, but stay behind himself. He also tries to get one of Rhia's people to kill him and put him out of his misery, but he is saved by the healer, who later learns of his new powers. She tells him she has been chosen by the horse, but he doesn't want these powers.
After he heals enough to be mobile, along with a prosthetic leg and crutches, Rhia's father, Tereus, takes Filip into his farm in exchange for Filip doing farm chores. Filip, although still wanting to die, also hates being a burden and agrees. There, he meets Alanka, a wolf-born huntress, who expresses an interest in him. They meet to talk many times.
Meanwhile, Rhia has been prophesied to bear the next Raven-born child, set to shake up the culture of her people. She gives birth to her son, and she and Marek enjoy being parents. But then her son is stolen by Ilionders, along with four other children from her village, and Marek goes off in pursuit. But he is captured by the Ilionders, and he goes quietly to look after his son. At one point he is nearly rescued, but they recover the wrong cradle, and Marek is forced to return with the soldiers as they take the children to Ilion. The Ilionders want to take the children so that they can raise their own set of children with power to later return and take over the lands of Rhia's people once more.
Mark and Rhia's son, Nilik, is sold to an Ilionder senator named Basha Mylosa, who lost her own son and needs a new one to raise. She not only buys Nilik, but Maren as well, and spends her time tormenting him, and later, ordering him to her bed, under threat of violence to his son to get him to comply. She teaches him to read a little and despite the fact that Marek hates her, he stays merely so that he will be able to stay with his son. But he knows that as soon as Nilik grows old enough to remember, Basha will have to get rid of him so that Nilik, who she has renamed Demedor, will think of himself as only her son.
Rhia, Filip and the others have arrived in the city and track Marek to one of the city markets. Filip has accepted the magic of the Horse, and now has it to draw on. He is also deeply in love with Alanka, and she with him. Filip overhears the story of Basha Mylosa, and her mysteriously-appearing son, who she is trying to pass off as her own. They contact Marek and arrage to get into the house by having Basha comission a statue of a Fox from Arcas, a Spider-Born with a gift for carving. Marek, who accompanies her, sees the statues Arcas has already carved and is able to deduce who is in the rescue party from seeing the statues of the spirits they honor.
A few days later, Marek awakes to hear Nilik crying. Basha had proposed taking the infants stolen from Rhia's people and training them so that when they grew, they could use their powers on the side of the Ilionders against their own people. But when the measure passed, she did not think they would also take Nilik. She once again demands Marek's presence in her bed, telling him she will not let him go until he makes her pregnant. But they are interrupted by Rhia and the rest, who break into the house. Basha is killed, and they go in pursuit of the cart with the stolen children, managing to catch up and save them just in time.
Filip's old companion Kiril is among the soldiers, and has been touched by Firefly. Filip persuades him to come back to Rhia's people, and Rhia must make a journey into death to retrieve a piece of Marek's soul that Basha stole from him. But Basha is missing a piece of her own soul, and she will not give up Marek's without her own. But can Rhia retrieve it before she is too weak to return from the lands of the dead?
This was an interesting and entertaining book, although I prefer the cover model on the first book to the one depicted on this one. Additionally, the story is expanded when it treats the Descendents or Ilionders, as real people and reveals that they, too, have magic, but that the magic of the spirits cannot survive in the Ilionder cities, as they are too far removed from nature. By showing the Ilionders as real people and not just evil invaders (although many of the cultural attitudes are extremely harsh- such as Filip's mutilation being something that would bring shame on his family, and later on, he sees his father talking to another senator. His father claims to miss him, but with Filip disguised as a beggar he is about to reveal himself to his father when his father basically says that it's better that Filip died than lived on a useless cripple like the beggar in front of me (referring to Filip)). Although this does veer a bit towards the "all Ilionders are cruel and nasty" trope, there are examples of good Ilionders as well, and they are shown to have a real reason to invade Rhia's country, not just because they are cruel and nasty.
I am definitely looking forward to the third book, and even more if Jeri Smith-Ready sees fit to write them.
While at the village of Kalindos, she is tutored by her mentor Coranna and falls in love with Marek, even though she can't see him. In the end, they make love, and he is restored to visibility. But her people are under threat by another nation whom they call the Descendents, but who call themselves Illion. Illionders don't have the gifts of the spirit, and their lands are slowly being played out, so they set out to conquer Rhia's people. Of course, they fight back, and manage to drive the Illionders off at Rhia's home village of Asermos, but not without a great deal of lives lost.
In Voice of Crow, Rhia is pregnant with Marek's child, and has entered her second level of power, able to travel into the lands of the dead. Marek, since he once had a wife and child who died in childbirth, is already at his second level of power (second and third levels of power involve the next generation. Second level occurs when you become a parent, third when you become a grandparent). They are traveling back to Kalindos when they find Illionders travelling away from the village. Not knowing what they will find, they hasten back to Kalindos to find it, too, has been attacked. Most of the council who once ruled there are dead, and so are many others, but Coranna is still alive, along with many of the second level wolf-born, who each took a child and turned invisible to keep the children safe, spiriting them off into the forest (literally) unseen.
Despite the attack, Rhia's people feel like they might just have the Descendents beaten, and Rhia and Marek finally marry, to a great deal of celebration by her people, who learn that one of Rhia's children will be the next Raven born. She is also the most powerful Crow-born in several generations.
Meanwhile, back in Asermos, a Illionder named Filip is recuperating from having half of his leg chopped off. Despite the fact that they were enemy combatants, Rhia's people saved them from dying, mostly in order to get information about Ilion. Filip is suicidal over his leg, which will make him less than human in the eyes of his people, and shame his family. But he is also convinced that he is going insane, as he can hear the voices of the birds around him as human speech. And he isn't the only Ilionder having this problem, as another young soldier named Kiril can now create a ball of light with his hands. Kiril is determined to escape, but Filip, now maimed, cannot return home to his people. He will let Kiril escape, but stay behind himself. He also tries to get one of Rhia's people to kill him and put him out of his misery, but he is saved by the healer, who later learns of his new powers. She tells him she has been chosen by the horse, but he doesn't want these powers.
After he heals enough to be mobile, along with a prosthetic leg and crutches, Rhia's father, Tereus, takes Filip into his farm in exchange for Filip doing farm chores. Filip, although still wanting to die, also hates being a burden and agrees. There, he meets Alanka, a wolf-born huntress, who expresses an interest in him. They meet to talk many times.
Meanwhile, Rhia has been prophesied to bear the next Raven-born child, set to shake up the culture of her people. She gives birth to her son, and she and Marek enjoy being parents. But then her son is stolen by Ilionders, along with four other children from her village, and Marek goes off in pursuit. But he is captured by the Ilionders, and he goes quietly to look after his son. At one point he is nearly rescued, but they recover the wrong cradle, and Marek is forced to return with the soldiers as they take the children to Ilion. The Ilionders want to take the children so that they can raise their own set of children with power to later return and take over the lands of Rhia's people once more.
Mark and Rhia's son, Nilik, is sold to an Ilionder senator named Basha Mylosa, who lost her own son and needs a new one to raise. She not only buys Nilik, but Maren as well, and spends her time tormenting him, and later, ordering him to her bed, under threat of violence to his son to get him to comply. She teaches him to read a little and despite the fact that Marek hates her, he stays merely so that he will be able to stay with his son. But he knows that as soon as Nilik grows old enough to remember, Basha will have to get rid of him so that Nilik, who she has renamed Demedor, will think of himself as only her son.
Rhia, Filip and the others have arrived in the city and track Marek to one of the city markets. Filip has accepted the magic of the Horse, and now has it to draw on. He is also deeply in love with Alanka, and she with him. Filip overhears the story of Basha Mylosa, and her mysteriously-appearing son, who she is trying to pass off as her own. They contact Marek and arrage to get into the house by having Basha comission a statue of a Fox from Arcas, a Spider-Born with a gift for carving. Marek, who accompanies her, sees the statues Arcas has already carved and is able to deduce who is in the rescue party from seeing the statues of the spirits they honor.
A few days later, Marek awakes to hear Nilik crying. Basha had proposed taking the infants stolen from Rhia's people and training them so that when they grew, they could use their powers on the side of the Ilionders against their own people. But when the measure passed, she did not think they would also take Nilik. She once again demands Marek's presence in her bed, telling him she will not let him go until he makes her pregnant. But they are interrupted by Rhia and the rest, who break into the house. Basha is killed, and they go in pursuit of the cart with the stolen children, managing to catch up and save them just in time.
Filip's old companion Kiril is among the soldiers, and has been touched by Firefly. Filip persuades him to come back to Rhia's people, and Rhia must make a journey into death to retrieve a piece of Marek's soul that Basha stole from him. But Basha is missing a piece of her own soul, and she will not give up Marek's without her own. But can Rhia retrieve it before she is too weak to return from the lands of the dead?
This was an interesting and entertaining book, although I prefer the cover model on the first book to the one depicted on this one. Additionally, the story is expanded when it treats the Descendents or Ilionders, as real people and reveals that they, too, have magic, but that the magic of the spirits cannot survive in the Ilionder cities, as they are too far removed from nature. By showing the Ilionders as real people and not just evil invaders (although many of the cultural attitudes are extremely harsh- such as Filip's mutilation being something that would bring shame on his family, and later on, he sees his father talking to another senator. His father claims to miss him, but with Filip disguised as a beggar he is about to reveal himself to his father when his father basically says that it's better that Filip died than lived on a useless cripple like the beggar in front of me (referring to Filip)). Although this does veer a bit towards the "all Ilionders are cruel and nasty" trope, there are examples of good Ilionders as well, and they are shown to have a real reason to invade Rhia's country, not just because they are cruel and nasty.
I am definitely looking forward to the third book, and even more if Jeri Smith-Ready sees fit to write them.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Beka Cooper: Terrier
Rebekah, or "Beka" Cooper is the famous ancestress of George Cooper, the King of Thieves, who ended up marrying Alanna the Lioness, Champion of Tortall. Surprisingly enough, his Ancestress is one of the Provost's "Dogs", who are like Policemen, but with differences.
Beka's mother was rejected for having lung rot, robbed and beaten by her lover, a man who had ties to the worst thieves gang in Corus, the Bold Brass Gang. He took back a piece of stolen jewelry he gave her when he left, and for these acts, Beka, at merely 8 years old, tracks the man down and follows him until she learns all about the gang he belongs to. Her attempts to go to the Dogs are laughed off, until she goes to the leader of the Dogs, the Provost himself, who listens to her and brings in the entire gang from her information. Then he takes Rebekah and her entire family into his household. Beka serves as a message runner until she is old enough to enter the Dog Training School, and from there, she asks to serve in the worst district in town, where she used to live, the Cesspool.
Beka doesn't just have luck and training on her side, she has magic. She can hear the voices of the dead souls carried by the pigeons that roam the city, for pigeons are the birds of the Dead God. Not every soul is carried by a pigeon, only the ones who are troubled, and refuse to move on. But she can also hear the voices of the spinners, never-fading whirlwinds that suck up the sounds of people talking and bad deeds done. And also on her side is her black cat, Pounce, who is magical and has purple eyes. He can also talk to her, but tends to do it when no one is near, even if only Beka can hear him.
Beka is assigned to Jane Street Station, and being an apprentice Dog, is known as a Puppy. She will serve as a Puppy for a year before becoming a full-fledged Dog herself. She is assigned to the two best Dogs in the station as their Puppy, Clara Goodwin and Matthias or Mattes Turnstall. They are to look out after her and teach her the ins and outs of the Cesspool.
