Rosalind de la Fontaine doesn't know where she really came from, or her name, or even how old she really is. Her "uncle", Ryder Sherbrooke rescued her when she was beaten nearly to death, although there was something unusual about how he found her. It seems he was led to her by a strange voice and quality of light. When she was rescued, she was nearly dead, and at first, they despaired of her life, but she was given copious medical attention and rallied, and was eventually adopted into the family alongside the Sherbrooke's real son Grayson. She didn't speak for six months, and then she only sang a verse to a song which seems to enchant everyone who hears it.
In 1835, the Sherbrookes give her a season in London. She is now a young woman with red hair that puts Titian's color to shame, and bright blue eyes. At one of the balls, she meets Nicolas Vail, the Earl of Mountjoy, newly returned from Macau. Common wisdom says he is penniless and has come seeking a rcih heiress. But Rosalinde doesn't have that much money. Nicolas is charmed by Rosalind and asks to accompany her to a local fair. During the fair, her brother Grayson purchases a rare volume, The Rules of the Pale, from a book vendor who promptly disappears from his place, and, more slowly, from the memories of the merchants nearby.
When the time comes to read the book, it seems to be written in an impenetrable code... that only Rosalind can read. Why? No one is sure, least of all, Rosalind. And she can read it as easily as reading English. Nicolas is amazed, not the least of which because his grandfather has a copy of the same book. And his grandfather had a reputation as a wizard. Or being mad, which some assume is the same thing. Nicholas listens as Rosalind reads the book, while Grayson transcribes her words. The story tells of a 16th century wizard named Sarimund, who visited a place outside our world and time. Rosalind views it as an allegory, although she has had dreams about a character mentioned in the book, Rennat, the wizard of the east. The last part of the book, although it seems to be in the same code, is utterly impenetrable to Rosalind, and she cannot say why.
Rosalind has fallen in love with Nicolas, but his family, namely, his stepmother and two stepbrothers, hates and resents him. His father, stirred by his stepmother's resentment, cut him off penniless when he was only a child, and concieved a real, lasting hatred for him. His two older step-brothers, Richard and Lancelot, were raised with hatred for him as practically their mother's milk. Now that Nicolas is fixing on Rosalind as a wife (and threatening their position by engendering an heir), they first attempt to warn her off, which Rosalind deflects easily, and then attempt to kidnap her, but instead get the wrong girl, Grayson's date. When they realize they have the wrong one, they send her back, but Lorelai is no fainting miss, and she sees part of the crest on the coach door, which allows Nicolas to discover who had her kidnapped. He goes to visit his brothers and pounds some sense into Richard, the oldest, telling him that if he tries such a stunt again, Nicolas will kill him, and Lance, too.
Due to the threat of the kidnapping, Nicolas and Rosalind's wedding is moved up, and he invites his stepmother and stepbrothers to the wedding. His stepmother and older two stepbrothers are surly and drink too much when they attend, but his youngest stepbrother, Aubrey, a scholar at Oxford, has no animus towards Nicholas, and is merry and happy, much to the distaste of his mother and older brothers. In addition, Aubrey has the same coloring as Rosalind, which seems unusual in his family.
When Nicolas and Rosalind head to his manor house, they find that the spirit of Nicholas' grandfather has inhabited the place, singing in the library, and it has chased off a good deal of the house's workers, who find it very uncanny indeed. Rosalind and Nicholas enjoy their wedding night greatly, and the next few days are spent settling in. Nicholas finds his grandfather's copy of The Rules of the Pale, but it is different from the one Grayson purchased, and seems not as long. In the course of investigating the house, and the ghost, they find that the Ghost is not Nicolas's grandfather after all, but Jared Vail, sea captain and progenitor of the Vail line. He sings them the first two verses of a song, which verse that Rosalind sang so long ago completes.
While they convince the servants to return to the house, Rosalind starts translating the version of The Rules of the Pale owned by Nicholas's grandfather. It is different, very different, and almost seems to be another book entirely, speaking of the witches and Wizards that make the Pale their home, as well as the treachery of Epona, the wizard Sarimund was chosen to sleep with and engender a child with. He stayed with her for six days, and then chose to leave. But in the real world, only a single night seems to have passed. There is more in the book, but the pages seem stuck together, unable to be parted.
More mundane concerns begin to press them at this point. First, Rosalind finds out that Nicholas dreamed of her long before they met, and he was told she was his debt that he had to pay. Rosalind thinks that Nicholas married her only for that reason, and convinces herself that he doesn't really love her. She tries to spend the night apart from him, only to have a vision of Sarimund, which catapults her into perfect whiteness. Nicholas breaks into the room where she is sleeping and finds her all white, even her hair, holding a jeweled dagger which drips white blood. When he wakes her, however, she slowly recovers, and the white blood disappears from the dagger.
She hadn't had the dagger before she went to bed, it being locked in a case downstairs, and so it somehow came to her. More frightening is her vision, in which Sarimund told her he would see her soon. He also told her the rest of the book would unlock for her now, and it does, but they are interrupted by the arrival of his stepmother and stepbrothers, with the news that Richard had a dream of Rosalind cutting his heart out in a pagan-style sacrifice, and that he should get rid of her before she kills him. Nicholas disdains to do this, but his acceptance of Richard's dream does much to redeem him in Richard's eyes.
Finally, Nicholas and Rosalind realize that she has been being groomed all her life for one task, and it is Nicholas' job to help and support her. When they are taken bodily to the Pale, will they be able to survive and get the job done, despite having never wielded any sort of magic before?
I found this book hard to get into at the beginning, because the language spoken by the characters seemed strangely... stilted. But as I continued to read, the story came out and grabbed me. The longer I read, the easier it was for me to ignore the stiltedness of the language and simply read for the plot. Neither of the characters really grabbed me, it was more the plot that kept me reading. Nicholas is standard Romancelandia hero and Rosalind is more or less a straight Romancelandia heroine, with nothing that really stood out in their characterization to make me think any different. Of course, there are the usual family troubles from one side, and the "big misunderstanding" to keep them apart, although in this case, it thankfully didn't last very long. I was curious as to why Nicholas didn't simply tell her that he had fallen in love with her anyway when she accused him of marrying her for the debt.
In any case, the idea of both Nicholas and Rosalind being magicians is more interesting than the characters themselves, at least to me. Now, I admit I am slightly turned off by Catherine Coulter because I read her first novel, "Devil's Embrace" and it was so unsexy and morally disgusting to me that I wanted to go out and permanently geld the hero and pay for the heroine to get a brain implanted in her skull, as the one God gave her wasn't working. Reading "The Wizard's Daughter" has only very slightly improved my opinion of her.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Saturday, March 08, 2008
The Edge Chronicles #9 Clash of the Sky Galleons
Quint Verginix is a knight academic at the great Academy of Sanctaphrax. His father, Wind Jackal, is a Sky Pirate, or a ship master of one of the great sky-ships. Quint has been taken from Sanctaphrax by his father to in search of his father's greatest enemy, Turbot Smeal.
At one time, Turbot Smeal worked for his father as a quartermaster, but when Turbot would have sold a rescued crew of slaves to another set of slavers, for a hefty profit, Wind Jackal and his quartermaster parted ways. But Turbot Smeal had his revenge by firing much of the city of Undertown, a fire which claimed the life of Quint's mother and four brothers, as well as much of the city. Turbot Smeal was supposedly burned to death in the same conflagration, but now he has returned, and apparently he wants revenge on Wind Jackal. And Wind Jackal wants the company of his son, Quint.
But Quint doesn't come alone on this journey, he is accompanied by his close friend Maris Pallitax, the daughter of Wind Jackal's best friend, the former headmaster of Sanctaphrax. Also along for the ride is the crew of Wind Jackal's sky ship, the Galerider: Filbus Queep the Quartermaster, Spillins, the ancient oakelf lookout for the ship, Ratbit, a mobgnome, Steg Jambles, the harpooner, Tem Barkwater, Sagbutt, the fierce goblin brawn and warrior, and their pilot, The Stone Pilot, an ever-silent woman who almost never removes the black rones and point-shaped tall hood of her profession.
On the journey, they also meet another young sky pirate named Thaw Daggerslash, who seems to be constantly near them when they go in search of Turbot Smeal. Thaw wants nothing more than to command his own sky ship, but with a lack of money, he can only buy himself a mere canoe compared to the Galerider. But he aims high, wanting to inscribe his name on the tables at the Tarry Vine tavern next to the other famous Sky Pirates.
As Quint, Maris and Wind Jackal fulfill the Galerider's shipping contracts, they find Thaw again at the great Shrike Slave Market, where Thaw has sold his only crew-mate, an Albino Banderbear, into slavery. Claiming that it was done by an unscrupulous crewmate, Thaw prevails upon Wind Jackal to free the Banderbear, which he buys back with a crate of candles from Undertown. Then, Wind Jackal takes the two into his crew to replace losses of the crew he has had, and when he pursues Turbot Smeal onto an abandoned and overgrown wreck of a Sky Galleon, Smeal stabs Wind Jackal, then is killed by Thaw.
After Wind Jackal's funeral, a new captain must be elected on the ship. Since there are two qualified for the position, Thaw and Quint, the crew must select between them by giving their choice shryke teeth. Whoever gets the most teeth in 36 hours will be the new captain. Quint gets the tooth from Spillins right away, as the Oakelf can see Thaw's aura and it is the worst he has ever seen. Quint also gets one from Tem Barkwater, who is fed up with the unkind jokes Thaw has made about him being a former slave. Thaw gets one from Duggin, to whom he promises his Sky barge, and another. With the vote tied at two each, Thaw picks the tooth from the Stone Pilot's robe and drops it overboard. When the time comes to vote, the lone deciding vote falls to Maris. When she sees the look of gloating on his face as the Stone Pilot frantically searches for her tooth, she hands her tooth to Quint. Thaw is devastated, but tries not to show it, and the next morning he is gone.
Quint delivers the last cargo, a load of bloodoak timber, and hears that the merchants of Undertown are going to get rid of the Sky Pirates and found their own fleet. Quint warns the other Sky pirates, and takes three of his fellow Sky-Knights into his crew to replace those that have gone missing. And then it is on to the Wilderness Lair, where the Sky Pirates have regrouped to plan what they will do next. When the merchants take the battle to them, the Sky Pirates fight back, until the merchants bring out their secret weapon, a massive Sky battleship bearing the largest flight rock ever grown. With it, the battleship is faster and more maneuverable than any Sky Pirate ship, and it's up to Quint and his crew to somehow defeat it and save the day.