On her first night, they go to see Crookshank, the unofficial ruler of the Cesspool, at the Court of the Rogue. His grandson, Rolond, was kidnapped and disappeared, and he claims it was by someone called the Shadow Snake. The Shadow Snake is a tale to frighten children, but that is who is taking the credit for the kidnapping. Beka knew Rolond, who is the son of one of her childhood friends, Tansy, who is married to Herun Lofts, Crookshank's grandson. Beka is upset that Rolond is gone, and later that night, when they go to visit Crookshank's house, she meets with Tansy, who says that Herun has gone, but before he did, he gave her a stone and claimed it would make them both rich. Tansy, still upset over her son's disappearance, doesn't want the stone, which is filled with shimmering lights and colors buried in pinkish-red matrix rock.
When Beka stares into the rock, she becomes almost entranced, but tucks it into her boot for later study. When she shows it to her partners, none of them know what it is, either. They take it to the mage at the station, who gets excited, but claims it is nothing, and then says he will hold on to it to investigate it. None of the Dogs believe him, and Pounce knocks the stone out of his hands and it falls through a knot in the wooden floor into the basement, from which he later retrieves it.
During the night, they also introduce Beka to many of the people living in the Cesspool and who she will be dealing with on a nightly basis. One of which includes Mistress Nott, a baker whose children Beka was friends with when she was growing up. Mistress Nott is a special friend of Mattes and Goodwin, and gives them deals on wares from her shop because she appreciates how they keep the Cesspool's crime down. Beka buys some cakes for her for her morning's breakfast.
The next morning, Beka finds that three rogues from the Court of the Rogue: Rosto, Aniki and Kora, from Scanra, have moved into the house that she is living in. They bring her breakfast, and eat together, sharing information. Beka also feeds the pigeons and hears what the souls riding them have to say. Afterwards, she and Mattes take the stone to the Gemcutters and gemdealer's guild, where a mage named Jungen Berryman tells them that the stone is a fire opal, and while this one has too much matrix rock in it to be truly valuable, they are highly sought after and expensive, for they can hold spells and serve as fascinators. He would like to know where it came from, and Beka tells him the stone looks like it comes from the Cesspool. The mage laughs at the idea, and claims that they usually come from out of the Kingdom. If fire opals were found in Corus, it would bring a lot of money to the city. There is to be a sale of fire opals here, for which collectors from the surrounding kingdoms are already gathering.
That night, Beka chases down a woman who is threatening to kill her children, and who abuses them and her husband. The children hate Beka for not letting her go, especially when the woman is sentenced to be sent to the farms for hard labor for five years. The occasionally show up to fling garbage at Beka, call her names and berate her, and run away.
Beka discovers that Rolond is not the only child to be stolen away from his mother by the Shadow Snake. In fact, he appears to have been operating in Corus for years, stealing away children and demanding any valuables a person has. If the valuables are given, the child is returned unharmed. If not, they are never seen again. Beka is upset that this has been going on in the city and vows to find and bring down the Shadow Snake, whoever they are. She also becomes aware that nine souls were taken for digging in a basement, but then killed after laboring for all too long in the dark.
She thinks that Crookshank, also known as Ammon Lofts, his real name, is somehow behind the diggers, and thinks they are digging up the fire opals, which have become much, much too common about the town for them to be imported. Along with the fact that the matrix rock they are in resembles the rock supporting the Cesspool, she convinces her partners that they must find out where the men are digging, and find them, while at the same time investigating the Shadow Snake case with the help of Aniki, who in addition to being a Rogue is also a Mage.
This was a really excellent book. Beka is resourceful, determined and utterly believable as a character. Even when the rest of her family, being trained to life in the Provost's household, looks down on her, she continues to do what she sees as the right thing. In fact, at the end of the book, Beka is given the label "Terrier", which is used for a dog who does great things, even though she insists she doesn't deserve it.
Being a YA book, the romance level is kept to a minimum. Although Rosto, her neighbor, is handsome enough to make her girly parts tingle (not to mention the rest of her, including, as she says, "her peaches"), she is wary of getting involved with someone who is a Rogue, especially at the end, when she figures out that the new King of the Rogues is Rosto. Given how both of them seem to feel about each other, though, it seems clear that this will be expanded on in the next book, "Beka Cooper: Bloodhound". I am looking forward to it very much.
Beka's mother was rejected for having lung rot, robbed and beaten by her lover, a man who had ties to the worst thieves gang in Corus, the Bold Brass Gang. He took back a piece of stolen jewelry he gave her when he left, and for these acts, Beka, at merely 8 years old, tracks the man down and follows him until she learns all about the gang he belongs to. Her attempts to go to the Dogs are laughed off, until she goes to the leader of the Dogs, the Provost himself, who listens to her and brings in the entire gang from her information. Then he takes Rebekah and her entire family into his household. Beka serves as a message runner until she is old enough to enter the Dog Training School, and from there, she asks to serve in the worst district in town, where she used to live, the Cesspool.
Beka doesn't just have luck and training on her side, she has magic. She can hear the voices of the dead souls carried by the pigeons that roam the city, for pigeons are the birds of the Dead God. Not every soul is carried by a pigeon, only the ones who are troubled, and refuse to move on. But she can also hear the voices of the spinners, never-fading whirlwinds that suck up the sounds of people talking and bad deeds done. And also on her side is her black cat, Pounce, who is magical and has purple eyes. He can also talk to her, but tends to do it when no one is near, even if only Beka can hear him.
Beka is assigned to Jane Street Station, and being an apprentice Dog, is known as a Puppy. She will serve as a Puppy for a year before becoming a full-fledged Dog herself. She is assigned to the two best Dogs in the station as their Puppy, Clara Goodwin and Matthias or Mattes Turnstall. They are to look out after her and teach her the ins and outs of the Cesspool.
On her first night, they go to see Crookshank, the unofficial ruler of the Cesspool, at the Court of the Rogue. His grandson, Rolond, was kidnapped and disappeared, and he claims it was by someone called the Shadow Snake. The Shadow Snake is a tale to frighten children, but that is who is taking the credit for the kidnapping. Beka knew Rolond, who is the son of one of her childhood friends, Tansy, who is married to Herun Lofts, Crookshank's grandson. Beka is upset that Rolond is gone, and later that night, when they go to visit Crookshank's house, she meets with Tansy, who says that Herun has gone, but before he did, he gave her a stone and claimed it would make them both rich. Tansy, still upset over her son's disappearance, doesn't want the stone, which is filled with shimmering lights and colors buried in pinkish-red matrix rock.
When Beka stares into the rock, she becomes almost entranced, but tucks it into her boot for later study. When she shows it to her partners, none of them know what it is, either. They take it to the mage at the station, who gets excited, but claims it is nothing, and then says he will hold on to it to investigate it. None of the Dogs believe him, and Pounce knocks the stone out of his hands and it falls through a knot in the wooden floor into the basement, from which he later retrieves it.
During the night, they also introduce Beka to many of the people living in the Cesspool and who she will be dealing with on a nightly basis. One of which includes Mistress Nott, a baker whose children Beka was friends with when she was growing up. Mistress Nott is a special friend of Mattes and Goodwin, and gives them deals on wares from her shop because she appreciates how they keep the Cesspool's crime down. Beka buys some cakes for her for her morning's breakfast.
The next morning, Beka finds that three rogues from the Court of the Rogue: Rosto, Aniki and Kora, from Scanra, have moved into the house that she is living in. They bring her breakfast, and eat together, sharing information. Beka also feeds the pigeons and hears what the souls riding them have to say. Afterwards, she and Mattes take the stone to the Gemcutters and gemdealer's guild, where a mage named Jungen Berryman tells them that the stone is a fire opal, and while this one has too much matrix rock in it to be truly valuable, they are highly sought after and expensive, for they can hold spells and serve as fascinators. He would like to know where it came from, and Beka tells him the stone looks like it comes from the Cesspool. The mage laughs at the idea, and claims that they usually come from out of the Kingdom. If fire opals were found in Corus, it would bring a lot of money to the city. There is to be a sale of fire opals here, for which collectors from the surrounding kingdoms are already gathering.
That night, Beka chases down a woman who is threatening to kill her children, and who abuses them and her husband. The children hate Beka for not letting her go, especially when the woman is sentenced to be sent to the farms for hard labor for five years. The occasionally show up to fling garbage at Beka, call her names and berate her, and run away.
Beka discovers that Rolond is not the only child to be stolen away from his mother by the Shadow Snake. In fact, he appears to have been operating in Corus for years, stealing away children and demanding any valuables a person has. If the valuables are given, the child is returned unharmed. If not, they are never seen again. Beka is upset that this has been going on in the city and vows to find and bring down the Shadow Snake, whoever they are. She also becomes aware that nine souls were taken for digging in a basement, but then killed after laboring for all too long in the dark.
She thinks that Crookshank, also known as Ammon Lofts, his real name, is somehow behind the diggers, and thinks they are digging up the fire opals, which have become much, much too common about the town for them to be imported. Along with the fact that the matrix rock they are in resembles the rock supporting the Cesspool, she convinces her partners that they must find out where the men are digging, and find them, while at the same time investigating the Shadow Snake case with the help of Aniki, who in addition to being a Rogue is also a Mage.
This was a really excellent book. Beka is resourceful, determined and utterly believable as a character. Even when the rest of her family, being trained to life in the Provost's household, looks down on her, she continues to do what she sees as the right thing. In fact, at the end of the book, Beka is given the label "Terrier", which is used for a dog who does great things, even though she insists she doesn't deserve it.
Being a YA book, the romance level is kept to a minimum. Although Rosto, her neighbor, is handsome enough to make her girly parts tingle (not to mention the rest of her, including, as she says, "her peaches"), she is wary of getting involved with someone who is a Rogue, especially at the end, when she figures out that the new King of the Rogues is Rosto. Given how both of them seem to feel about each other, though, it seems clear that this will be expanded on in the next book, "Beka Cooper: Bloodhound". I am looking forward to it very much.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Catching up
When I woke on Thursday, my back and left shoulder were hurting. When I got into work, I slammed down on a DVD case to open it, like I usually do, and a bolt of pain shot right up my arm like a lightning bolt, and then back down again.
Well, I got to sit with an ice pack on it for a while, which numbed it down some, and my boss Sharon convinced me to stay the night. But I told her I was going to the chiropractor the next day, as I was convinced it was due to my back, which has been hurting anyway. I worked the rest of the night without opening any DVD cases, and went to the chiropractor the next day. Turns out I have really screwed up my back, presumably with all the bending, lifting and tugging I do on mom. My upper back was worked on, but my lower back was too stiff, sore and irritated to work on, so I will be going back this coming Monday for more work. My arm is better now, but my back still aches occasionally, and I worked Saturday as well.
Yesterday, we had carpet cleaners from Sears in to clean our carpet. As they were cleaning, they hit our etejaire amd two of the glass shelves fell, destroying everything underneath. Well, not quite everything, but my mother was livid at me for hiring them in the first place. I know she was upset (not that she hasn't taken out a shelf from the etejaire from when she fell and tried to use it to get up), but because so many of the things I gave her for birthdays and anniversaries were destroyed as well. A Lenox Bud Vase, a Vase from Hallmark I bought when we lived in New York State, two of her Chinese Ladies (One a goddess, the other a woman kneeling in a Kimono), a plate that belonged to my grandmother and her mother, A vase in Pastel Flowers she'd bought in Florida, a ginger jar with a lid, and probably other stuff as well, all reduced to pretty much shards.
The cleaners notified their boss, and today he came to look at the damage. He will fix the base of the ginger jar, and get us some new shelves from a glass cutter, and reimburse us $300 for the stuff we lost, which may cover the monetary value, but not the sentiments, of course.
We also had the Merry Maids in today, to finish cleaning up so everything is clean and sparkling (Well, as close to sparkling as it gets around here, which is not so much). In the time between, I have also been reading, including a non-fiction book about Herculaneum. Herculaneum has always fascinated me. At one point when I was younger, I wanted to be an archaeologist. I swiftly changed majors when I got to college, but I am still interested in Archaeology.
Back when I was growing up, when people talked about the eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD, it was assumed that the people of Herculaneum had gotten out of the city, while those in Pompeii had mostly died. Then, in the late 90's, they finally uncovered the seaport of Herculaneum, and the first of the bodies... The book I read was written by the female scientist who was brought in to look at the bodies, which had been found in bays where boats were stored over the winter. They had been suffocated by the gasses from the eruption, and then covered in ash and mud. One of the saddest skeletons found was a young and pretty slave girl, no more than a teenager, who had been forced to carry burdens too heavy for her and who had recently had a tooth pulled. She was found cradling what had probably been her master's child, who wore gold jewelry and who had died in her arms. The book also reconstructed the last days in Herculaneum, and included the "stories" of the other skeletons found nearby: a woman they called "The Ring Lady", a man called "The Soldier" and an old woman.
Another book I read was "More X Files" by Joe Nickell, a man who has investigated and debunked many supernatural hoaxes, scams and superstitions. This was 48 short cases or investigations he had taken part in, in many cases showing how it was done, although since many of them involved religion, people continue to believe in them, mainly because they want to.
I also finished two fiction books by Elizabeth Vaughn, "Warprize" and "Warsworn". These are the first two books of a trilogy, which I read out of order, reading the third book, "Warlord" some time ago. I enjoyed it greatly, even though I came to the story two-thirds of the way in.
"Warprize" is the story of Xylara of the House of Xy. A healer and princess, she has been disobeying her brother's order not to treat the enemy prisoners and has been going to the place he keeps them after she has finished with the wounded of her own side. This infuriates her brother Xymund, who has not much of a good opinion of her anyway. He is actually her half-brother, being the son of the King's first wife, while Xylara was born to the King's second wife. Xymund could have married her off, but he has refused all offers for her hand.
Xylara's kingdom is at war with the Firelanders, who are both hated and feared. They come from far away, and are usually known as raiders, but this time they have come to conquer Xyeria, a Warlord at their head, and an army backing him up.
When Xylara goes to heal the prisoners that night, there is a new captive with them named Simus. Xylara is able to save his life, and his leg, but discovers that he is an officer while doing so. Certain that if she turns him in to her brother that Simus will be tortured for information and killed, she hides his brooch of status and leaves to go back to the castle. She hopes to take the information to the General of the Armies, who is a decent man.
However, she is not able to speak to him. That afternoon, while buying supplies, she meets a supposed mercenary named Keir who knows the ways of Firelanders and tells her that they drink Kavage, and where to find some. She thanks him and buys it, as well as a bowl for them to brew it in. Keir also asks her to pass on a message to Simus, but she refuses, not willing to be a traitor to her country. Her brother, Xymund, may be an incompetent King, but she is not willing to betray him, either.
The Firelanders are delighted to recieve the Kavage, and that night her brother summons her. The Warlord has sued for peace, and in return wants only one thing. Xylara, to be his Warprize, or, as her brother tells her, his slave. He has already agreed to save the Kingdom. He will swear fealty to the Warlord and have a Firelander overseer to see to the running of the Kingdom, but since he was already losing the war, this is better than the alternative of being completely overrun and the Kingdom destroyed. Xylara, wanting to save the Kingdom, and feeling she has no other choice, agrees.
The Warlord sends her a trunk and says that she may only wear what is in it to the ceremony. She is horrified to find it contains only a thin shift, but is determined to go through with the ceremony. In it, she agrees to be his Warprize, and a set of silver bracelets is locked on her wrists. As part of the ceremony, she agrees to take nothing except from his hands. She is also shocked to find that Keir is the Warlord. He takes her to his tent, and although she expects to be raped, he leaves her alone that night.
The next morning, she is awakened by a scarred man named Marcus, who finds her clothes, mostly a tunic and trousers, and feeds her from food the Warlord commanded him to have for her. She leaves the tent to explore and finds the tent with the wounded, who are lying in filth, untaken care of. As a healer, this angers her, and she berates the guard who is supposed to be watching over them. She cleans up the tent herself and sends the guard for clean water before treating the prisoner's wounds.
When Keir finds her, he and Marcus are angry at first, but when he sees the conditions in the tent, he agrees that he was at fault, and asks her if taking care of the wounded is what she wishes to do. She says yes, and he allows her to. Marcus berates her for not taking care of herself and working without eating, saying she has no sense. He feeds her, and she drops off to sleep, exhausted.
The next day, Keir calls a "senel", a meeting of his subordinates. One of his men, Iften, is scornful of her as a weak city-dweller, and believes that taking her as a Warprize will weaken not only Keir, but their people. He is already stirring up bad feeling for Keir in the Warlord's army. The rest of the meeting is about setting up someone to oversee the Kingdom when Keir returns to the Plains, where he and his men live. The next day, Keir and Xylara must return to Xymund's castle, and Marcus finds her a dress to wear, a bright red dress. Xylara squirms inside, for only whores wear that color, but seeing how she is a slave, she wears it. Much of the court is shocked to see her in that color, seeing her already giving into Keir, but Xylara tries to hold her head up, as Keir still hasn't forced himself on her.
One of the nobles, an ill-tempered, unlikeable man, calls Xylara a whore, an insult for which Keir runs him through with a sword. He will not allow anyone to insult Xylara. Everyone is shocked. Xymund most of all, although he isn't happy with Xylara. He has nearly destroyed her room, destroyed everything in her stillroom and burned the notes she made of her medicines and cures. He has called her a traitor to other members of his court, but she cannot concieve of why. Hasn't she done everything he has asked her to?
When she is back at camp, she befriends several of the people in the army, including Atirra, a horsewoman who falls and breaks her leg, and Gils, a cookslave who becomes her student at healing. The Firelanders have no concept of medicine. If someone is badly injured enough so that they can no longer fight, they are given mercy by their comrades. Otherwise, a Priest-healer looks after the wound, saying spells over it. But the Priest-healer with the army was killed, and that is why no one was looking after the wounded in the tent. Xylara tells them she does not know how to cure everything, but she is able to help the men.
This is not the only problem. Men with crossbows are making raids on the army at night, killing and wounding the sentries, then slipping away again. Keir sets men to watching for the killers, and asks Xymund to investigate, as the shafts left behind are Xyerian in make. Xymund promises to look into it, but the attacks continue.
As Xylara helps Atirra one afternoon, she asks her about Plains society. She finds out that a Warprize is dearly hoped for, and is the only one with the power to change the society. Feeling that she is missing something, Xylara asks Atirra about the Warprize. Atirra tells her she is not a slave, but an honored position. That by asking to be a Warprize, she is asking to be courted by the Warlord. The bracelets are not marks of slavery, but those of status. That night, Xylara, who has fallen in love with Keir, gives herself to him completely.
Shortly afterwards, Xylara is attacked by a group of Xyerian men who burst into her healing tent. The leader is the son of the nobleman Keir nearly slew, and he calls Xylara a whore and a traitor, choking her nearly to death. Keir comes to her rescue in a beserk rage, killing the men. He is about to start in on the guards who were supposed to be protecting Xylara, but she manages to talk him down from his rage, and he goes to look after her instead.
Finally, it is found out that Xymund has been behind the attacks all along. Keir goes to the castle to find him, but Xymund goes to Xylara. She is mostly unaware of his evil deeds, and instead takes him to task for allowing her to believe she was Keir's slave, to which Xymund says that her status is the same as a slave to him. He then calls her a traitor for the brooch of rank he found in her room. Keir comes, and is not able to defeat Xymund without killing him. Xylara goes into shock, especially when, since she is now the heir to the kingdom, Keir decides to leave her behind on the Throne and go back to the plains without her. It takes some doing, but she decides to go to him instead, as there is no one she could marry from the surrounding kingdoms, and her people need the trade the firelanders represent to survive.
She walks after Keir in only the shift he gave her, with bare feet, until she encounters his army making its way home. At first, he tries to tell her to go home, but she will not, and threatens to repeat her actions until he allows her to stay. Finally, he relents, and confesses he is glad she has come to stay.
In the second book, Keir's people find that one of the towns they took in Xyeria has barred its gates against them, and the people inside yell at them, throw stones and even fire arrows at them. Iften is enraged that people are rebelling against Keir and urges Keir to attack them, But Xylara determines what is really happening: the village has plague, and she must enter and determine what type so that it can be fought before it can spread to the rest of Xyeria... or worse, Keir's army.
She, Gils her apprentice, and two people assigned by Keir to guard her, a husband and wife team- Epor and Isdra, enter the city. They only find four people alive: an old female healer, the guard from the gate, a young child, and a man in a delirium who sees them as enemies and attacks them. Xylara attempts to save them, but fails, except for the child. It is a plague called the Sweat, but this time its effects are stronger and occur faster, and it is much more deadly. She has Keir send a message to the capitol telling them of the plague and having them warn the other healers of what to look for, and then Epor falls sick, only to die from the plague. And then Xylara herself falls ill...
She tells Isdra to fire the town and to bind her inside, take the baby and flee. Isdra does fire the town, but rescues Xylara and brings her to Keir, who nurses her through the plague with the help of Gils and Isdra. They manage to save her by dunking her into the cold waters of the nearby lake at the height of her fever, bringing it down. Just when she starts to recover, others in the camp begin falling ill. Xylara goes to help them, but without Epor, Isdra decides to join her bonded in death. Xylara, finding this out, stops her, saying she needs Isdra's help with the plague. Isdra is swayed by this reason, and agrees to help.
Later, Keir himself falls ill, but Xylara nurses him back to health. Just when it seems everyone is recovering, Gils falls ill, but with a difference. He starts to convulse, and Keir is forced to give him mercy. Xylara is shocked and enraged, but in the end, even she is forced to admit she would not have been able to save him.
Despite the help of everyone in camp, about 1 in 10 die of the plague, and Iften blames Xylara and her people for it, especially their filth and city-lander ways. He challenges Keir, and not for the first time, saying that so ill-fated an expedition can only be blamed on the man who led it. Xylara has taught Keir Chess to keep his mind occupied as he recovers, and the other warriors begin to learn it, too. There is a mania for chess in the camp, but Iften refuses to learn.
To celebrate the recovery, Keir sets up a celebration of one-on-one fighting matches, and chess matches, to be ended with a life-sized game of chess. Iften challenges Keir again, who manages to defeat him, but he breaks Iften's arm in the process. Xylara, knowing Iften despises her, offers to help him, but he rudely refuses her help, saying only that he will take the help of the priest healers, not her unhealthy city-lander ways. She warns him that without her help, he will lose the use of his arm, but he doesn't listen.
Shortly thereafter, she is surprised in her shower by a man in ratty furs. She dumps a pail of garbage on him and flees, only to find that he is a priest-healer. Keir has a great dislike of priest-healers, and the feeling is only too obviously returned. As they plan to return to the plains, Keir holds a ceremony for the dead, and during the ceremony, Isdra, freed of her obligations at last, goes to join her husband. Xylara weeps for her going, but is already perparing for the ordeal she will find on the plains, being confirmed as a Warprize, and with Keir to be a confirmed Warlord.
These two books were extremely enjoyable. Both cultures were distinct and fleshed-out. Although you had the feeling that asking questions would have cleared up a lot of the problems and misunderstandings a lot earlier on, at least in the first book, I can also see why Xylara, thinking herself a slave, didn't think to ask questions. And the Plains people, aka Firelanders, have their own way of asking and answering. I as a reader, of course, am far less forgiving about Xymund's telling Xylara that she was a slave than she was.