This is a great series, and even if the focus of the stories leaps around in time from character to character, the whole is pretty amazing. Both the writer. Paul Stewart, and the artist, Chris Riddell come up with some ugly, amazing and flat-out outlandish designs for the other races Quint and the rest of the characters meet. This also carries over into the designs of natural animals and trees in the illustrations that are scattered throughout the books. Even the main race, respresented by Quint, Maris and Quint's father, aren't really human but bear more of a resemblance to elves, with pointed ears and snub noses.
This book may not be to everyone's taste, but as an example of Juvenile Fantasy, it's hard to beat.
I also got a chance to read some more manga today. Pantheon High #2, Trigun #12, Zatch Bell #17 and Tsubasa: Resevoir Chronicle #16.
In Trigun, the ships from earth have arrived, with two plants on board. One of them is taken over by Knives, but Vash forces a showdown with his brother. It all comes down to; Will Vash be able to shoot to kill his brother? And we also get to see the origin of Legato Bluesummers and why he is so devoted to Knives.
In Pantheon High, The school is now safe, and the gods have defeated the godlings who took over the school. But the other students are still in enchanted sleep, and two of the four godlings who defended the school, Griffin and Grace were devoured by Jorgmunder the World Serpent and got taken to the afterlife.
Since Griffin is the son of Hades, this is no big for him. As the son of the God of the Dead, this is where he belongs, right? Grace, on the other hand, got her hand mangled and due to a bite from Idun's golden apples, lies on the brink of life and death. She is taken to Valhalla by the Valkyries, but they break out and have to make their way home by travelling through the afterlives of various pantheons.
Meanwhile the other two remaining students, Aziza, daughter of the Sun-God Ra and Yukio, son of the Japanese luck Goddess Benten, are sent to rival school Gilgamesh High until the other students can be revived. Gilgamesh High is attended by the children of the Aztec, Hindu, Mesopotamian and Pacific Island Gods. Yukio is recruited for the Tlachtli team by Khetan, son of a Goddess of Bad Luck. But when the other students are revived, Yukio is challenged to a Tlachtli match according to the ancient rites, which means the losing team will be sacrificed to the Gods of the winning team. How fast can Yukio learn the game?
Meanwhile, someone is stealing the God's symbols of power, without which, the Gods are mostly powerless. It's now up to Aziza, Yukio, Katya, the daughter of Bastet and Joanna, daughter of Isis, to find out who has been stealing them and find them and bring them back before the evil gods can overpower the good ones. Due to the timely return of Grace and Griffin, and Yukip managing to end the Tlachtli match in a draw, the crisis is averted. But can they defeat Headmaster Prometheus, who seems to be behind the whole thing?
In Tsubasa, the group has come to Tokyo, but the return of Syaoran brings forward some hard truths about his origins, and a surprising betrayal from within the team. Can Sakura bring Syaoran back to himself before he kills everyone else? And what will this mean to Clow Reed, sorceror and not-so-nice-guy to whom Sakura is his inheritor and Syaoran his spiritual successor. When Syaoran has his soul drained away, what can be left?
And in Zatch Bell, the fight against the Mamudo from 1000 years ago is nearing its end. Zatch and the others face off against Demolt, the guardian of stone and strongest of the 1000 year old Mamudo. Sherry and her Mamudo Brago must face the manipulative Mamudo Zofia and his partner, Sherry's old friend Koko, who has apparently turned evil and become a partner to Zofis. Can Sherry keep her heart and strength of purpose when Koko reveals their entire friendship was based on a lie?
At one time, Turbot Smeal worked for his father as a quartermaster, but when Turbot would have sold a rescued crew of slaves to another set of slavers, for a hefty profit, Wind Jackal and his quartermaster parted ways. But Turbot Smeal had his revenge by firing much of the city of Undertown, a fire which claimed the life of Quint's mother and four brothers, as well as much of the city. Turbot Smeal was supposedly burned to death in the same conflagration, but now he has returned, and apparently he wants revenge on Wind Jackal. And Wind Jackal wants the company of his son, Quint.
But Quint doesn't come alone on this journey, he is accompanied by his close friend Maris Pallitax, the daughter of Wind Jackal's best friend, the former headmaster of Sanctaphrax. Also along for the ride is the crew of Wind Jackal's sky ship, the Galerider: Filbus Queep the Quartermaster, Spillins, the ancient oakelf lookout for the ship, Ratbit, a mobgnome, Steg Jambles, the harpooner, Tem Barkwater, Sagbutt, the fierce goblin brawn and warrior, and their pilot, The Stone Pilot, an ever-silent woman who almost never removes the black rones and point-shaped tall hood of her profession.
On the journey, they also meet another young sky pirate named Thaw Daggerslash, who seems to be constantly near them when they go in search of Turbot Smeal. Thaw wants nothing more than to command his own sky ship, but with a lack of money, he can only buy himself a mere canoe compared to the Galerider. But he aims high, wanting to inscribe his name on the tables at the Tarry Vine tavern next to the other famous Sky Pirates.
As Quint, Maris and Wind Jackal fulfill the Galerider's shipping contracts, they find Thaw again at the great Shrike Slave Market, where Thaw has sold his only crew-mate, an Albino Banderbear, into slavery. Claiming that it was done by an unscrupulous crewmate, Thaw prevails upon Wind Jackal to free the Banderbear, which he buys back with a crate of candles from Undertown. Then, Wind Jackal takes the two into his crew to replace losses of the crew he has had, and when he pursues Turbot Smeal onto an abandoned and overgrown wreck of a Sky Galleon, Smeal stabs Wind Jackal, then is killed by Thaw.
After Wind Jackal's funeral, a new captain must be elected on the ship. Since there are two qualified for the position, Thaw and Quint, the crew must select between them by giving their choice shryke teeth. Whoever gets the most teeth in 36 hours will be the new captain. Quint gets the tooth from Spillins right away, as the Oakelf can see Thaw's aura and it is the worst he has ever seen. Quint also gets one from Tem Barkwater, who is fed up with the unkind jokes Thaw has made about him being a former slave. Thaw gets one from Duggin, to whom he promises his Sky barge, and another. With the vote tied at two each, Thaw picks the tooth from the Stone Pilot's robe and drops it overboard. When the time comes to vote, the lone deciding vote falls to Maris. When she sees the look of gloating on his face as the Stone Pilot frantically searches for her tooth, she hands her tooth to Quint. Thaw is devastated, but tries not to show it, and the next morning he is gone.
Quint delivers the last cargo, a load of bloodoak timber, and hears that the merchants of Undertown are going to get rid of the Sky Pirates and found their own fleet. Quint warns the other Sky pirates, and takes three of his fellow Sky-Knights into his crew to replace those that have gone missing. And then it is on to the Wilderness Lair, where the Sky Pirates have regrouped to plan what they will do next. When the merchants take the battle to them, the Sky Pirates fight back, until the merchants bring out their secret weapon, a massive Sky battleship bearing the largest flight rock ever grown. With it, the battleship is faster and more maneuverable than any Sky Pirate ship, and it's up to Quint and his crew to somehow defeat it and save the day.
This is a great series, and even if the focus of the stories leaps around in time from character to character, the whole is pretty amazing. Both the writer. Paul Stewart, and the artist, Chris Riddell come up with some ugly, amazing and flat-out outlandish designs for the other races Quint and the rest of the characters meet. This also carries over into the designs of natural animals and trees in the illustrations that are scattered throughout the books. Even the main race, respresented by Quint, Maris and Quint's father, aren't really human but bear more of a resemblance to elves, with pointed ears and snub noses.
This book may not be to everyone's taste, but as an example of Juvenile Fantasy, it's hard to beat.
I also got a chance to read some more manga today. Pantheon High #2, Trigun #12, Zatch Bell #17 and Tsubasa: Resevoir Chronicle #16.
In Trigun, the ships from earth have arrived, with two plants on board. One of them is taken over by Knives, but Vash forces a showdown with his brother. It all comes down to; Will Vash be able to shoot to kill his brother? And we also get to see the origin of Legato Bluesummers and why he is so devoted to Knives.
In Pantheon High, The school is now safe, and the gods have defeated the godlings who took over the school. But the other students are still in enchanted sleep, and two of the four godlings who defended the school, Griffin and Grace were devoured by Jorgmunder the World Serpent and got taken to the afterlife.
Since Griffin is the son of Hades, this is no big for him. As the son of the God of the Dead, this is where he belongs, right? Grace, on the other hand, got her hand mangled and due to a bite from Idun's golden apples, lies on the brink of life and death. She is taken to Valhalla by the Valkyries, but they break out and have to make their way home by travelling through the afterlives of various pantheons.
Meanwhile the other two remaining students, Aziza, daughter of the Sun-God Ra and Yukio, son of the Japanese luck Goddess Benten, are sent to rival school Gilgamesh High until the other students can be revived. Gilgamesh High is attended by the children of the Aztec, Hindu, Mesopotamian and Pacific Island Gods. Yukio is recruited for the Tlachtli team by Khetan, son of a Goddess of Bad Luck. But when the other students are revived, Yukio is challenged to a Tlachtli match according to the ancient rites, which means the losing team will be sacrificed to the Gods of the winning team. How fast can Yukio learn the game?
Meanwhile, someone is stealing the God's symbols of power, without which, the Gods are mostly powerless. It's now up to Aziza, Yukio, Katya, the daughter of Bastet and Joanna, daughter of Isis, to find out who has been stealing them and find them and bring them back before the evil gods can overpower the good ones. Due to the timely return of Grace and Griffin, and Yukip managing to end the Tlachtli match in a draw, the crisis is averted. But can they defeat Headmaster Prometheus, who seems to be behind the whole thing?
In Tsubasa, the group has come to Tokyo, but the return of Syaoran brings forward some hard truths about his origins, and a surprising betrayal from within the team. Can Sakura bring Syaoran back to himself before he kills everyone else? And what will this mean to Clow Reed, sorceror and not-so-nice-guy to whom Sakura is his inheritor and Syaoran his spiritual successor. When Syaoran has his soul drained away, what can be left?
And in Zatch Bell, the fight against the Mamudo from 1000 years ago is nearing its end. Zatch and the others face off against Demolt, the guardian of stone and strongest of the 1000 year old Mamudo. Sherry and her Mamudo Brago must face the manipulative Mamudo Zofia and his partner, Sherry's old friend Koko, who has apparently turned evil and become a partner to Zofis. Can Sherry keep her heart and strength of purpose when Koko reveals their entire friendship was based on a lie?
Friday, March 07, 2008
Trigun Maximum 8-11 by Yasuhiro Nightow
Millions Knives is ready to enact his revenge against the humans, hating them for enslaving the plants, as Trigun Maximum #8 starts. He has his brother Vash the Stampede, prisoner, and is torturing him with the aid of Legato Bluesummers, who is still in his iron-lung type device. Knives has constructed a ship, an airship that can contain the many plants who he is going to abuct or free, and which looks like one of the ships that the humans travelled to this planet in. Vash tries to get Knives to leave the humans alone, citing Rem as an example, but Knives will not be dissuaded. He imprisons Vash in the same place the other plants will soon occupy and goes to stand on the bow, calling the other plants to him.
The plants come and fill the ship, abandoning the glass light-bulb-like containment centers they live in and flocking to the ship like clouds of angels. Their passage leaves the human cities and towns dark and powerless, and they are then destroyed by the remaining Gung-Ho Guns and Cybernetic mercenaries that Knives employs. As the ship passes, thousands of humans are killed, wiping areas of the planet free of their (to Knives' eyes) polluting presence. Vash has a dream of a child and a woman thanking a plant for providing them with power and everything they have, while a man (the woman's husband) looks on proudly in the background. Vash is rescued from the barge by Wolfwood, who manages to free him under the nose of one of the Gung-Ho Guns, Elendira the Crimsonnail and also Legato Bluesummers. Wolfwood is opposed by the man who taught him how to be a killer and assassin, the Head of the Eye of Michael, and his new assassin, Livio. They escape, but Wolfwood reveals that he has been aged faster by his training, that only a few years ago he was still a child. He returns Vash to the people from the ship.
Meanwhile, Wolfwood goes off on his own, where he encounters a woman whose father has a Plant, but it required expensive maintenance. To get the money, he dealt with a shady man who now wants the daughter for his bride. Either that, or the plant. And now that her father is dead, she doesn't like either of those two options. Wolfwood calls her childish, but his very presence makes the man attack them, accusing Wolfwood of sleeping with her. Wolfwood defeats the man's tank, does the service for her dead father, tells off the girl again, and is about to leave when she gives him a carving of a bird, and says she is now free. Wolfwood is dismissive, but keeps the carving.
The next issue has Wolfwood remembering his life at the orphanage and "Crybaby Livio", who was something of a friend to him. But when one of the orphans lost a precious pet, and Livio was found with bloody hands, everyone blamed him, even though he claimed he hadn't done it. Shortly afterwards, Livio ran away, and then Wolfwood left, to eventually become an assassin. Since the orphanage he grew up in is in the path of Knives' gunship, he goes to save them. But his mentor from the Eye of Michael is there, along with a bunch of Cybernetic mercenaries, the Tiger Clan. Wolfwood defeats the Tiger Clan without killing them, which they consider the height of shame, and Wolfwood's mentor kills them, then reveals the true person who will defeat Wolfwood, Razlo, the Tri-Punisher of Death. Like Wolfwood, he carries a Punisher Cross, but unlike Wolfwood, he carries three of them. And he can regenerate any wound to his body that doesn't immediately kill him.
He and Wolfwood fight for part of issue nine and most of issue ten. Wolfwood carries three vials that can also bring him back from near-death and heal him, but using them accelerates his aging. He is nearly defeated by Razlo, but in the fight, he grabs his mentor's vials and drinks two of them at once, which allows him to finish the fight and beat up Razlo/Livio. However, the damage from drinking the last two vials allows him to share a last drink with Vash before he dies. Vash is almost broken by Wolfwood's death, but Razlo comes back to his true personality as "Crybaby Livio" and accompanies Vash back to the ship. Vash uses some of his power as a plant and buries Wolfwood, setting up his Cross Punisher as a memorial for him.
All the remaining humans have gathered in one city, and a ship from Earth is on its way to rescue them. On board is a being who seems to be the spokesman for the Plants on the ship and Earth, a beautiful woman. The humans on planet Trigun are determined to fight against Knives, even though the leader of the ship-based humans, Luida, warns them not to. The humans have salvaged a huge Ion Cannon that they hope will knock Knives' ship out of the sky, but when they try to fire it, the remaining plants refuse to supply the power. Meanwhile, Vash meets Millie and Meryl again, and they return to him some of his property from the remains of the Bernardelli Insurance Agency. Millie asks after Wolfwood, but Brad, one of the ship humans who know Wolfwood is dead, says he is off on a mission of his own and they don't know when he will return. Millie seems to catch on right away, bursting into tears.
Livio and Vash go after Knives, but Zazie the Beast makes her own play, attempting to kill Knives with a poison that will affect his brain. Zazie fails when Legato reveals he is completely healed and saves Knives' life. Livio fights Elendira, and she reveals how she got her name when her weapon shoots humungous Crimson Nails at Livio, pinning him in place. She thinks he is defeated and walks off, but he gets better, and goes after her, with a bunch of children and their mother gifting him with a cloak and a cowboy-style hat. The earth ship arrives in the atmosphere, and Knives goes to destroy both it and the last human city on the planet.
Some of the fight scenes in this group of manga are a little hard to interpret. I mean, it's hard to tell what is going on in the drawings, but the tension gets higher with each one. Will Knives and his Gung-Ho Guns be able to kill all the remaining humans, or will Vash be able to defeat him and save the humans? I will definitely be looking forward to the remaining volumes of the series, however many there are. At this point, it is easy to see the story drawing towards the end. Wolfwood's death was both shocking and saddening, and the story of his life was also sad and unusual. I would never have guessed that he was artificially aged from a thirteen year old child (apparently. It's hard to tell exactly how old he is supposed to be). I always found his death in the anime sad, but this was equally sad, in a different way. It's definitely a series with a high degree of pathos, and has made me look at the characters in a much different way from the anime.
The plants come and fill the ship, abandoning the glass light-bulb-like containment centers they live in and flocking to the ship like clouds of angels. Their passage leaves the human cities and towns dark and powerless, and they are then destroyed by the remaining Gung-Ho Guns and Cybernetic mercenaries that Knives employs. As the ship passes, thousands of humans are killed, wiping areas of the planet free of their (to Knives' eyes) polluting presence. Vash has a dream of a child and a woman thanking a plant for providing them with power and everything they have, while a man (the woman's husband) looks on proudly in the background. Vash is rescued from the barge by Wolfwood, who manages to free him under the nose of one of the Gung-Ho Guns, Elendira the Crimsonnail and also Legato Bluesummers. Wolfwood is opposed by the man who taught him how to be a killer and assassin, the Head of the Eye of Michael, and his new assassin, Livio. They escape, but Wolfwood reveals that he has been aged faster by his training, that only a few years ago he was still a child. He returns Vash to the people from the ship.
Meanwhile, Wolfwood goes off on his own, where he encounters a woman whose father has a Plant, but it required expensive maintenance. To get the money, he dealt with a shady man who now wants the daughter for his bride. Either that, or the plant. And now that her father is dead, she doesn't like either of those two options. Wolfwood calls her childish, but his very presence makes the man attack them, accusing Wolfwood of sleeping with her. Wolfwood defeats the man's tank, does the service for her dead father, tells off the girl again, and is about to leave when she gives him a carving of a bird, and says she is now free. Wolfwood is dismissive, but keeps the carving.
The next issue has Wolfwood remembering his life at the orphanage and "Crybaby Livio", who was something of a friend to him. But when one of the orphans lost a precious pet, and Livio was found with bloody hands, everyone blamed him, even though he claimed he hadn't done it. Shortly afterwards, Livio ran away, and then Wolfwood left, to eventually become an assassin. Since the orphanage he grew up in is in the path of Knives' gunship, he goes to save them. But his mentor from the Eye of Michael is there, along with a bunch of Cybernetic mercenaries, the Tiger Clan. Wolfwood defeats the Tiger Clan without killing them, which they consider the height of shame, and Wolfwood's mentor kills them, then reveals the true person who will defeat Wolfwood, Razlo, the Tri-Punisher of Death. Like Wolfwood, he carries a Punisher Cross, but unlike Wolfwood, he carries three of them. And he can regenerate any wound to his body that doesn't immediately kill him.
He and Wolfwood fight for part of issue nine and most of issue ten. Wolfwood carries three vials that can also bring him back from near-death and heal him, but using them accelerates his aging. He is nearly defeated by Razlo, but in the fight, he grabs his mentor's vials and drinks two of them at once, which allows him to finish the fight and beat up Razlo/Livio. However, the damage from drinking the last two vials allows him to share a last drink with Vash before he dies. Vash is almost broken by Wolfwood's death, but Razlo comes back to his true personality as "Crybaby Livio" and accompanies Vash back to the ship. Vash uses some of his power as a plant and buries Wolfwood, setting up his Cross Punisher as a memorial for him.
All the remaining humans have gathered in one city, and a ship from Earth is on its way to rescue them. On board is a being who seems to be the spokesman for the Plants on the ship and Earth, a beautiful woman. The humans on planet Trigun are determined to fight against Knives, even though the leader of the ship-based humans, Luida, warns them not to. The humans have salvaged a huge Ion Cannon that they hope will knock Knives' ship out of the sky, but when they try to fire it, the remaining plants refuse to supply the power. Meanwhile, Vash meets Millie and Meryl again, and they return to him some of his property from the remains of the Bernardelli Insurance Agency. Millie asks after Wolfwood, but Brad, one of the ship humans who know Wolfwood is dead, says he is off on a mission of his own and they don't know when he will return. Millie seems to catch on right away, bursting into tears.
Livio and Vash go after Knives, but Zazie the Beast makes her own play, attempting to kill Knives with a poison that will affect his brain. Zazie fails when Legato reveals he is completely healed and saves Knives' life. Livio fights Elendira, and she reveals how she got her name when her weapon shoots humungous Crimson Nails at Livio, pinning him in place. She thinks he is defeated and walks off, but he gets better, and goes after her, with a bunch of children and their mother gifting him with a cloak and a cowboy-style hat. The earth ship arrives in the atmosphere, and Knives goes to destroy both it and the last human city on the planet.
Some of the fight scenes in this group of manga are a little hard to interpret. I mean, it's hard to tell what is going on in the drawings, but the tension gets higher with each one. Will Knives and his Gung-Ho Guns be able to kill all the remaining humans, or will Vash be able to defeat him and save the humans? I will definitely be looking forward to the remaining volumes of the series, however many there are. At this point, it is easy to see the story drawing towards the end. Wolfwood's death was both shocking and saddening, and the story of his life was also sad and unusual. I would never have guessed that he was artificially aged from a thirteen year old child (apparently. It's hard to tell exactly how old he is supposed to be). I always found his death in the anime sad, but this was equally sad, in a different way. It's definitely a series with a high degree of pathos, and has made me look at the characters in a much different way from the anime.