But this was still an excellent series. I felt like I was living in Xylara's world along with her, and seeing out of her eyes. If you are looking for a fantasy romance with no magic but great description and plot, this is one series you will want to pick up.
Well, I got to sit with an ice pack on it for a while, which numbed it down some, and my boss Sharon convinced me to stay the night. But I told her I was going to the chiropractor the next day, as I was convinced it was due to my back, which has been hurting anyway. I worked the rest of the night without opening any DVD cases, and went to the chiropractor the next day. Turns out I have really screwed up my back, presumably with all the bending, lifting and tugging I do on mom. My upper back was worked on, but my lower back was too stiff, sore and irritated to work on, so I will be going back this coming Monday for more work. My arm is better now, but my back still aches occasionally, and I worked Saturday as well.
Yesterday, we had carpet cleaners from Sears in to clean our carpet. As they were cleaning, they hit our etejaire amd two of the glass shelves fell, destroying everything underneath. Well, not quite everything, but my mother was livid at me for hiring them in the first place. I know she was upset (not that she hasn't taken out a shelf from the etejaire from when she fell and tried to use it to get up), but because so many of the things I gave her for birthdays and anniversaries were destroyed as well. A Lenox Bud Vase, a Vase from Hallmark I bought when we lived in New York State, two of her Chinese Ladies (One a goddess, the other a woman kneeling in a Kimono), a plate that belonged to my grandmother and her mother, A vase in Pastel Flowers she'd bought in Florida, a ginger jar with a lid, and probably other stuff as well, all reduced to pretty much shards.
The cleaners notified their boss, and today he came to look at the damage. He will fix the base of the ginger jar, and get us some new shelves from a glass cutter, and reimburse us $300 for the stuff we lost, which may cover the monetary value, but not the sentiments, of course.
We also had the Merry Maids in today, to finish cleaning up so everything is clean and sparkling (Well, as close to sparkling as it gets around here, which is not so much). In the time between, I have also been reading, including a non-fiction book about Herculaneum. Herculaneum has always fascinated me. At one point when I was younger, I wanted to be an archaeologist. I swiftly changed majors when I got to college, but I am still interested in Archaeology.
Back when I was growing up, when people talked about the eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD, it was assumed that the people of Herculaneum had gotten out of the city, while those in Pompeii had mostly died. Then, in the late 90's, they finally uncovered the seaport of Herculaneum, and the first of the bodies... The book I read was written by the female scientist who was brought in to look at the bodies, which had been found in bays where boats were stored over the winter. They had been suffocated by the gasses from the eruption, and then covered in ash and mud. One of the saddest skeletons found was a young and pretty slave girl, no more than a teenager, who had been forced to carry burdens too heavy for her and who had recently had a tooth pulled. She was found cradling what had probably been her master's child, who wore gold jewelry and who had died in her arms. The book also reconstructed the last days in Herculaneum, and included the "stories" of the other skeletons found nearby: a woman they called "The Ring Lady", a man called "The Soldier" and an old woman.
Another book I read was "More X Files" by Joe Nickell, a man who has investigated and debunked many supernatural hoaxes, scams and superstitions. This was 48 short cases or investigations he had taken part in, in many cases showing how it was done, although since many of them involved religion, people continue to believe in them, mainly because they want to.
I also finished two fiction books by Elizabeth Vaughn, "Warprize" and "Warsworn". These are the first two books of a trilogy, which I read out of order, reading the third book, "Warlord" some time ago. I enjoyed it greatly, even though I came to the story two-thirds of the way in.
"Warprize" is the story of Xylara of the House of Xy. A healer and princess, she has been disobeying her brother's order not to treat the enemy prisoners and has been going to the place he keeps them after she has finished with the wounded of her own side. This infuriates her brother Xymund, who has not much of a good opinion of her anyway. He is actually her half-brother, being the son of the King's first wife, while Xylara was born to the King's second wife. Xymund could have married her off, but he has refused all offers for her hand.
Xylara's kingdom is at war with the Firelanders, who are both hated and feared. They come from far away, and are usually known as raiders, but this time they have come to conquer Xyeria, a Warlord at their head, and an army backing him up.
When Xylara goes to heal the prisoners that night, there is a new captive with them named Simus. Xylara is able to save his life, and his leg, but discovers that he is an officer while doing so. Certain that if she turns him in to her brother that Simus will be tortured for information and killed, she hides his brooch of status and leaves to go back to the castle. She hopes to take the information to the General of the Armies, who is a decent man.
However, she is not able to speak to him. That afternoon, while buying supplies, she meets a supposed mercenary named Keir who knows the ways of Firelanders and tells her that they drink Kavage, and where to find some. She thanks him and buys it, as well as a bowl for them to brew it in. Keir also asks her to pass on a message to Simus, but she refuses, not willing to be a traitor to her country. Her brother, Xymund, may be an incompetent King, but she is not willing to betray him, either.
The Firelanders are delighted to recieve the Kavage, and that night her brother summons her. The Warlord has sued for peace, and in return wants only one thing. Xylara, to be his Warprize, or, as her brother tells her, his slave. He has already agreed to save the Kingdom. He will swear fealty to the Warlord and have a Firelander overseer to see to the running of the Kingdom, but since he was already losing the war, this is better than the alternative of being completely overrun and the Kingdom destroyed. Xylara, wanting to save the Kingdom, and feeling she has no other choice, agrees.
The Warlord sends her a trunk and says that she may only wear what is in it to the ceremony. She is horrified to find it contains only a thin shift, but is determined to go through with the ceremony. In it, she agrees to be his Warprize, and a set of silver bracelets is locked on her wrists. As part of the ceremony, she agrees to take nothing except from his hands. She is also shocked to find that Keir is the Warlord. He takes her to his tent, and although she expects to be raped, he leaves her alone that night.
The next morning, she is awakened by a scarred man named Marcus, who finds her clothes, mostly a tunic and trousers, and feeds her from food the Warlord commanded him to have for her. She leaves the tent to explore and finds the tent with the wounded, who are lying in filth, untaken care of. As a healer, this angers her, and she berates the guard who is supposed to be watching over them. She cleans up the tent herself and sends the guard for clean water before treating the prisoner's wounds.
When Keir finds her, he and Marcus are angry at first, but when he sees the conditions in the tent, he agrees that he was at fault, and asks her if taking care of the wounded is what she wishes to do. She says yes, and he allows her to. Marcus berates her for not taking care of herself and working without eating, saying she has no sense. He feeds her, and she drops off to sleep, exhausted.
The next day, Keir calls a "senel", a meeting of his subordinates. One of his men, Iften, is scornful of her as a weak city-dweller, and believes that taking her as a Warprize will weaken not only Keir, but their people. He is already stirring up bad feeling for Keir in the Warlord's army. The rest of the meeting is about setting up someone to oversee the Kingdom when Keir returns to the Plains, where he and his men live. The next day, Keir and Xylara must return to Xymund's castle, and Marcus finds her a dress to wear, a bright red dress. Xylara squirms inside, for only whores wear that color, but seeing how she is a slave, she wears it. Much of the court is shocked to see her in that color, seeing her already giving into Keir, but Xylara tries to hold her head up, as Keir still hasn't forced himself on her.
One of the nobles, an ill-tempered, unlikeable man, calls Xylara a whore, an insult for which Keir runs him through with a sword. He will not allow anyone to insult Xylara. Everyone is shocked. Xymund most of all, although he isn't happy with Xylara. He has nearly destroyed her room, destroyed everything in her stillroom and burned the notes she made of her medicines and cures. He has called her a traitor to other members of his court, but she cannot concieve of why. Hasn't she done everything he has asked her to?
When she is back at camp, she befriends several of the people in the army, including Atirra, a horsewoman who falls and breaks her leg, and Gils, a cookslave who becomes her student at healing. The Firelanders have no concept of medicine. If someone is badly injured enough so that they can no longer fight, they are given mercy by their comrades. Otherwise, a Priest-healer looks after the wound, saying spells over it. But the Priest-healer with the army was killed, and that is why no one was looking after the wounded in the tent. Xylara tells them she does not know how to cure everything, but she is able to help the men.
This is not the only problem. Men with crossbows are making raids on the army at night, killing and wounding the sentries, then slipping away again. Keir sets men to watching for the killers, and asks Xymund to investigate, as the shafts left behind are Xyerian in make. Xymund promises to look into it, but the attacks continue.
As Xylara helps Atirra one afternoon, she asks her about Plains society. She finds out that a Warprize is dearly hoped for, and is the only one with the power to change the society. Feeling that she is missing something, Xylara asks Atirra about the Warprize. Atirra tells her she is not a slave, but an honored position. That by asking to be a Warprize, she is asking to be courted by the Warlord. The bracelets are not marks of slavery, but those of status. That night, Xylara, who has fallen in love with Keir, gives herself to him completely.
Shortly afterwards, Xylara is attacked by a group of Xyerian men who burst into her healing tent. The leader is the son of the nobleman Keir nearly slew, and he calls Xylara a whore and a traitor, choking her nearly to death. Keir comes to her rescue in a beserk rage, killing the men. He is about to start in on the guards who were supposed to be protecting Xylara, but she manages to talk him down from his rage, and he goes to look after her instead.
Finally, it is found out that Xymund has been behind the attacks all along. Keir goes to the castle to find him, but Xymund goes to Xylara. She is mostly unaware of his evil deeds, and instead takes him to task for allowing her to believe she was Keir's slave, to which Xymund says that her status is the same as a slave to him. He then calls her a traitor for the brooch of rank he found in her room. Keir comes, and is not able to defeat Xymund without killing him. Xylara goes into shock, especially when, since she is now the heir to the kingdom, Keir decides to leave her behind on the Throne and go back to the plains without her. It takes some doing, but she decides to go to him instead, as there is no one she could marry from the surrounding kingdoms, and her people need the trade the firelanders represent to survive.
She walks after Keir in only the shift he gave her, with bare feet, until she encounters his army making its way home. At first, he tries to tell her to go home, but she will not, and threatens to repeat her actions until he allows her to stay. Finally, he relents, and confesses he is glad she has come to stay.
In the second book, Keir's people find that one of the towns they took in Xyeria has barred its gates against them, and the people inside yell at them, throw stones and even fire arrows at them. Iften is enraged that people are rebelling against Keir and urges Keir to attack them, But Xylara determines what is really happening: the village has plague, and she must enter and determine what type so that it can be fought before it can spread to the rest of Xyeria... or worse, Keir's army.
She, Gils her apprentice, and two people assigned by Keir to guard her, a husband and wife team- Epor and Isdra, enter the city. They only find four people alive: an old female healer, the guard from the gate, a young child, and a man in a delirium who sees them as enemies and attacks them. Xylara attempts to save them, but fails, except for the child. It is a plague called the Sweat, but this time its effects are stronger and occur faster, and it is much more deadly. She has Keir send a message to the capitol telling them of the plague and having them warn the other healers of what to look for, and then Epor falls sick, only to die from the plague. And then Xylara herself falls ill...
She tells Isdra to fire the town and to bind her inside, take the baby and flee. Isdra does fire the town, but rescues Xylara and brings her to Keir, who nurses her through the plague with the help of Gils and Isdra. They manage to save her by dunking her into the cold waters of the nearby lake at the height of her fever, bringing it down. Just when she starts to recover, others in the camp begin falling ill. Xylara goes to help them, but without Epor, Isdra decides to join her bonded in death. Xylara, finding this out, stops her, saying she needs Isdra's help with the plague. Isdra is swayed by this reason, and agrees to help.
Later, Keir himself falls ill, but Xylara nurses him back to health. Just when it seems everyone is recovering, Gils falls ill, but with a difference. He starts to convulse, and Keir is forced to give him mercy. Xylara is shocked and enraged, but in the end, even she is forced to admit she would not have been able to save him.
Despite the help of everyone in camp, about 1 in 10 die of the plague, and Iften blames Xylara and her people for it, especially their filth and city-lander ways. He challenges Keir, and not for the first time, saying that so ill-fated an expedition can only be blamed on the man who led it. Xylara has taught Keir Chess to keep his mind occupied as he recovers, and the other warriors begin to learn it, too. There is a mania for chess in the camp, but Iften refuses to learn.
To celebrate the recovery, Keir sets up a celebration of one-on-one fighting matches, and chess matches, to be ended with a life-sized game of chess. Iften challenges Keir again, who manages to defeat him, but he breaks Iften's arm in the process. Xylara, knowing Iften despises her, offers to help him, but he rudely refuses her help, saying only that he will take the help of the priest healers, not her unhealthy city-lander ways. She warns him that without her help, he will lose the use of his arm, but he doesn't listen.
Shortly thereafter, she is surprised in her shower by a man in ratty furs. She dumps a pail of garbage on him and flees, only to find that he is a priest-healer. Keir has a great dislike of priest-healers, and the feeling is only too obviously returned. As they plan to return to the plains, Keir holds a ceremony for the dead, and during the ceremony, Isdra, freed of her obligations at last, goes to join her husband. Xylara weeps for her going, but is already perparing for the ordeal she will find on the plains, being confirmed as a Warprize, and with Keir to be a confirmed Warlord.
These two books were extremely enjoyable. Both cultures were distinct and fleshed-out. Although you had the feeling that asking questions would have cleared up a lot of the problems and misunderstandings a lot earlier on, at least in the first book, I can also see why Xylara, thinking herself a slave, didn't think to ask questions. And the Plains people, aka Firelanders, have their own way of asking and answering. I as a reader, of course, am far less forgiving about Xymund's telling Xylara that she was a slave than she was.
But this was still an excellent series. I felt like I was living in Xylara's world along with her, and seeing out of her eyes. If you are looking for a fantasy romance with no magic but great description and plot, this is one series you will want to pick up.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Knight of Darkness
Varian DuFey is a despised knight who is part Adoni. Though not precisely good, he works for the PenMerlin of Avalon to piss off his mother, Narishka, who conceived him by tricking Lancelot duLac. Because of this, he had a hellish upbringing, but was reached by Arthur, who made him a knight of the Round Table even over the other Knights objections. When Arthur's final battle took place, Varian was too young and as yet unable to face the temptations offered by his mother, so he sat it out... and was promptly labelled a traitor by the other knights. They still treat him with scorn and casual cruelty, and, being the contrary creature that he is, Varian also stays at Avalon so he can piss them off as well.
When one of the six Knights protecting the grail is captured, tortured and killed by Morgen and her creatures, the PenMerlin sends Varian into Camelot to see if he can find out what, if anything, Tarynce of Essex spilled before he died. Normally a single Merlin guards a treasure, but because of the grail's importance, six knights guard it, each holding a single clue to where it is hidden. If Morgen manages to track down the other five knights and wrings their clues from them by torture, she could claim the Grail and use it to control the world.
Merewyn of Mercia is the victim of a stupid bargain she made. Betrothed to a man both old and ugly, she traded her beauty for a moon-turn to an Adonai so that she would repulse the man. Narishka, the Adonai she summoned, took her to Camelot, so that her service would be eternal, because Camelot's sky has no moon. Cursed into wearing the form of a lame, ugly, hunch-backed crone, she serves as Narishka's personal slave, eternally hoping to get her old form and beauty back. When she stumbles and is nearly beaten in a tavern in Glastonbury, Varian comes to her aid despite her looks, and she finds herself entranced by the first man who has ever shown her kindness.
In that same tavern, his mother attempts to sway Varian to her side, and fails. Enraged, she goes to Morgen and bewails her failure. Morgen laments that Varian has no weaknesses, but his mother says he does. It is pity. She resolves to use pity to bring him down.
Later, when Varian, still on the trail of Tarynce of Essex, goes to speak with Bracken, one of Morgen's MODs or "Minions of Death", his mother lays a spell on him that leaves him unable to transport himself, and then binds him with a bracelet that leaves him unable to use his other magic. She locks him in a cell and tortures him, healing him only to keep on torturing him. Finally, she sends in Merewyn to tend his wounds, now restored to her true beauty and with orders to seduce him to the side of Morgen. Merewyn, desperate to regain her beauty, agrees, but finds herself unable to continue. Going to the Mandrake Blaise, she reveals she knows him to be a servant of Avalon and asks for his help in freeing Varian.
Between them, they manage to free him from his magical shackles, but Blaise is unable to free him from his mother's spells. With Varian unable to magically transport himself, and them being hunted in Camelot, they flee for the Prison where Morgen imprisons her old, tossed-away lovers, Val Sans Retour, or the Valley of No Return.
Chased by Mandrakes and Gargoyles, they finally gain the Valley, to find it has other properties as well. The edges are warded so that once you go in, it is impossible to get out, and it is strewn with traps for those trapped within. Another trap also waits for Merewyn, the first woman to ever enter the Valley. The men trapped inside have the worst case of blue balls imaginable, and they look to Merewyn as an answer to their problems, especially a set of triplet brothers, Erik, Merrick and Derrick, who attempt to kidnap Merewyn to assuage their need. When it becomes clear that Blaise and Varian have no intention of handing her over, the three brothers (including Erik, who has been turned into a ferret) set out to guide them to Emrys Merlin and Nimue, who are still alive inside the Valley, which is news to both Varian and Blaise, since both are long thought dead or trapped inside ice.
Travelling past the many traps and dangers of the Valley, Merewyn and Varian slowly fall in love. When it seems that Narishka can still steal Merewyn's beauty away, she asks Varian to make love to her, and he does so. But he also convinces her that he loves her no matter what she looks like, and her beauty returns. But why? Has Narishka thought of some new plot with which to entwine them?
They reach Merlin and Nimue, only to realize that neither will help them escape. They didn't have enough power to contain Morgen when they created the Valley, and they cannot stand against her now. If they help Varian and the others escape, Morgen will come to the Valley, kill Emrys Merlin and Nimue, and they cannot allow that. Still bound by his mother's magic, Varian has no choice to submit, until Merewyn finds a way to free him, but loses her voice in the process. Morgen invades the valley, but Varian and a newcomer named Faran help keep her off and fire the bridge that connects Merlin and Nimue's section of the valley from the rest of the Valley of No Return. Morgen sends a message. Send either Merewyn or Varian to her, or she will kill everyone in the Valley. Merewyn makes love to Varian one last time, knocks him out, and tells Narishka to take her back.
When she does, Morgen and Narishka are pleased, for she is pregnant, and now they have the perfect way to control Varian. Merewyn despairs, knowing her sacrifice was for naught.
Varian, returned to consciousness, confesses to Merlin that he needs Merewyn... and attracts the attention of the God Damé, who takes Varian to Merewyn in Camelot. Even when Merewyn mouths that he must flee, Varian refuses to leave without her. Narishka and Morgen show up, claiming hold over Merewyn, but Damé says Merewyn sold him her life while she was in the Valley, and since the Valley has a moon, her term of service to Narishka is over. As they lead Merewyn away, Narishka tries one last time to steal her beauty and youth, but Varian takes the blow for her. When Merewyn declares she loves him anyway, despite what he looks like, the spell is broken and Varian is restored to youth and handsomeness.
They marry and the other knights begin to treat him better, but there is still a traitor loose in Avalon, and Merewyn knows who he is, for she has seen his face back when she was a hideous crone. When she finally reveals him, he attacks both Merewyn and Seren, inciting the rage of both men, Varian and Kerrigan. His fate will not be kind. for it is up to both ruthless men to determine.
Okay, much as I enjoyed the story, I found it very similar to that of Kerrigan. Both men came from mothers who raised them badly and abandoned them, and both had serious mother issues that generally translated to women. Both are seen as bad, even evil by some. Though the details differed (Varian was *also* treated badly by his stepmother and father), they were so similar I was afraid the author was going to fall into a rut. I'd read the next one, but if the story was very similar to the first two, I'd have a hard time continuing the series. I also rather disliked the idea of Varian's marriage as a bandaid concerning the other Knight's treatment of him. He gets married and they start treating him better. Okay, why exactly? Just because he married? Or, as the book states, because with her at his side, they see him as more a man than a demon? That just doesn't ring true given *why* the other knights despised him in the earlier portions of the book. I'd accept that they might treat him better around *her*, but the kind of reasons that were stated for the other knights not liking him didn't seem the kind of things that would just go away simply because he married a beautiful woman who obviously adores him.
When one of the six Knights protecting the grail is captured, tortured and killed by Morgen and her creatures, the PenMerlin sends Varian into Camelot to see if he can find out what, if anything, Tarynce of Essex spilled before he died. Normally a single Merlin guards a treasure, but because of the grail's importance, six knights guard it, each holding a single clue to where it is hidden. If Morgen manages to track down the other five knights and wrings their clues from them by torture, she could claim the Grail and use it to control the world.
Merewyn of Mercia is the victim of a stupid bargain she made. Betrothed to a man both old and ugly, she traded her beauty for a moon-turn to an Adonai so that she would repulse the man. Narishka, the Adonai she summoned, took her to Camelot, so that her service would be eternal, because Camelot's sky has no moon. Cursed into wearing the form of a lame, ugly, hunch-backed crone, she serves as Narishka's personal slave, eternally hoping to get her old form and beauty back. When she stumbles and is nearly beaten in a tavern in Glastonbury, Varian comes to her aid despite her looks, and she finds herself entranced by the first man who has ever shown her kindness.
In that same tavern, his mother attempts to sway Varian to her side, and fails. Enraged, she goes to Morgen and bewails her failure. Morgen laments that Varian has no weaknesses, but his mother says he does. It is pity. She resolves to use pity to bring him down.
Later, when Varian, still on the trail of Tarynce of Essex, goes to speak with Bracken, one of Morgen's MODs or "Minions of Death", his mother lays a spell on him that leaves him unable to transport himself, and then binds him with a bracelet that leaves him unable to use his other magic. She locks him in a cell and tortures him, healing him only to keep on torturing him. Finally, she sends in Merewyn to tend his wounds, now restored to her true beauty and with orders to seduce him to the side of Morgen. Merewyn, desperate to regain her beauty, agrees, but finds herself unable to continue. Going to the Mandrake Blaise, she reveals she knows him to be a servant of Avalon and asks for his help in freeing Varian.
Between them, they manage to free him from his magical shackles, but Blaise is unable to free him from his mother's spells. With Varian unable to magically transport himself, and them being hunted in Camelot, they flee for the Prison where Morgen imprisons her old, tossed-away lovers, Val Sans Retour, or the Valley of No Return.
Chased by Mandrakes and Gargoyles, they finally gain the Valley, to find it has other properties as well. The edges are warded so that once you go in, it is impossible to get out, and it is strewn with traps for those trapped within. Another trap also waits for Merewyn, the first woman to ever enter the Valley. The men trapped inside have the worst case of blue balls imaginable, and they look to Merewyn as an answer to their problems, especially a set of triplet brothers, Erik, Merrick and Derrick, who attempt to kidnap Merewyn to assuage their need. When it becomes clear that Blaise and Varian have no intention of handing her over, the three brothers (including Erik, who has been turned into a ferret) set out to guide them to Emrys Merlin and Nimue, who are still alive inside the Valley, which is news to both Varian and Blaise, since both are long thought dead or trapped inside ice.