Redeemed in Darkness by Alexis Morgan
Cullen Finley is a Paladin, sworn to protect our world from the Others, crazed men and women from another dimension. Lusahn q'Ark is a Protector, Sister of Barak q'Ark, leader of a Blade of warriors dedicated to keeping the Paladins on their own side of the barrier. But when Cullen Finley crosses over to deliver a message from her brother, she must decide whether to protect him, or kill him as deserves any slayer of her people. The barrier will not come down again for at least 20 days, so he is stuck there for the duration.
Cullen is there to deliver a messgae from Lusahn's brother Barak, but he also hasn't been able to stop thinking of Lusahn since they traded sword blows when the barrier came down in the last book. Lusahn considers Barak a traitor to her people, but he also discovered evidence that someone is stealing the rare blue energy crystals from their world and is bringing them into the human world.
The reason why the others need the energy crystals is that their own sun is dying, and the world is already cloaked in twilight. A few of their people, such as Barak, can make the crystals glow, but otherwise, their world is cloaked in grayness. Someone, however, has been stealing the crystals, and telling people that if they want to go to the human world, they need to bring one of the blue crystals to pay for their passage. Since this is a lie, it usually gets them slaughtered by the Paladins.
Lusahn is horrified to learn of the theft of the crystals from her brother, and that someone is buying them on the human side of the barrier that separates their worlds. At first, she wants to blame the humans, but Cullen's willingness to come to her side of the world does much to convince her that he is not one of the people responsible. Lusahn takes him to her home, where he finds out that she is taking care of two children. They are not her own, but belong to a husband and wife who attempted to cross the barrier and were probably killed by the Paladins. Both children are initially frightened by Cullen, who must hide in what is probably the basement of the house during the day while Lusahn goes on patrol with members of her blade.
Cullen is attracted to the silver-haired Lusahn, and she is also attracted to him. He offers to let her spend the night with him, and she is intrigued enough to accept. Both enjoy the experience very much, and Cullen, in particular, can't stop thinking of Lusahn. When she gets home, they eat together with the children, and after the children are in bed, asleep, again spend the night in amorous pursuits.
The next day, she goes with her blade to the house of her mentor, a former Patroller named Joq. Joq gave up his place in the Guild when he insisted that Lusahn be made a Patroller. The guildmaster, who didn't like Joq, suggested she would only be given a position if Joq was gone. And Joq quit on the spot. This was unexpected, but the Guildmaster lived up to his promises and promoted Lusahn. Joq is the perfect person to talk over the problem of the stone thefts and who could be behind it. When Lusahn does so, she also tells Joq of Cullen. Joq is surprised that Lusahn is protecting the human, who must have killed so many of their people, but he laughs at Lusahn's spirit, and decides to come to town to speak to Cullen himself. He covers up his intentions by telling her Sword that he would appreciate Lusahn's company on the trip into town. Her sword, however, tease her for her preoccupation when she thinks too much about Cullen and the problem of the stone thefts.
That night, they all dine together. Joq seems to approve of Cullen, but also spends time needling him. Cullen can see that Joq has great affection for Lusahn, but it is not at all like that of a father for his daughter. Lusahn only treats him like a father figure and a mentor, so Cullen doesn't mention it to her. Joq says he knows a place where such smuggling is going on, and says he will take them out there tomorrow to show Lusahn something. He returns to his own house for the night, and Lusahn, weary from nights without sleep, falls asleep in Shiri's bed as she is reading the girl a good night story.
Shiri, and her brother Bavi, who first threatened to hurt Cullen if Cullen even touched his sister, have grown accustomed to him, and Shiri even trusts him. She comes to Cullen, who carries Lusahn into her room, takes off her shoes, and puts her to bed fully clothed. When Bavi and Shiri are asleep, he crawls into bed with her. When she wakes up, they make love again, and Cullen must sneak back into his bed in the basement to avoid waking the children. But he finds Bavi awake and offers to teach the boy swordfighting to be able to protect his sister. Bavi eagerly accepts.
That day, Lusahn and Cullen join Joq in looking for the cavern where the stones may be being smuggled to the human side of the barrier. Joq once again spends time verbally poking Cullen, apparently wanting to elicit some kind of reaction, but Cullen is able to keep himself in check. They are followed, though, by Larem, one of Lusahn's blade, and Lusahn allows him to accompany them in exchange for his silence on Cullen's presence. Larem is sulky, but he agrees. In the small cave, they find a barrier, and also camping goods that are definitely human-made, along with sneaker prints. Cullen is suspicious. Joq could merely have told Lusahn about the evidence and she would have believed him. Why was it necessary to drag them up there? Joq protests his innocence, and says he came on the cave in his wanderings, and that is all. Lusahn also finds it suspicious, but she accepts Joq's word, and once again swears Larem to secrecy. Larem agrees, but makes it clear he doesn't like Cullen, telling Cullen that he is going to get Lusahn killed.
A day later, Cullen and Lusahn go back to the cave, looking for any clues or hoping that they will find the perpetrators. They finds that someone made a fire in the cave and stayed there, but no humans are there now. Cullen also finds a fresh set of sneaker prints and and they follow them back to Joq's house, which is a mess and has been apparently ransacked. There is no sign of Joq, but there is blood. They hurry back to Lusahn's house, only to find one of her blade lying dead in a pool of blood under some bushes in her yard.
Joq and Larem have taken over Lusahn's house, putting the children in their bedrooms while they plan to ambush the pair. Cullen fights Joq while Larem remonstrates with Lusahn, complaining that she chose a human man over one of her own race. When Lusahn asks about the dead member of their blade, who was Larem's brother, Larem is upset and asks Joq about it, who replies that sacrifices must be made. Joq is, if not one of the leaders of the stone-thieving and smuggling ring, one of the members.
Cullen kills Joq and Lusahn defeats Larem and knocks him out. Cullen ties up and gags Larem, and he and Lusahn get the children and run for the cave in the hills, knowing they have very little time. Lusahn has a little of her brother's power to bring down the barrier, but it is a long, slow process, and even now they are being hunted by the guild. Lusahn manages to bring down the barrier, and then she and Cullen fight the guild to keep them away. She tells Cullen to bring the children across himself and she will follow, knowing that having Cullen with them stands the children the best chance of not being killed. As he does so, she is captured and dragged away. He tries to go back for her, but the barrier snaps back up, imprisoning him on the human side of the barrier.
Meanwhile, on the Human side, Cullen's disappearance is a source of concern for his fellow Paladins. When he reappears with two Other children, his fellows question him, and he quickly tells them his story before insisting that they go back and rescue Lusahn. They realize the signs... he's fallen in love, and agree to go back with him, and they take Barak, Lusahn's brother with them. But can they rescue Lusahn from the guild, where she is under a death sentence from the guildmaster?
I read the book before this one in the series, "Dark Protector" about Barak and Lacey, sister of the leader of the Paladins. This book continues the story in that book, starting with Cullen carrying Barak's message because he was nearly killed at the end of the last book by an earthquake. It was quite a wonderful change to have as a heroine someone who is just as kick-ass as her chosen mate, a Paladin, and who can also wield a sword. The character of the Others is also fleshed out, and we learn their true name for themselves, the Kalith. The secret of who is actually behind the thefts on Kalith and who is selling them and smuggling them in the human world is still unrevealed at the end of the book, but the story is a good, satisfying read that keeps Lusahn's strengths as a woman without rendering her weak and unable to defend herself, as some romances do.
Neither was Cullen the bastard-y Alpha Male some romance writers love to use. While he is surprised to find himself trading blows with a woman in "Dark Protector", he never tries to take her sword away, although he does try to protect her as much as he is able. When he fights Joq at Lusahn's house, for example, the only reason why she doesn't join in is because the room where they are fighting is too small for three combatants at once. She also keeps it together when Larem is yelling at her when they are both imprisoned, and under threat of death from the guildmaster. The coming together of Cullen and Lusahn is believable, and you get the feeling that these two do genuinely come to care for each other, even though they are together only for about a handful of days.
A wonderful series and I am definitely looking forward to seeing the next one when it comes out.
Cullen is there to deliver a messgae from Lusahn's brother Barak, but he also hasn't been able to stop thinking of Lusahn since they traded sword blows when the barrier came down in the last book. Lusahn considers Barak a traitor to her people, but he also discovered evidence that someone is stealing the rare blue energy crystals from their world and is bringing them into the human world.
The reason why the others need the energy crystals is that their own sun is dying, and the world is already cloaked in twilight. A few of their people, such as Barak, can make the crystals glow, but otherwise, their world is cloaked in grayness. Someone, however, has been stealing the crystals, and telling people that if they want to go to the human world, they need to bring one of the blue crystals to pay for their passage. Since this is a lie, it usually gets them slaughtered by the Paladins.
Lusahn is horrified to learn of the theft of the crystals from her brother, and that someone is buying them on the human side of the barrier that separates their worlds. At first, she wants to blame the humans, but Cullen's willingness to come to her side of the world does much to convince her that he is not one of the people responsible. Lusahn takes him to her home, where he finds out that she is taking care of two children. They are not her own, but belong to a husband and wife who attempted to cross the barrier and were probably killed by the Paladins. Both children are initially frightened by Cullen, who must hide in what is probably the basement of the house during the day while Lusahn goes on patrol with members of her blade.
Cullen is attracted to the silver-haired Lusahn, and she is also attracted to him. He offers to let her spend the night with him, and she is intrigued enough to accept. Both enjoy the experience very much, and Cullen, in particular, can't stop thinking of Lusahn. When she gets home, they eat together with the children, and after the children are in bed, asleep, again spend the night in amorous pursuits.
The next day, she goes with her blade to the house of her mentor, a former Patroller named Joq. Joq gave up his place in the Guild when he insisted that Lusahn be made a Patroller. The guildmaster, who didn't like Joq, suggested she would only be given a position if Joq was gone. And Joq quit on the spot. This was unexpected, but the Guildmaster lived up to his promises and promoted Lusahn. Joq is the perfect person to talk over the problem of the stone thefts and who could be behind it. When Lusahn does so, she also tells Joq of Cullen. Joq is surprised that Lusahn is protecting the human, who must have killed so many of their people, but he laughs at Lusahn's spirit, and decides to come to town to speak to Cullen himself. He covers up his intentions by telling her Sword that he would appreciate Lusahn's company on the trip into town. Her sword, however, tease her for her preoccupation when she thinks too much about Cullen and the problem of the stone thefts.