Travelling past the many traps and dangers of the Valley, Merewyn and Varian slowly fall in love. When it seems that Narishka can still steal Merewyn's beauty away, she asks Varian to make love to her, and he does so. But he also convinces her that he loves her no matter what she looks like, and her beauty returns. But why? Has Narishka thought of some new plot with which to entwine them?
They reach Merlin and Nimue, only to realize that neither will help them escape. They didn't have enough power to contain Morgen when they created the Valley, and they cannot stand against her now. If they help Varian and the others escape, Morgen will come to the Valley, kill Emrys Merlin and Nimue, and they cannot allow that. Still bound by his mother's magic, Varian has no choice to submit, until Merewyn finds a way to free him, but loses her voice in the process. Morgen invades the valley, but Varian and a newcomer named Faran help keep her off and fire the bridge that connects Merlin and Nimue's section of the valley from the rest of the Valley of No Return. Morgen sends a message. Send either Merewyn or Varian to her, or she will kill everyone in the Valley. Merewyn makes love to Varian one last time, knocks him out, and tells Narishka to take her back.
When she does, Morgen and Narishka are pleased, for she is pregnant, and now they have the perfect way to control Varian. Merewyn despairs, knowing her sacrifice was for naught.
Varian, returned to consciousness, confesses to Merlin that he needs Merewyn... and attracts the attention of the God Damé, who takes Varian to Merewyn in Camelot. Even when Merewyn mouths that he must flee, Varian refuses to leave without her. Narishka and Morgen show up, claiming hold over Merewyn, but Damé says Merewyn sold him her life while she was in the Valley, and since the Valley has a moon, her term of service to Narishka is over. As they lead Merewyn away, Narishka tries one last time to steal her beauty and youth, but Varian takes the blow for her. When Merewyn declares she loves him anyway, despite what he looks like, the spell is broken and Varian is restored to youth and handsomeness.
They marry and the other knights begin to treat him better, but there is still a traitor loose in Avalon, and Merewyn knows who he is, for she has seen his face back when she was a hideous crone. When she finally reveals him, he attacks both Merewyn and Seren, inciting the rage of both men, Varian and Kerrigan. His fate will not be kind. for it is up to both ruthless men to determine.
Okay, much as I enjoyed the story, I found it very similar to that of Kerrigan. Both men came from mothers who raised them badly and abandoned them, and both had serious mother issues that generally translated to women. Both are seen as bad, even evil by some. Though the details differed (Varian was *also* treated badly by his stepmother and father), they were so similar I was afraid the author was going to fall into a rut. I'd read the next one, but if the story was very similar to the first two, I'd have a hard time continuing the series. I also rather disliked the idea of Varian's marriage as a bandaid concerning the other Knight's treatment of him. He gets married and they start treating him better. Okay, why exactly? Just because he married? Or, as the book states, because with her at his side, they see him as more a man than a demon? That just doesn't ring true given *why* the other knights despised him in the earlier portions of the book. I'd accept that they might treat him better around *her*, but the kind of reasons that were stated for the other knights not liking him didn't seem the kind of things that would just go away simply because he married a beautiful woman who obviously adores him.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Sword of Darkness
Seren is a journeyman weaver who wants to become a master. But when her fabric is turned down simply because the Guild has too many masters, she is incensed. When she emerges from the guild building, she is approached by two knights, Gareth and Agrivain, who tell her that she is fated to be the mother of the next Merlin, and that she should come with them.
Fearing them mad, she flees and is rescued by a handsome knight, who offers to help her. But he is not what he seems. As soon as he takes her beyond the limits of the town, he pulls her into Camelot, which has been taken over by Morgen LeFay and is now a place of Darkness. The Handsome Knight is actually Morgen's Chief Warrior and General, known as the Kerrigan. He was once human, but is now less so due to six hundred years of serving the twisted Morgen and being among the inhuman creatures that make up her court.
Morgen wants Seren for the same reason that the Knights of the Round Table do, she truly is fated to birth the next PenMerlin, ruler of all Merlins. The Current Merlin is a woman, living in Avalon with the rest of the Knights. The PenMerlin cannot be allowed to fall to Morgen, or she will extend her rulership over the entire world, not just portions of Britain.
The Kerrigan serves Morgen because she allows him to kill things for her. After 600 years of life, he is deathly bored. Others in her court would try to supplant him, but he holds the sword Caliburn, the spiritual opposite of Excalibur, dedicated to evil and destruction. Just as with Excalibur, Caliburn's scabbard makes Kerrigan both immortal and indestructible, so he always wins fights for his place. Everyone, save, perhaps Morgen, is scared of him and his wrath.
All except for Seren. She stands up to him, but instead of her resistance making him enraged, it amuses him. He guards her for Morgen, slowly growing in awe of her spirit and determination to be free, even if he thinks she is a fool. On the night she tries to escape, he is forced to save her from a Gargoyle that attempts to kill her. Knowing that Morgen will hurt her, he flees from the castle to the human world, bringing her to Joyouse Guard, Lancelot Du Lak's castle. But he doesn't have long before Morgen's forces track him down, and his only ally is his Draken servant, Blaise. Blaise, like Kerrigan, is the product of an abusive mother, only he is a human who can take on dragon form, and an albino to boot. Thrown out by his people, he serves Kerrigan because Kerrigan never treated him unjustly, and now he stays by Kerrigan's side rather than inform on him to Morgen.
Only a few days later, Morgen's forces gather, and Kerrigan throws up a mystic shield around the castle. But doing so cuts him off from the one thing that he needs to live, the life force of other humans. He puts Seren in the chapel where Lancelot is buried, and Lancelot's spirit appears to her and tells her that Kerrigan lives on the blood of little children, but tells her Kerrigan won't admit it because he is afraid of driving her away, even though he is completely evil. Seren rejects Lancelot's words, and that night, she and Kerrigan finally make love. She becomes pregnant immediately, and Morgen's forces begin their attack. Kerrigan castigates himself, for now that he has a child, it bears his blood and can be used by Morgen to replace him. He has just become dispensable. But at the same time, he cannot be sad knowing that Seren will be his child's mother, and if she is allowed to raise the child, raise it with love and affection, unlike his own childhood.
Desperate to save Seren, who he and Blaise have discovered is also a Merlin, descendant of the WarMerlin who holds the Loom of Caswellan, a magic loom that can create cloth unable to be pierced by any weapon of war, he takes her to the future with the help of two cursed gargoyles who distract Morgen's forces long enough to let them flee. He places Seren under the protection of the God Brea, and gives up Caliburn while gaining a powerless copy of the sword. He tells Brea to take Seren to Avalon, assuring her that he will follow her there. He goes with Blaise to retrieve the Loom and after sending the loom to Avalon, is captured by Morgen and her forces. She is enraged, but when she realizes that he no longer has Caliburn, she makes him the lowest slave in her castle, and sets the other warriors up in a contest to replace him.
Meanwhile, Seren is happy in Avalon, until she realizes that Kerrigan isn't going to follow her. Then, she tells the PenMerlin that she will be going back to Camelot to retrieve him, with or without her help. The Penmerlin acquiesces, sending Blaise, a female warrior named Elaine and the Cursed Gargoyle Garafyn back to the Camelot with Seren. They are able to sneak into the castle, but before they rescue Kerrigan, the contest to replace him starts, and he is killed as they stand there. Seren, unwilling to lose him, brings him back with dark and powerful magics... bringing him back human and mortal once more. There is a standoff between Morgen and the team from Avalon, which she seems destined to win, before Garafyn intervenes with the rest of the non-cursed Gargoyles, allowing them to flee before Morgen can kill them.
Kerrigan and Seren settle down to raise their children, and Morgen replaces her Kerrigan with Avador, a knight born of the Bloodline that holds another piece of the relics, the Stone of Taranis, and is the son of a demon lord besides.
This was a good book. I enjoy Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series, and this mixed up the theme of Camelot in a good way, much like Tin Man on the Sci-Fi Channel mixed up "The Wizard of Oz". I could readily believe that a man who was 600 years old would be bored of a life doing the same old, same old, over and over again and yet retain some measure of human decency beneath the skin of evil he wore. The heroine is also interesting, if a bit modern in her attitudes at times. I was rather surprised that the spirit of Lancelot lied to Seren, although the book doesn't make it clear that it really *is* Lancelot who is speaking to her, and not the God Brea instead.
I will definitely read more in this series. In fact, I have already started the second book, "Knight of Darkness" about a half-human, half-Adoni who serves the PenMerlin as her chief spy and assassin, and Merewyn, a human who long ago called up an Adoni to take her beauty from her so that she wouldn't be forced to marry, and now slave to that very same Adoni... who just happens to be Varian, the hero's, mother.
Fearing them mad, she flees and is rescued by a handsome knight, who offers to help her. But he is not what he seems. As soon as he takes her beyond the limits of the town, he pulls her into Camelot, which has been taken over by Morgen LeFay and is now a place of Darkness. The Handsome Knight is actually Morgen's Chief Warrior and General, known as the Kerrigan. He was once human, but is now less so due to six hundred years of serving the twisted Morgen and being among the inhuman creatures that make up her court.
Morgen wants Seren for the same reason that the Knights of the Round Table do, she truly is fated to birth the next PenMerlin, ruler of all Merlins. The Current Merlin is a woman, living in Avalon with the rest of the Knights. The PenMerlin cannot be allowed to fall to Morgen, or she will extend her rulership over the entire world, not just portions of Britain.
The Kerrigan serves Morgen because she allows him to kill things for her. After 600 years of life, he is deathly bored. Others in her court would try to supplant him, but he holds the sword Caliburn, the spiritual opposite of Excalibur, dedicated to evil and destruction. Just as with Excalibur, Caliburn's scabbard makes Kerrigan both immortal and indestructible, so he always wins fights for his place. Everyone, save, perhaps Morgen, is scared of him and his wrath.
All except for Seren. She stands up to him, but instead of her resistance making him enraged, it amuses him. He guards her for Morgen, slowly growing in awe of her spirit and determination to be free, even if he thinks she is a fool. On the night she tries to escape, he is forced to save her from a Gargoyle that attempts to kill her. Knowing that Morgen will hurt her, he flees from the castle to the human world, bringing her to Joyouse Guard, Lancelot Du Lak's castle. But he doesn't have long before Morgen's forces track him down, and his only ally is his Draken servant, Blaise. Blaise, like Kerrigan, is the product of an abusive mother, only he is a human who can take on dragon form, and an albino to boot. Thrown out by his people, he serves Kerrigan because Kerrigan never treated him unjustly, and now he stays by Kerrigan's side rather than inform on him to Morgen.
Only a few days later, Morgen's forces gather, and Kerrigan throws up a mystic shield around the castle. But doing so cuts him off from the one thing that he needs to live, the life force of other humans. He puts Seren in the chapel where Lancelot is buried, and Lancelot's spirit appears to her and tells her that Kerrigan lives on the blood of little children, but tells her Kerrigan won't admit it because he is afraid of driving her away, even though he is completely evil. Seren rejects Lancelot's words, and that night, she and Kerrigan finally make love. She becomes pregnant immediately, and Morgen's forces begin their attack. Kerrigan castigates himself, for now that he has a child, it bears his blood and can be used by Morgen to replace him. He has just become dispensable. But at the same time, he cannot be sad knowing that Seren will be his child's mother, and if she is allowed to raise the child, raise it with love and affection, unlike his own childhood.
Desperate to save Seren, who he and Blaise have discovered is also a Merlin, descendant of the WarMerlin who holds the Loom of Caswellan, a magic loom that can create cloth unable to be pierced by any weapon of war, he takes her to the future with the help of two cursed gargoyles who distract Morgen's forces long enough to let them flee. He places Seren under the protection of the God Brea, and gives up Caliburn while gaining a powerless copy of the sword. He tells Brea to take Seren to Avalon, assuring her that he will follow her there. He goes with Blaise to retrieve the Loom and after sending the loom to Avalon, is captured by Morgen and her forces. She is enraged, but when she realizes that he no longer has Caliburn, she makes him the lowest slave in her castle, and sets the other warriors up in a contest to replace him.
Meanwhile, Seren is happy in Avalon, until she realizes that Kerrigan isn't going to follow her. Then, she tells the PenMerlin that she will be going back to Camelot to retrieve him, with or without her help. The Penmerlin acquiesces, sending Blaise, a female warrior named Elaine and the Cursed Gargoyle Garafyn back to the Camelot with Seren. They are able to sneak into the castle, but before they rescue Kerrigan, the contest to replace him starts, and he is killed as they stand there. Seren, unwilling to lose him, brings him back with dark and powerful magics... bringing him back human and mortal once more. There is a standoff between Morgen and the team from Avalon, which she seems destined to win, before Garafyn intervenes with the rest of the non-cursed Gargoyles, allowing them to flee before Morgen can kill them.
Kerrigan and Seren settle down to raise their children, and Morgen replaces her Kerrigan with Avador, a knight born of the Bloodline that holds another piece of the relics, the Stone of Taranis, and is the son of a demon lord besides.
This was a good book. I enjoy Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series, and this mixed up the theme of Camelot in a good way, much like Tin Man on the Sci-Fi Channel mixed up "The Wizard of Oz". I could readily believe that a man who was 600 years old would be bored of a life doing the same old, same old, over and over again and yet retain some measure of human decency beneath the skin of evil he wore. The heroine is also interesting, if a bit modern in her attitudes at times. I was rather surprised that the spirit of Lancelot lied to Seren, although the book doesn't make it clear that it really *is* Lancelot who is speaking to her, and not the God Brea instead.
I will definitely read more in this series. In fact, I have already started the second book, "Knight of Darkness" about a half-human, half-Adoni who serves the PenMerlin as her chief spy and assassin, and Merewyn, a human who long ago called up an Adoni to take her beauty from her so that she wouldn't be forced to marry, and now slave to that very same Adoni... who just happens to be Varian, the hero's, mother.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Blood Fever
Bloodfever, by Karen Marie Moning, is the sequel to a book called "Darkfever". In that book, the heroine, MacKayla Lane, was informed of the death of her sister in Dublin, Ireland. The Garda, the Irish police, treated it as an open and shut case, and MacKayla went to Ireland to try and find her sister Alina's killer.
When she got there, she found out that she is of a long-forgotten bloodline called the SidheSeers, which allows her to see Sidhe, or Faeries. There are two bloodlines of Sidhe, the Seelie, or Light Fae, and the Unseelie, or Dark Fae. The differences between the two are minimal, but the Seelie signed a compact that will not allow them to take the life of a human (according to one SidheSeer in this book, not even all of them follow it, only very few do). MacKayla was nearly killed, but saved by a man named Jericho Barrons who gave her a job at his store. She cut her long blonde hair and dyed it black to diguise herself and fit in.
In Bloodfever, MacKayla is still working for Barrons when she is approached by a Guarda who tells her that her sister's case probably won't be solved. When Jericho shows up, the Guarda attempts to question him, too, and goes off with him. Shortly after, one of MacKayla's co-workers, who has a crush on Barrons, shows up and grills MacKayla about what she and Barron were doing together. Mac refuses to tell her, and that night, Mac is attacked by shadows, who were let into the shop when the lights were turned off. She manages to deal with most of them by moving through the shop with flashlights, and turning on the lights one by one. But when she is down to the last one, she trips over an ottoman and loses her flashlights. She lights matches, one by one, but they aren't enough to keep it away from her. She is saved by a Seelie Sidhe named V'lane, but she doesn't trust him as he is a sex to death sidhe, which means that once he has his way with you, you are brain-blasted and addicted to having sex with him. In agreement for his getting rid of the shadow, she agrees to talk with him for an hour. A human hour, not a Sidhe hour.
She also has a glimpse of a figure like Death, tall and garbed head to foot in black, head covered by a hood. She throws her flashlight at it, but it passes through, and she isn't sure if it ia an actual manifestation of death or a hallucination. When she sees it later and Barrons can't, she assumes it is merely a hallucination.
She and Barrons are after the same thing, a book, one of the Sidhe Hallows known as the Sinsar Dubh or "Dark Book". This is one of the eight major relics of the Fae. There are four for each branch of the Fae, from the Seelie there are the Sword, the Stone, the Spear and the Cauldron, and from the Unseelie, the amulet, the box, the mirror and the Book (the Sinsar Dubh). As a Sidheseer, MacKayla can feel the book, but its very darkness and power causes her to black out. Barrons knows where to look for the book, but cannot himself feel it. Thus, they are formed into a very uneasy truce.
Barrons takes MacKayla to an auction where pieces of art and other rare and one of a kind items are sold, and Barrons buys a few items, but is really interested in an amulet that is being sold there. An old man, obviously dying, buys it, certain it will keep him alive, healthy and immortal. Barrons wants MacKayla to steal it back, sure it is a faery object of power, perhaps even the Unseelie Hollow of the amulet. But, a week later, when they break in to steal it, it is already gone, stolen by someone else. And that isn't all. All of the humans, guards and household staff, on the estate have been slaughtered.
In the middle of all this, V'lane steals MacKayla away to talk to her. He also wants to know about the Sinsar Dubh, and where it may be found. MacKayla tells him who might have it, and that there is an Unseelie who has been bringing other Unseelie to the human world. V'lane asks if she wants this Unseelie dead, and she says yes. V'lane leaves her to deal with it, and MacKayla finds that her sister is there, too. After fighting against the appearance of her sister, she joins her, and they talk. MacKayla begs her sister's forgiveness for not being reachable while her sister was dying, and her sister forgives her. They spend six hours together before V'lane sends MacKayla back to the real world... where she finds an entire month has passed.
Barrons is furious with her, and wants to tattoo her to track her when he cannot find her. He didn't even know she was alive. MacKayla fights back, and instead, he makes her agree to wear an armlet that will allow him to track her if she should go missing again. MacKayla contacts the organization of Sidheseers, under the cover of the PHI message delivery company, and the leader, Rowena, asks MacKayla to join them. But MacKayla is upset that twice before Rowena left her to die, and declines. Rowena wants her as a tool and MacKayla is unwilling to be anyone's tool.
After her confrontation with Rowena, she goes to a bar to have a drink, and meets a man who knew her sister. She talks with him, but gets a call and must return home. Along the way, she realizes she is seeing many, many more Unseelie Sidhe in the streets, about 1 for every 10 humans. Obviously, things have changed while she was gone. Some of them start chasing her, and she flees back on foot in the direction of Barrons' bookshop. All the cabs she sees are being driven by the Sidhe she calls "Rhino-boys", who have faces like a Rhino's, and small, weak bodies. But since faeries can disguise themselves with glamour, no human can tell the difference.
As she flees, she runs into "Death" again, but this time, she is suprised to find out he is very much real. In reality, he is Malluce, the part-sidhe vampire she defeated in the last book. Since the spearhead she stabbed him with destroys Sidhe, it has only been destroying the sidhe parts of him. He is in constant pain and agony, thanks to her, and he wants his revenge. He strips her of all her things and begins breaking parts of her slowly, to prolong her agony.
With the cuff Barrons gave her stripped away, she has no hope of rescue, and so she taunts Malluce in a last gesture of defiance even as he inflicts more damage on her, enough to finally kill her, she hopes. But Barrons finds her, and she is forced to resort to an extremely disgusting act to stay alive, eating the flesh of an Unseelie Sidhe. But will it be enough to save her when Malluce catches up with her and Barrons once more?
I really enjoyed this book. The Fae are strange and creepy enough to make you believe that they are real, and although MacKayla makes some decisions that in other cases might make you upset with her or squick you out (Eating Unseelie Flesh being one example), the author roots us in her perceptions so deeply that you understand *why* she is doing the things she is, and sympathize with her, rather than getting angry with her and calling her stupid.
Of course, this being a novel with a strong romantic element, MacKayla finds herself pulled in several different romantic directions, to V'Lane, to Barrons her boss (even as she flatly denies interest in him and thinks he could never be interested in her- yet he's always complaining about her clothes being too tarty, which shows he is noticing them, and he wouldn't notice or care if he *weren't* interested), and now with Christian, the man who knew her sister. She has another man express interest in her during the novel, but dismisses him and puts him down to his face even though she wants his interest, because she's afraid he might get caught up the war with the Fae and be killed, adding to what she sees as her sins.
As yet, of course, we can't exactly cheer for any of these men to end up with her. V'Lane and Barrons want something from her, different in each case, and at this point, Christian is too much of a cipher for us to know much about them. If the series holds true to most models of this type, expect MacKayla to veer from one to another with amazing regularity before finally ending up with one, and probably Barrons.
Next up, Sword of Darkness by Kinley MacGregor (Sherrilyn Kenyon's other pen name).
When she got there, she found out that she is of a long-forgotten bloodline called the SidheSeers, which allows her to see Sidhe, or Faeries. There are two bloodlines of Sidhe, the Seelie, or Light Fae, and the Unseelie, or Dark Fae. The differences between the two are minimal, but the Seelie signed a compact that will not allow them to take the life of a human (according to one SidheSeer in this book, not even all of them follow it, only very few do). MacKayla was nearly killed, but saved by a man named Jericho Barrons who gave her a job at his store. She cut her long blonde hair and dyed it black to diguise herself and fit in.
In Bloodfever, MacKayla is still working for Barrons when she is approached by a Guarda who tells her that her sister's case probably won't be solved. When Jericho shows up, the Guarda attempts to question him, too, and goes off with him. Shortly after, one of MacKayla's co-workers, who has a crush on Barrons, shows up and grills MacKayla about what she and Barron were doing together. Mac refuses to tell her, and that night, Mac is attacked by shadows, who were let into the shop when the lights were turned off. She manages to deal with most of them by moving through the shop with flashlights, and turning on the lights one by one. But when she is down to the last one, she trips over an ottoman and loses her flashlights. She lights matches, one by one, but they aren't enough to keep it away from her. She is saved by a Seelie Sidhe named V'lane, but she doesn't trust him as he is a sex to death sidhe, which means that once he has his way with you, you are brain-blasted and addicted to having sex with him. In agreement for his getting rid of the shadow, she agrees to talk with him for an hour. A human hour, not a Sidhe hour.
She also has a glimpse of a figure like Death, tall and garbed head to foot in black, head covered by a hood. She throws her flashlight at it, but it passes through, and she isn't sure if it ia an actual manifestation of death or a hallucination. When she sees it later and Barrons can't, she assumes it is merely a hallucination.
She and Barrons are after the same thing, a book, one of the Sidhe Hallows known as the Sinsar Dubh or "Dark Book". This is one of the eight major relics of the Fae. There are four for each branch of the Fae, from the Seelie there are the Sword, the Stone, the Spear and the Cauldron, and from the Unseelie, the amulet, the box, the mirror and the Book (the Sinsar Dubh). As a Sidheseer, MacKayla can feel the book, but its very darkness and power causes her to black out. Barrons knows where to look for the book, but cannot himself feel it. Thus, they are formed into a very uneasy truce.
Barrons takes MacKayla to an auction where pieces of art and other rare and one of a kind items are sold, and Barrons buys a few items, but is really interested in an amulet that is being sold there. An old man, obviously dying, buys it, certain it will keep him alive, healthy and immortal. Barrons wants MacKayla to steal it back, sure it is a faery object of power, perhaps even the Unseelie Hollow of the amulet. But, a week later, when they break in to steal it, it is already gone, stolen by someone else. And that isn't all. All of the humans, guards and household staff, on the estate have been slaughtered.