That night, they all dine together. Joq seems to approve of Cullen, but also spends time needling him. Cullen can see that Joq has great affection for Lusahn, but it is not at all like that of a father for his daughter. Lusahn only treats him like a father figure and a mentor, so Cullen doesn't mention it to her. Joq says he knows a place where such smuggling is going on, and says he will take them out there tomorrow to show Lusahn something. He returns to his own house for the night, and Lusahn, weary from nights without sleep, falls asleep in Shiri's bed as she is reading the girl a good night story.
Shiri, and her brother Bavi, who first threatened to hurt Cullen if Cullen even touched his sister, have grown accustomed to him, and Shiri even trusts him. She comes to Cullen, who carries Lusahn into her room, takes off her shoes, and puts her to bed fully clothed. When Bavi and Shiri are asleep, he crawls into bed with her. When she wakes up, they make love again, and Cullen must sneak back into his bed in the basement to avoid waking the children. But he finds Bavi awake and offers to teach the boy swordfighting to be able to protect his sister. Bavi eagerly accepts.
That day, Lusahn and Cullen join Joq in looking for the cavern where the stones may be being smuggled to the human side of the barrier. Joq once again spends time verbally poking Cullen, apparently wanting to elicit some kind of reaction, but Cullen is able to keep himself in check. They are followed, though, by Larem, one of Lusahn's blade, and Lusahn allows him to accompany them in exchange for his silence on Cullen's presence. Larem is sulky, but he agrees. In the small cave, they find a barrier, and also camping goods that are definitely human-made, along with sneaker prints. Cullen is suspicious. Joq could merely have told Lusahn about the evidence and she would have believed him. Why was it necessary to drag them up there? Joq protests his innocence, and says he came on the cave in his wanderings, and that is all. Lusahn also finds it suspicious, but she accepts Joq's word, and once again swears Larem to secrecy. Larem agrees, but makes it clear he doesn't like Cullen, telling Cullen that he is going to get Lusahn killed.
A day later, Cullen and Lusahn go back to the cave, looking for any clues or hoping that they will find the perpetrators. They finds that someone made a fire in the cave and stayed there, but no humans are there now. Cullen also finds a fresh set of sneaker prints and and they follow them back to Joq's house, which is a mess and has been apparently ransacked. There is no sign of Joq, but there is blood. They hurry back to Lusahn's house, only to find one of her blade lying dead in a pool of blood under some bushes in her yard.
Joq and Larem have taken over Lusahn's house, putting the children in their bedrooms while they plan to ambush the pair. Cullen fights Joq while Larem remonstrates with Lusahn, complaining that she chose a human man over one of her own race. When Lusahn asks about the dead member of their blade, who was Larem's brother, Larem is upset and asks Joq about it, who replies that sacrifices must be made. Joq is, if not one of the leaders of the stone-thieving and smuggling ring, one of the members.
Cullen kills Joq and Lusahn defeats Larem and knocks him out. Cullen ties up and gags Larem, and he and Lusahn get the children and run for the cave in the hills, knowing they have very little time. Lusahn has a little of her brother's power to bring down the barrier, but it is a long, slow process, and even now they are being hunted by the guild. Lusahn manages to bring down the barrier, and then she and Cullen fight the guild to keep them away. She tells Cullen to bring the children across himself and she will follow, knowing that having Cullen with them stands the children the best chance of not being killed. As he does so, she is captured and dragged away. He tries to go back for her, but the barrier snaps back up, imprisoning him on the human side of the barrier.
Meanwhile, on the Human side, Cullen's disappearance is a source of concern for his fellow Paladins. When he reappears with two Other children, his fellows question him, and he quickly tells them his story before insisting that they go back and rescue Lusahn. They realize the signs... he's fallen in love, and agree to go back with him, and they take Barak, Lusahn's brother with them. But can they rescue Lusahn from the guild, where she is under a death sentence from the guildmaster?
I read the book before this one in the series, "Dark Protector" about Barak and Lacey, sister of the leader of the Paladins. This book continues the story in that book, starting with Cullen carrying Barak's message because he was nearly killed at the end of the last book by an earthquake. It was quite a wonderful change to have as a heroine someone who is just as kick-ass as her chosen mate, a Paladin, and who can also wield a sword. The character of the Others is also fleshed out, and we learn their true name for themselves, the Kalith. The secret of who is actually behind the thefts on Kalith and who is selling them and smuggling them in the human world is still unrevealed at the end of the book, but the story is a good, satisfying read that keeps Lusahn's strengths as a woman without rendering her weak and unable to defend herself, as some romances do.
Neither was Cullen the bastard-y Alpha Male some romance writers love to use. While he is surprised to find himself trading blows with a woman in "Dark Protector", he never tries to take her sword away, although he does try to protect her as much as he is able. When he fights Joq at Lusahn's house, for example, the only reason why she doesn't join in is because the room where they are fighting is too small for three combatants at once. She also keeps it together when Larem is yelling at her when they are both imprisoned, and under threat of death from the guildmaster. The coming together of Cullen and Lusahn is believable, and you get the feeling that these two do genuinely come to care for each other, even though they are together only for about a handful of days.
A wonderful series and I am definitely looking forward to seeing the next one when it comes out.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Dragon Heat by Allyson James
Lisa Singleton lives in San Francisco, in the apartment formerly owned by her grandmother, Li Na. Though she is 1/4 Chinese, Lisa has bright red hair and doesn't look at all Asian. She also has a rather unusual roommate, a gold dragon named Caleb. Though Caleb actually lives in Dragonspace, he is nothing but a projection that can be seen through the door to the guest bedroom. A portal hangs in the doorway, allowing Caleb to see in, but not pass through. Lisa, on the other hand, can also see Caleb, and can touch him through the portal, but can't go all the way through. Caleb mostly uses the portal to watch human TV programs, which he finds utterly fascinating.
Normally Lisa would, after coming home, sit down and tell Caleb about her day. Although she was originally freaked when she found out she had a dragon for a roommate, she has grown used to him in the months since she moved into the apartment, and she has quite grown to like the drywitted and perceptive Caleb. But tonight, she cannot do that. Lisa has a date with a model who helps out on a cooking show she helps run, and his name is Greg Shaw. Caleb is upset that Lisa is going on a date, and urges her not to, but she says she has needs that Caleb can't fulfill, and it is time for her to get back in the dating scene after her devastating divorce.
Caleb is upset because he knows that Greg Shaw has been dragonmarked by a black dragon, and he mistrusts any other dragon. When Lisa leaves for her date, Caleb asks for help from one of the witches that keep watch over him, an Asian woman named Saba. He convinces Saba that Lisa is in danger from the model because he is now Dragonmarked, and Saba eventually agrees to help him. She is unsure of what she can do because she is a junior witch in her coven, subordinate to a witch named Donna, but she will do what she can.
Lisa suffers from the most boring date in history: Greg seems interested only in talking about himself, and he's acting pretty creepy, too. When he tries to get her to come to his place, she declines and asks to be taken home. He agrees, and she feels a bit relieved, until he tells her it doesn't matter where she goes, she will still submit to his master, the black dragon. He takes her home, and gets her, using the power of the mark on him, to let him inside. Inside, however, she is rescued by a brawny, naked man wearing only an armband with a golden dragon on it, who runs Greg off. It takes Lisa a minute to realize that this man is Caleb, and that he has taken on human form to keep her safe.
A few minutes later, Saba's other coven mates, Donna and Grizelda, show up. Now that Lisa is safe, they attempt to force Caleb back through the portal into Dragonspace and into Dragon form. Caleb resists, telling them that it was only through Saba's help that he attained human form and rescued Lisa. But they don't seem to care. Donna claims that Caleb tricked Saba, and that they would have saved Lisa, as they were on their way. Caleb retorts that they would have been too late, and in response, Donna and Griselda attempt to use Caleb's true name to command him back to Dragonspace. He resists, but it is not easy, and causes him much pain. That's when Lisa gets annoyed and... somehow... shoots out a bolt of power that knocks the witches ass over teakettle. She threatens to do it again unless they leave her house... now! The two witches bluster and Donna tells her that she will have to teach Lisa how to use this new power she has demonstrated, but Lisa isn't having any of it, and raises her hand again, as if to strike, even though she doesn't know how she did it the first time and isn't sure she can do it again. Rather than suffer another attack, the witches leave.
Caleb congratulates her and asks her how she did it, but Lisa has to tell him she doesn't know. She asks what the witches were doing to him, and he tells her about his true name and how it can control him. He thanks her for saving him, and she realizes that she liked him as a dragon, but she finds him devastatingly attractive as a human man. They end up kissing and cuddling, but anything further is put off by her need for sleep. They sleep in the same bed, and Lisa tells him she must go out tomorrow and buy him clothes.
In the morning, she arises before he does and buys him clothing, and when she gets back, she takes him to Chinatown to meet her Grandmother's friend Mi Ue, who they theorize may know something about Lisa's powers, or about the Black Dragon looking for her. Mi Ue recognizes that Caleb is a dragon right away, and honors him, but she doesn't know about the Black Dragon. She suggests that her nephew, Lumi, may know something. Lisa and Caleb, after a meal of Dim Sum and tea, go find Lumi, who owns and runs a bicycle shop in Chinatown. Lumi used to be into drugs, but finally kicked the habit. However, he still knows many people, and he hears things. He agrees to keep an eye out for any word of the black dragon or a cult or of people disappearing. They then go for a ride on a Cable Car, but are startled by the Black Dragon. Caleb manages to stab him before the Black Dragon disappears. The Black Dragon, using the name Malcolm, has marked Saba with his mark. He goes to her and forces her to heal his wound, helping her along with the ritual, but letting her own power do the work.