In the middle of all this, V'lane steals MacKayla away to talk to her. He also wants to know about the Sinsar Dubh, and where it may be found. MacKayla tells him who might have it, and that there is an Unseelie who has been bringing other Unseelie to the human world. V'lane asks if she wants this Unseelie dead, and she says yes. V'lane leaves her to deal with it, and MacKayla finds that her sister is there, too. After fighting against the appearance of her sister, she joins her, and they talk. MacKayla begs her sister's forgiveness for not being reachable while her sister was dying, and her sister forgives her. They spend six hours together before V'lane sends MacKayla back to the real world... where she finds an entire month has passed.
Barrons is furious with her, and wants to tattoo her to track her when he cannot find her. He didn't even know she was alive. MacKayla fights back, and instead, he makes her agree to wear an armlet that will allow him to track her if she should go missing again. MacKayla contacts the organization of Sidheseers, under the cover of the PHI message delivery company, and the leader, Rowena, asks MacKayla to join them. But MacKayla is upset that twice before Rowena left her to die, and declines. Rowena wants her as a tool and MacKayla is unwilling to be anyone's tool.
After her confrontation with Rowena, she goes to a bar to have a drink, and meets a man who knew her sister. She talks with him, but gets a call and must return home. Along the way, she realizes she is seeing many, many more Unseelie Sidhe in the streets, about 1 for every 10 humans. Obviously, things have changed while she was gone. Some of them start chasing her, and she flees back on foot in the direction of Barrons' bookshop. All the cabs she sees are being driven by the Sidhe she calls "Rhino-boys", who have faces like a Rhino's, and small, weak bodies. But since faeries can disguise themselves with glamour, no human can tell the difference.
As she flees, she runs into "Death" again, but this time, she is suprised to find out he is very much real. In reality, he is Malluce, the part-sidhe vampire she defeated in the last book. Since the spearhead she stabbed him with destroys Sidhe, it has only been destroying the sidhe parts of him. He is in constant pain and agony, thanks to her, and he wants his revenge. He strips her of all her things and begins breaking parts of her slowly, to prolong her agony.
With the cuff Barrons gave her stripped away, she has no hope of rescue, and so she taunts Malluce in a last gesture of defiance even as he inflicts more damage on her, enough to finally kill her, she hopes. But Barrons finds her, and she is forced to resort to an extremely disgusting act to stay alive, eating the flesh of an Unseelie Sidhe. But will it be enough to save her when Malluce catches up with her and Barrons once more?
I really enjoyed this book. The Fae are strange and creepy enough to make you believe that they are real, and although MacKayla makes some decisions that in other cases might make you upset with her or squick you out (Eating Unseelie Flesh being one example), the author roots us in her perceptions so deeply that you understand *why* she is doing the things she is, and sympathize with her, rather than getting angry with her and calling her stupid.
Of course, this being a novel with a strong romantic element, MacKayla finds herself pulled in several different romantic directions, to V'Lane, to Barrons her boss (even as she flatly denies interest in him and thinks he could never be interested in her- yet he's always complaining about her clothes being too tarty, which shows he is noticing them, and he wouldn't notice or care if he *weren't* interested), and now with Christian, the man who knew her sister. She has another man express interest in her during the novel, but dismisses him and puts him down to his face even though she wants his interest, because she's afraid he might get caught up the war with the Fae and be killed, adding to what she sees as her sins.
As yet, of course, we can't exactly cheer for any of these men to end up with her. V'Lane and Barrons want something from her, different in each case, and at this point, Christian is too much of a cipher for us to know much about them. If the series holds true to most models of this type, expect MacKayla to veer from one to another with amazing regularity before finally ending up with one, and probably Barrons.
Next up, Sword of Darkness by Kinley MacGregor (Sherrilyn Kenyon's other pen name).
A Purr-fect Mystery
Concerns Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen. Last book, she remarried her ex-husband, Fair Haristeen, a veterinarian. Her pets, Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, both cats, and Tee Tucker, a Welsh Corgi, are overjoyed to have Fair back, and usually help Harry with uncovering mysteries. They don't have the chance to do that when a local doctor, Will Wylde, is shot and killed. Will is an OB/GYN and also served as an abortionist when local women got in trouble. But after very short order, a man named Jonathan Bechtal confesses to the murder. Jonathan Bechtal runs an anti-abortion organization named, "Love for Life", and claims to have done God's work, being "The Hammer in the Hand of God".
Everyone is sorry for Will's wife, Bernita, no matter their views or stance on abortion, and offers her their support. But shortly afterwards, there is another murder, that of a local woman named Carla Paulson, in the middle of a gala white-tie dinner at Poplar Forest, a home once owned by Thomas Jefferson. She is murdered on the front lawn while everyone is sitting down to dinner and listening to speeches, and a woman named Tazio Chappars, a young architect who was building a new house for Mrs. Paulson, is found standing over the dead body holding the knife.
Harry doesn't believe Tazio, who she knows well, could ever do such a thing, and is determined to find out who really killed Carla Paulson. But the suspect list is far from small. Carla was rich but vulgar, and her determination to have everything her own way, not to mention complain and argue if she felt she was being taken, have not made her a popular woman. In addition to Tazio being frustrated with her, she also had an antagonistic relationship with Michael MacElvoy, the building inspector working on her new house. He had given her a list of expensive changes that would have to be made to bring her house up to code, and she felt he was being ridiculous. She offered him money, and he refused to take it, which really set her off. But was it bad enough that he would kill her for it?
Harry is told by "Big" Mim Sanburne that her daughter, known as "Little" Mim Sanburne is being blackmailed for an incident involving an abortion she had when she was in college. It was performed by Will Wylde, and she doesn't think anyone knew about it but herself and the now-dead doctor. As "Little" Mim is now in politics, and a Republican, if this is leaked, it could ruin her political career, as she has been for the abolition of abortion, although generally avoided the position in public speaking. It would make her look foolish and hypocritical. But she manages to save herself by changing her position on abortion and claiming her own experience with it as the reason for her changing her mind.
The blackmail letter she recieved asked for the money to be sent to the same post office box as "Love for Life", and was sent *after* Jonathan Bechtal was imprisoned. But how could that be? Obviously, he has an accomplice on the outside who sent the letters. But who is it, and do they have anything to do with Carla Paulson's death? Harry goes around to the other women who had to deal with Michael MacElvoy, and discovers that one of them was also being blackmailed, and that the money was to be sent to the Love for Life address, blackmailed because she had an affair, and couldn't tell her husband, who had made her sign a prenuptual agreement stipulating divorce with nothing to her should she ever be unfaithful.
And from a contractor that worked with Mike MacElvoy, that he always had a problem with women he worked for if there was no husband around. This makes Harry suspicious that Mike MacElvoy may not be guilty of murder, but he is certainly guilty of something. But when Harry goes in search of evidence in Mike's shed, it will be up to the animals to protect her and very possibly save her life.
I must dearly confess, I love me some Rita Mae Brown. She has perfectly captured both Southern society and the lives of animals, right to the way they will "talk" back to the owners. Her animal characters are just as well-developed as her human characters, and, just as humans try to understand their pets, the pets also try to understand their humans, and sometimes the animals scoff at the foibles of "their" humans. She also writes some of the most well-constructed mysteries I have ever read.
Harry is the kind of friend we all would want, willing to go out on a limb when her friends are in danger, smart, tough and not at all concerned for her good looks. The illustrations in the book are all of, as co-writer Sneaky Pie Brown would say, the most important characters in the books: Mrs. Murphy, Pewter and Tee Tucker. You do get to see Harry's body in one of them, but not her head or her face (which is good, because nothing in a picture could live up to the image of Harry I have in my head. Not even the single movie, starring Rikki Lake, lives up to the Harry in my head. Not to mention they made Tee Tucker male in the movie, whereas she is female in the books. Blythe Danner's voice as Mrs. Murphy's has, however.)
In short, if you are an animal lover who loves animal mysteries, or even if you aren't and just love mysteries, give Rita Mae Brown and Mrs. Murphy a try. I think you'll be glad you did.
Everyone is sorry for Will's wife, Bernita, no matter their views or stance on abortion, and offers her their support. But shortly afterwards, there is another murder, that of a local woman named Carla Paulson, in the middle of a gala white-tie dinner at Poplar Forest, a home once owned by Thomas Jefferson. She is murdered on the front lawn while everyone is sitting down to dinner and listening to speeches, and a woman named Tazio Chappars, a young architect who was building a new house for Mrs. Paulson, is found standing over the dead body holding the knife.
Harry doesn't believe Tazio, who she knows well, could ever do such a thing, and is determined to find out who really killed Carla Paulson. But the suspect list is far from small. Carla was rich but vulgar, and her determination to have everything her own way, not to mention complain and argue if she felt she was being taken, have not made her a popular woman. In addition to Tazio being frustrated with her, she also had an antagonistic relationship with Michael MacElvoy, the building inspector working on her new house. He had given her a list of expensive changes that would have to be made to bring her house up to code, and she felt he was being ridiculous. She offered him money, and he refused to take it, which really set her off. But was it bad enough that he would kill her for it?
Harry is told by "Big" Mim Sanburne that her daughter, known as "Little" Mim Sanburne is being blackmailed for an incident involving an abortion she had when she was in college. It was performed by Will Wylde, and she doesn't think anyone knew about it but herself and the now-dead doctor. As "Little" Mim is now in politics, and a Republican, if this is leaked, it could ruin her political career, as she has been for the abolition of abortion, although generally avoided the position in public speaking. It would make her look foolish and hypocritical. But she manages to save herself by changing her position on abortion and claiming her own experience with it as the reason for her changing her mind.
The blackmail letter she recieved asked for the money to be sent to the same post office box as "Love for Life", and was sent *after* Jonathan Bechtal was imprisoned. But how could that be? Obviously, he has an accomplice on the outside who sent the letters. But who is it, and do they have anything to do with Carla Paulson's death? Harry goes around to the other women who had to deal with Michael MacElvoy, and discovers that one of them was also being blackmailed, and that the money was to be sent to the Love for Life address, blackmailed because she had an affair, and couldn't tell her husband, who had made her sign a prenuptual agreement stipulating divorce with nothing to her should she ever be unfaithful.
And from a contractor that worked with Mike MacElvoy, that he always had a problem with women he worked for if there was no husband around. This makes Harry suspicious that Mike MacElvoy may not be guilty of murder, but he is certainly guilty of something. But when Harry goes in search of evidence in Mike's shed, it will be up to the animals to protect her and very possibly save her life.
I must dearly confess, I love me some Rita Mae Brown. She has perfectly captured both Southern society and the lives of animals, right to the way they will "talk" back to the owners. Her animal characters are just as well-developed as her human characters, and, just as humans try to understand their pets, the pets also try to understand their humans, and sometimes the animals scoff at the foibles of "their" humans. She also writes some of the most well-constructed mysteries I have ever read.
Harry is the kind of friend we all would want, willing to go out on a limb when her friends are in danger, smart, tough and not at all concerned for her good looks. The illustrations in the book are all of, as co-writer Sneaky Pie Brown would say, the most important characters in the books: Mrs. Murphy, Pewter and Tee Tucker. You do get to see Harry's body in one of them, but not her head or her face (which is good, because nothing in a picture could live up to the image of Harry I have in my head. Not even the single movie, starring Rikki Lake, lives up to the Harry in my head. Not to mention they made Tee Tucker male in the movie, whereas she is female in the books. Blythe Danner's voice as Mrs. Murphy's has, however.)
In short, if you are an animal lover who loves animal mysteries, or even if you aren't and just love mysteries, give Rita Mae Brown and Mrs. Murphy a try. I think you'll be glad you did.
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