Caleb goes to see Saba, who tells him where Donna lives. After she helped Caleb, she was thrown out of the coven, where Malcolm quickly snapped her up. She tells Caleb she is all right, and that Malcolm won't harm her. Meanwhile, Grizelda is watching Donna start a ritual. It's obvious that Donna has nothing but contempt for Grizelda, and it becomes clear that Donna is doing a ritual that is evil, with two Incubi. Grizelda remonstrates with her, and then flees. Donna sends one of the Incubi after Grizelda, but Grizelda manages to get in a lucky hit to its windpipe, and she manages to escape. But not far, for Caleb finds her cowering in an alleyway, covered in blood. He sends her to Saba, who can look after her, and Grizelda tells Caleb what Donna is doing, and why she fled. Caleb returns to Dragonspace to get a protective amulet for Lisa
Later that night, in Lisa's apartment, Lisa is attacked in her dreams by the Incubus, but she manages to wake back up, thanks to protective spells on her apartment. The next day, Caleb returns with a fantastic tiara of diamonds and sapphires to help protect her, and makes her wear some of Li Na's amulets for good luck. Lumi contacts them and tells them to meet him at a certain dock, but Caleb knows the black dragon has marked him, and they are walking into a trap. He agrees to go anyway to see what Malcolm wants.
Malcolm reveals that he has been trapped on Earth for 600 years, and he wants to go home. He was drawn to earth when a coven of witches summoned him to try and steal his magic and power. He fought back and killed them, but then was trapped with no way to return to Dragonspace. All he wants to do is return home. Lisa can sense his sincerity and agrees to try. But despite her best efforts, she fails. Malcolm orders one of his thugs to shoot Caleb, but Lisa tries to shield him and is herself shot.
Malcolm is shocked. He didn't actually mean to hit Caleb, but he realized that Lisa's power worked better when Caleb was threatened. He tells Caleb to take Lisa to Dragonspace and look for a specific black dragon, well known as a healer. Caleb, realizing that Malcolm is telling the truth, agrees, and takes Lisa into Dragonspace with him, where he places her amongst his hoard, and goes out looking for the other dragon. But Dragonspace is huge, most dragons are solitary creatures, and he has no guarantee of success.
Lisa awakens, covered in blood, but as she soon realizes, alive and unhurt. When Caleb returns, he wonders how she could have healed, but then realizes that she can shift forms. Lisa is actually a silver dragon, the rarest and most magical kind of dragon. She and Caleb fly together, which turns into a mating dance, one that continues after they return to earth and to human bodies. Completely forgetting about time, they make love all night and into the day, only stopping when Lumi calls and asks if she is all right. She apologizes, and tells him she is fine.
But now that they know Malcolm is no threat, they will have to deal with Donna, who wants to destroy Lisa by sucking her magic away in exchange for a killing that her dragon-self performed hundreds of years ago. But will she and Caleb be able to do so *and* get Malcolm home?
Despite having read the sequel to this book first, I still thoroughly enjoyed finding out exactly *how* Lisa found out she was a silver dragon without being born that way. Donna, befitting her "master villain" status, is an extremely dark and nasty character whose utter unconcern with anything but her own wants and needs, is chilling. She will casually lie, steal, murder and consort with demons to get what she wants, and she reaps a just reward for her villainy. And while the mantra of the dragons seems to be that they don't mate for life, that is being shown to be wrong in this very series, as both Malcolm, Caleb and Lisa show.
Next up: Redeemed in Heat by Alexis Morgan.
Normally Lisa would, after coming home, sit down and tell Caleb about her day. Although she was originally freaked when she found out she had a dragon for a roommate, she has grown used to him in the months since she moved into the apartment, and she has quite grown to like the drywitted and perceptive Caleb. But tonight, she cannot do that. Lisa has a date with a model who helps out on a cooking show she helps run, and his name is Greg Shaw. Caleb is upset that Lisa is going on a date, and urges her not to, but she says she has needs that Caleb can't fulfill, and it is time for her to get back in the dating scene after her devastating divorce.
Caleb is upset because he knows that Greg Shaw has been dragonmarked by a black dragon, and he mistrusts any other dragon. When Lisa leaves for her date, Caleb asks for help from one of the witches that keep watch over him, an Asian woman named Saba. He convinces Saba that Lisa is in danger from the model because he is now Dragonmarked, and Saba eventually agrees to help him. She is unsure of what she can do because she is a junior witch in her coven, subordinate to a witch named Donna, but she will do what she can.
Lisa suffers from the most boring date in history: Greg seems interested only in talking about himself, and he's acting pretty creepy, too. When he tries to get her to come to his place, she declines and asks to be taken home. He agrees, and she feels a bit relieved, until he tells her it doesn't matter where she goes, she will still submit to his master, the black dragon. He takes her home, and gets her, using the power of the mark on him, to let him inside. Inside, however, she is rescued by a brawny, naked man wearing only an armband with a golden dragon on it, who runs Greg off. It takes Lisa a minute to realize that this man is Caleb, and that he has taken on human form to keep her safe.
A few minutes later, Saba's other coven mates, Donna and Grizelda, show up. Now that Lisa is safe, they attempt to force Caleb back through the portal into Dragonspace and into Dragon form. Caleb resists, telling them that it was only through Saba's help that he attained human form and rescued Lisa. But they don't seem to care. Donna claims that Caleb tricked Saba, and that they would have saved Lisa, as they were on their way. Caleb retorts that they would have been too late, and in response, Donna and Griselda attempt to use Caleb's true name to command him back to Dragonspace. He resists, but it is not easy, and causes him much pain. That's when Lisa gets annoyed and... somehow... shoots out a bolt of power that knocks the witches ass over teakettle. She threatens to do it again unless they leave her house... now! The two witches bluster and Donna tells her that she will have to teach Lisa how to use this new power she has demonstrated, but Lisa isn't having any of it, and raises her hand again, as if to strike, even though she doesn't know how she did it the first time and isn't sure she can do it again. Rather than suffer another attack, the witches leave.
Caleb congratulates her and asks her how she did it, but Lisa has to tell him she doesn't know. She asks what the witches were doing to him, and he tells her about his true name and how it can control him. He thanks her for saving him, and she realizes that she liked him as a dragon, but she finds him devastatingly attractive as a human man. They end up kissing and cuddling, but anything further is put off by her need for sleep. They sleep in the same bed, and Lisa tells him she must go out tomorrow and buy him clothes.
In the morning, she arises before he does and buys him clothing, and when she gets back, she takes him to Chinatown to meet her Grandmother's friend Mi Ue, who they theorize may know something about Lisa's powers, or about the Black Dragon looking for her. Mi Ue recognizes that Caleb is a dragon right away, and honors him, but she doesn't know about the Black Dragon. She suggests that her nephew, Lumi, may know something. Lisa and Caleb, after a meal of Dim Sum and tea, go find Lumi, who owns and runs a bicycle shop in Chinatown. Lumi used to be into drugs, but finally kicked the habit. However, he still knows many people, and he hears things. He agrees to keep an eye out for any word of the black dragon or a cult or of people disappearing. They then go for a ride on a Cable Car, but are startled by the Black Dragon. Caleb manages to stab him before the Black Dragon disappears. The Black Dragon, using the name Malcolm, has marked Saba with his mark. He goes to her and forces her to heal his wound, helping her along with the ritual, but letting her own power do the work.
Caleb goes to see Saba, who tells him where Donna lives. After she helped Caleb, she was thrown out of the coven, where Malcolm quickly snapped her up. She tells Caleb she is all right, and that Malcolm won't harm her. Meanwhile, Grizelda is watching Donna start a ritual. It's obvious that Donna has nothing but contempt for Grizelda, and it becomes clear that Donna is doing a ritual that is evil, with two Incubi. Grizelda remonstrates with her, and then flees. Donna sends one of the Incubi after Grizelda, but Grizelda manages to get in a lucky hit to its windpipe, and she manages to escape. But not far, for Caleb finds her cowering in an alleyway, covered in blood. He sends her to Saba, who can look after her, and Grizelda tells Caleb what Donna is doing, and why she fled. Caleb returns to Dragonspace to get a protective amulet for Lisa
Later that night, in Lisa's apartment, Lisa is attacked in her dreams by the Incubus, but she manages to wake back up, thanks to protective spells on her apartment. The next day, Caleb returns with a fantastic tiara of diamonds and sapphires to help protect her, and makes her wear some of Li Na's amulets for good luck. Lumi contacts them and tells them to meet him at a certain dock, but Caleb knows the black dragon has marked him, and they are walking into a trap. He agrees to go anyway to see what Malcolm wants.
Malcolm reveals that he has been trapped on Earth for 600 years, and he wants to go home. He was drawn to earth when a coven of witches summoned him to try and steal his magic and power. He fought back and killed them, but then was trapped with no way to return to Dragonspace. All he wants to do is return home. Lisa can sense his sincerity and agrees to try. But despite her best efforts, she fails. Malcolm orders one of his thugs to shoot Caleb, but Lisa tries to shield him and is herself shot.
Malcolm is shocked. He didn't actually mean to hit Caleb, but he realized that Lisa's power worked better when Caleb was threatened. He tells Caleb to take Lisa to Dragonspace and look for a specific black dragon, well known as a healer. Caleb, realizing that Malcolm is telling the truth, agrees, and takes Lisa into Dragonspace with him, where he places her amongst his hoard, and goes out looking for the other dragon. But Dragonspace is huge, most dragons are solitary creatures, and he has no guarantee of success.
Lisa awakens, covered in blood, but as she soon realizes, alive and unhurt. When Caleb returns, he wonders how she could have healed, but then realizes that she can shift forms. Lisa is actually a silver dragon, the rarest and most magical kind of dragon. She and Caleb fly together, which turns into a mating dance, one that continues after they return to earth and to human bodies. Completely forgetting about time, they make love all night and into the day, only stopping when Lumi calls and asks if she is all right. She apologizes, and tells him she is fine.
But now that they know Malcolm is no threat, they will have to deal with Donna, who wants to destroy Lisa by sucking her magic away in exchange for a killing that her dragon-self performed hundreds of years ago. But will she and Caleb be able to do so *and* get Malcolm home?
Despite having read the sequel to this book first, I still thoroughly enjoyed finding out exactly *how* Lisa found out she was a silver dragon without being born that way. Donna, befitting her "master villain" status, is an extremely dark and nasty character whose utter unconcern with anything but her own wants and needs, is chilling. She will casually lie, steal, murder and consort with demons to get what she wants, and she reaps a just reward for her villainy. And while the mantra of the dragons seems to be that they don't mate for life, that is being shown to be wrong in this very series, as both Malcolm, Caleb and Lisa show.
Next up: Redeemed in Heat by Alexis Morgan.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Strange Attractions by Emma Holly
Charity Wills dropped out of High School, but that didn't stop her from getting a job in the tech industry. Her current bosses love her, even though she has a habit of being late, because of her bright, friendly, cheerful attitude and because of her strong people skills.
One day, Charity is offered a job by Eric Berne, a devastatingly attractive man who makes her heart, not to mention other parts of her, go "zing!" The job is to work for Eric's boss, the reclusive physicist B.G. or Benjamin Grantham. B.G. spends a lot of time working on stuff that confuses most people, and in his downtime, he likes to explore the nature of desire. If Charity comes to work for him for a year, he will pay her way through college at Cambridge, which despite her less than stellar school record, he is convinced she can pull off. In return, she must take part in a little "game" that he plays with his guests and employees. She must cede him control of her sexuality, only coming when he allows her to come. She can break the rules, but must be aware that there will be consequences for doing so.
And, to keep her at a fever pitch of sexuality, Eric Berne will be her "keeper", ensuring that she stays at a fever pitch of readiness. She doesn't have a problem with that, and even though the offer sounds a bit shady, she decides to accept. Eric at first feels that she perhaps isn't attracted to him, but she sets him straight with a single kiss that leaves him feeling singed. Then, during the trip to her apartment for her to pack, Eric reveals that he is attracted to both men and women, and that he and his boss have been lovers. Charity can't resist asking Eric how he does it with his boss, and though he doesn't penetrate her, he gives her an exhibition while telling her how they met and the first time he and B.G. made love.
Afterwards, she gets dressed in a prim and demure outfit Eric picks out for her and it's off to Mosswood, Eric's home in the Pacific Northwest woodlands. B.G.'s chauffer is an ex-pro wrestler, who tells Charity on the drive that Eric had decreed that no one in the house could come until Charity arrived, and so everyone has been three weeks without. Charity decides to take pity on Maurice, and Eric persuades B.G. to let her break the rules, but with a penalty to be paid afterwards.
Further, Maurice will be able to orgasm, but she is forbidden to. With very little persuasion, they are soon doing it over the car on the side of the road. One of the punishments that Eric inflicts on Charity is to wear a leather bustier and pants that prevent any of her erogenous zones from being stimulated. When they get to the house, Charity realizes that she is also attracted to B.G., who allows her to help him set up the punishment for Maurice, which is to watch an hour's worth of sex scenes that turn him on, but not being able to do anything about it.
Charity is allowed to go upstairs and remove the corset, and then she goes to explore the house. She meets Sylvia, the Danish massage therapist, who convinces Charity to spank her, saying the men in the house are too gentle towards women to do it properly. Sylvia gets into it strongly enough to orgasm, and thanks Charity with a hot kiss.
From there, B.G. begins to test Charity, first making her wineglass jump four inches away from where it was last. When she gets weirded out, she goes back to her room to rest, but feels as though someone is watching her everywhere inside the house. She gets really frightened, and Eric stays with her for a while, making love to her until she comes three times and feels more relaxed. The next day, B.G. decides to punish them both for the breaking of the rules, and has her suspended in a harness that leaves her floating off the ground and unable to move, while he has her watch himself making love to Eric on a videoscreen. In the room Eric and B.G. are in, they can see Charity getting turned on by watching them.
Eric makes B.G. lose control by telling him that he and Charity will break into B.G.'s room and screw him senseless between them. The idea affects B.G. strongly enough that he comes first. He rewards Eric with an hour alone with Charity, unobserved by any cameras and unheard by any microphones, but their time is interrupted by a call from Eric's sister, who has had a visit from the CIA asking her about B.G. Though she thinks her brother is a slacker, and she thinks B.G. is a freak, Eric's sister warns him to take care and to warn B.G.
Eric does but that doesn't prevent Eric and Charity from living up to Eric's promise and taking over B.G.'s bedroom and body for the night. In reality, B.G. wanted Charity for Eric because he realized Eric needed to settle down, that he wasn't happy with the kind of nomad existence B.G. favored. But now, with both of them in his bedroom, he realizes he could fall just as badly for Charity as she has done for Eric and as Eric is doing for her. B.G. thought that once Eric and Charity hooked up, he would be shunted to the side, and now he thinks that maybe he was wrong, and they could all find happiness together.
The next day, Eric, Charity, B.G., and Maurice go bowling and have a great time. Afterwards, B.G. listens in on Eric and Charity together, and overhears them talking. Eric says it was good that B.G. got out, and Charity asks how often B.G. stays in his compound. B.G. is stunned to think that they invited him out for reasons of pity, not love or friendship, and resolves to put them together even sooner. He also does away with all the rules, saying that anyone can do anything with anyone else without fear of being monitored or recorded.
Charity discovers the head of security jerking off to past tapes of sexual encounters that happened in the house, and during their short conversation, that he is obsessed with Sylvia, and that he has been showing her the tapes as well. She agrees not to tell B.G., knowing it could mean the man's job, but takes the key to the security office and tells him she'll be checking up on him, just to keep him on the straight and narrow. Sylvia has also tried to cozy up to Charity, but something about her strikes Charity as off, like how she wants to serve everyone, yet seems to have something against men, her employers specifically. Later that night, Charity is frightened by seeing a ghost in one of the house's many rooms. Eric stays to comfort her, but B.G. tells her it must be a squirrel that had gotten into the house. Eric also finds out that B.G. overheard the conversation between him and Charity and reassures his friend that they both care for him. Eric, B.G. and Charity end up in bed together.
For the next two weeks they are amazingly happy together. One morning, Charity finds B.G. in the Romance Room, having tea and biscotti. He invites her to join him, and they end up making love together. That's when B.G. realizes that he has fallen in love with Charity himself. But can the three of them find happiness together forever?
This book was hot, in a "set your eyebrows on fire" way. Emma Holly's strength is in writing really hot erotic love scenes in such a way that even if you aren't turned on by the particular kink she's exploring, you can understand *why* people get off on it. And you might even get attracted to it yourself.
I also found time to read three more manga novels, Naruto 27 and 28, and Saiyuki Reload 7. In Naruto, Naruto was tracking down Uchiha Sasuke, who had been taken over by a curse mark and was running away to the Akatsuki. Sasuke's brother Itachi had betrayed his family and village, and Sasuke thought that the only way to grow stronger was to learn from the Akatsuki, a gang of renegade Shinobi. Naruto had promised Sakura that he'd stop Sasuke and bring him back, because the leader of the Akatsuki really only wanted Sasuke's body to replace his own, but Naruto failed and nearly died battling his former friend. He was rescued and brought back to the Leaf village. Sakura asks the new Hokage, Tsunade, to be her student, and Tsunade agrees. Naruto goes off with the "pervy Sage" Jiraiya to be his student. They have time to train because it will take the leader of the Akatsuki three years to regain the power to switch bodies again, and he had done so before Sasuke left.
in Issue 28, it is now two years later. Sakura has become a medical ninja under Tsunade's teaching, and Naruto, too, has finished training. Both are older and taller. Gaara has become the Kazukage of the Sand village, and Sand and Leaf are now allies and at peace. Kakashi takes over again, not as their mentor or teacher, but as their partner and comrade. He sets Naruto and Sakura a task to steal bells from his belt. He manages to hold them off until Naruto tricks him by threatening to tell him the ending to his favorite series, "Make Out Tactics". To forestall him, Kakashi raises his hands and blocks his ears, but he can still read Naruto's lips, and this pose makes it easy for them to liberate the bells from his belt.
Meanwhile, in the village of sand, Gaara, now Kazukage, is attacked and captured by the Akatsuki. Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi are sent to the village to find out what happened, and to aid the village in any way possible. Gaara's second in command, Kanguro, is injured and lies near death by poisoning. None of the sand Ninja can help him. Jiraiya tells Naruto not to use that technique and to keep his temper if he faces the Akatsuki. If he is killed, he cannot help his friend Sasuke. Naruto agrees, but reveals on the trip to the village of sand that he has his own plan for dealing with the Akatsuki.
When they get to the village, Sakura saves Kanguro's life by forcing the poison from his system, but still has to deal with the small bits of poison his body has already absorbed. Kakashi is mistaken for his father, the White Fang of Konoha, and nearly challenged to a duel by the elders of the Sand Village, but they soon realize their mistake. Naruto realizes that the reason why Gaara was taken is because the Akatsuki want the demon spirit imprisoned in his body for its power, and they will want Naruto as well for the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon Spirit in his own body. Meanwhile, more Shinobi are sent from Konoha and the other villages, including Rock Lee and Might Guy. But will they be enough to help save the day?
In Saiyuki Reload, Sanzo and Goku are attacked by an unknown assailant, and Goku is almost fatally injured. Sanzo takes off in pursuit of the attacker, leaving Goku bleeding on the ground. Hakkai and Gyojo attempt to save Goku, but the bleeding is too bad. It gives them no choice but to take off Goku's power limiter and let the energies of the earth heal him. Doing so, however, makes Goku go wild and he begins attacking the town, putting everyone around them in danger. Hakkai is forced to take off his own power limiters and deal with Goku, but even he is no match for Youkai Goku, and it requires the aid of Bishop Hazel and his companion, Gat, to subdue Goku and put his limiter back on. Even so, it takes Goku three days to wake up afterwards. Sanzo returns at the end of the battle, but Gyojo hates Sanzo for abandoning Goku when he was dying and tells him to leave. Sanzo goes, with Hazel and Gat accompanying him.
Gyojo has cause to regret Sanzo's leaving, as he was carrying the credit card that paid for their travels. With no money, they try to take jobs, but even fail at that, and then try to move on to a bigger town, only to collapse in the desert of no food and no water. They are rescued, where they find themselves in a Youkai town. Realizing that Goku, Gyojo and Hakkai have not yet fallen victim to the "minus wave" that is making the Youkai see humans as meat, the Youkai give the three jobs in town, hoping to soon see the three's "real selves", which the minus wave brings out. Sanzo, meanwhile, has found out that Bishop Hazel knows about Goku's real self of the Seiten Taisei, "The Great Sage Equalling Heaven", and Sanzo wants to know who told Hazel about this. Hazel tries to put Sanzo off, but Sanzo persists. They come to a human town built around a lake, an oasis deep in the desert, and once again, Sanzo asks Hazel who told him about the Seiten Taisei. Hazel tries to describe him... but can only say that his aura was like the color of the desert sky at night. In reality, it was another Sanzo, Ukoku Sanzo, also known as the main scientist who machinations created the minus wave in the first place.
One day, Charity is offered a job by Eric Berne, a devastatingly attractive man who makes her heart, not to mention other parts of her, go "zing!" The job is to work for Eric's boss, the reclusive physicist B.G. or Benjamin Grantham. B.G. spends a lot of time working on stuff that confuses most people, and in his downtime, he likes to explore the nature of desire. If Charity comes to work for him for a year, he will pay her way through college at Cambridge, which despite her less than stellar school record, he is convinced she can pull off. In return, she must take part in a little "game" that he plays with his guests and employees. She must cede him control of her sexuality, only coming when he allows her to come. She can break the rules, but must be aware that there will be consequences for doing so.
And, to keep her at a fever pitch of sexuality, Eric Berne will be her "keeper", ensuring that she stays at a fever pitch of readiness. She doesn't have a problem with that, and even though the offer sounds a bit shady, she decides to accept. Eric at first feels that she perhaps isn't attracted to him, but she sets him straight with a single kiss that leaves him feeling singed. Then, during the trip to her apartment for her to pack, Eric reveals that he is attracted to both men and women, and that he and his boss have been lovers. Charity can't resist asking Eric how he does it with his boss, and though he doesn't penetrate her, he gives her an exhibition while telling her how they met and the first time he and B.G. made love.
Afterwards, she gets dressed in a prim and demure outfit Eric picks out for her and it's off to Mosswood, Eric's home in the Pacific Northwest woodlands. B.G.'s chauffer is an ex-pro wrestler, who tells Charity on the drive that Eric had decreed that no one in the house could come until Charity arrived, and so everyone has been three weeks without. Charity decides to take pity on Maurice, and Eric persuades B.G. to let her break the rules, but with a penalty to be paid afterwards.
Further, Maurice will be able to orgasm, but she is forbidden to. With very little persuasion, they are soon doing it over the car on the side of the road. One of the punishments that Eric inflicts on Charity is to wear a leather bustier and pants that prevent any of her erogenous zones from being stimulated. When they get to the house, Charity realizes that she is also attracted to B.G., who allows her to help him set up the punishment for Maurice, which is to watch an hour's worth of sex scenes that turn him on, but not being able to do anything about it.
Charity is allowed to go upstairs and remove the corset, and then she goes to explore the house. She meets Sylvia, the Danish massage therapist, who convinces Charity to spank her, saying the men in the house are too gentle towards women to do it properly. Sylvia gets into it strongly enough to orgasm, and thanks Charity with a hot kiss.
From there, B.G. begins to test Charity, first making her wineglass jump four inches away from where it was last. When she gets weirded out, she goes back to her room to rest, but feels as though someone is watching her everywhere inside the house. She gets really frightened, and Eric stays with her for a while, making love to her until she comes three times and feels more relaxed. The next day, B.G. decides to punish them both for the breaking of the rules, and has her suspended in a harness that leaves her floating off the ground and unable to move, while he has her watch himself making love to Eric on a videoscreen. In the room Eric and B.G. are in, they can see Charity getting turned on by watching them.
Eric makes B.G. lose control by telling him that he and Charity will break into B.G.'s room and screw him senseless between them. The idea affects B.G. strongly enough that he comes first. He rewards Eric with an hour alone with Charity, unobserved by any cameras and unheard by any microphones, but their time is interrupted by a call from Eric's sister, who has had a visit from the CIA asking her about B.G. Though she thinks her brother is a slacker, and she thinks B.G. is a freak, Eric's sister warns him to take care and to warn B.G.
Eric does but that doesn't prevent Eric and Charity from living up to Eric's promise and taking over B.G.'s bedroom and body for the night. In reality, B.G. wanted Charity for Eric because he realized Eric needed to settle down, that he wasn't happy with the kind of nomad existence B.G. favored. But now, with both of them in his bedroom, he realizes he could fall just as badly for Charity as she has done for Eric and as Eric is doing for her. B.G. thought that once Eric and Charity hooked up, he would be shunted to the side, and now he thinks that maybe he was wrong, and they could all find happiness together.
The next day, Eric, Charity, B.G., and Maurice go bowling and have a great time. Afterwards, B.G. listens in on Eric and Charity together, and overhears them talking. Eric says it was good that B.G. got out, and Charity asks how often B.G. stays in his compound. B.G. is stunned to think that they invited him out for reasons of pity, not love or friendship, and resolves to put them together even sooner. He also does away with all the rules, saying that anyone can do anything with anyone else without fear of being monitored or recorded.
Charity discovers the head of security jerking off to past tapes of sexual encounters that happened in the house, and during their short conversation, that he is obsessed with Sylvia, and that he has been showing her the tapes as well. She agrees not to tell B.G., knowing it could mean the man's job, but takes the key to the security office and tells him she'll be checking up on him, just to keep him on the straight and narrow. Sylvia has also tried to cozy up to Charity, but something about her strikes Charity as off, like how she wants to serve everyone, yet seems to have something against men, her employers specifically. Later that night, Charity is frightened by seeing a ghost in one of the house's many rooms. Eric stays to comfort her, but B.G. tells her it must be a squirrel that had gotten into the house. Eric also finds out that B.G. overheard the conversation between him and Charity and reassures his friend that they both care for him. Eric, B.G. and Charity end up in bed together.
For the next two weeks they are amazingly happy together. One morning, Charity finds B.G. in the Romance Room, having tea and biscotti. He invites her to join him, and they end up making love together. That's when B.G. realizes that he has fallen in love with Charity himself. But can the three of them find happiness together forever?
This book was hot, in a "set your eyebrows on fire" way. Emma Holly's strength is in writing really hot erotic love scenes in such a way that even if you aren't turned on by the particular kink she's exploring, you can understand *why* people get off on it. And you might even get attracted to it yourself.
I also found time to read three more manga novels, Naruto 27 and 28, and Saiyuki Reload 7. In Naruto, Naruto was tracking down Uchiha Sasuke, who had been taken over by a curse mark and was running away to the Akatsuki. Sasuke's brother Itachi had betrayed his family and village, and Sasuke thought that the only way to grow stronger was to learn from the Akatsuki, a gang of renegade Shinobi. Naruto had promised Sakura that he'd stop Sasuke and bring him back, because the leader of the Akatsuki really only wanted Sasuke's body to replace his own, but Naruto failed and nearly died battling his former friend. He was rescued and brought back to the Leaf village. Sakura asks the new Hokage, Tsunade, to be her student, and Tsunade agrees. Naruto goes off with the "pervy Sage" Jiraiya to be his student. They have time to train because it will take the leader of the Akatsuki three years to regain the power to switch bodies again, and he had done so before Sasuke left.
in Issue 28, it is now two years later. Sakura has become a medical ninja under Tsunade's teaching, and Naruto, too, has finished training. Both are older and taller. Gaara has become the Kazukage of the Sand village, and Sand and Leaf are now allies and at peace. Kakashi takes over again, not as their mentor or teacher, but as their partner and comrade. He sets Naruto and Sakura a task to steal bells from his belt. He manages to hold them off until Naruto tricks him by threatening to tell him the ending to his favorite series, "Make Out Tactics". To forestall him, Kakashi raises his hands and blocks his ears, but he can still read Naruto's lips, and this pose makes it easy for them to liberate the bells from his belt.
Meanwhile, in the village of sand, Gaara, now Kazukage, is attacked and captured by the Akatsuki. Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi are sent to the village to find out what happened, and to aid the village in any way possible. Gaara's second in command, Kanguro, is injured and lies near death by poisoning. None of the sand Ninja can help him. Jiraiya tells Naruto not to use that technique and to keep his temper if he faces the Akatsuki. If he is killed, he cannot help his friend Sasuke. Naruto agrees, but reveals on the trip to the village of sand that he has his own plan for dealing with the Akatsuki.
When they get to the village, Sakura saves Kanguro's life by forcing the poison from his system, but still has to deal with the small bits of poison his body has already absorbed. Kakashi is mistaken for his father, the White Fang of Konoha, and nearly challenged to a duel by the elders of the Sand Village, but they soon realize their mistake. Naruto realizes that the reason why Gaara was taken is because the Akatsuki want the demon spirit imprisoned in his body for its power, and they will want Naruto as well for the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon Spirit in his own body. Meanwhile, more Shinobi are sent from Konoha and the other villages, including Rock Lee and Might Guy. But will they be enough to help save the day?
In Saiyuki Reload, Sanzo and Goku are attacked by an unknown assailant, and Goku is almost fatally injured. Sanzo takes off in pursuit of the attacker, leaving Goku bleeding on the ground. Hakkai and Gyojo attempt to save Goku, but the bleeding is too bad. It gives them no choice but to take off Goku's power limiter and let the energies of the earth heal him. Doing so, however, makes Goku go wild and he begins attacking the town, putting everyone around them in danger. Hakkai is forced to take off his own power limiters and deal with Goku, but even he is no match for Youkai Goku, and it requires the aid of Bishop Hazel and his companion, Gat, to subdue Goku and put his limiter back on. Even so, it takes Goku three days to wake up afterwards. Sanzo returns at the end of the battle, but Gyojo hates Sanzo for abandoning Goku when he was dying and tells him to leave. Sanzo goes, with Hazel and Gat accompanying him.
Gyojo has cause to regret Sanzo's leaving, as he was carrying the credit card that paid for their travels. With no money, they try to take jobs, but even fail at that, and then try to move on to a bigger town, only to collapse in the desert of no food and no water. They are rescued, where they find themselves in a Youkai town. Realizing that Goku, Gyojo and Hakkai have not yet fallen victim to the "minus wave" that is making the Youkai see humans as meat, the Youkai give the three jobs in town, hoping to soon see the three's "real selves", which the minus wave brings out. Sanzo, meanwhile, has found out that Bishop Hazel knows about Goku's real self of the Seiten Taisei, "The Great Sage Equalling Heaven", and Sanzo wants to know who told Hazel about this. Hazel tries to put Sanzo off, but Sanzo persists. They come to a human town built around a lake, an oasis deep in the desert, and once again, Sanzo asks Hazel who told him about the Seiten Taisei. Hazel tries to describe him... but can only say that his aura was like the color of the desert sky at night. In reality, it was another Sanzo, Ukoku Sanzo, also known as the main scientist who machinations created the minus wave in the first place.
The Armor of Contempt by Dan Abnett
Eight years ago, the Infantry Company called "Tanith First and Only", also known as "Gaunt's Ghosts" after their commander, Ibram Gaunt, were assigned to assault a Chaos-held planet by the name of Gereon. When they were forced to pull out, they left several of their own behind. Gaunt has been petitioning the Imperium to let him return to Gereon so that he can finish his job and liberate the colonists left behind. But for many years, the Imperium have put him off.
Now, it seems, eight years later, the Imperium have revisited the idea and are willing to try and liberate Gereon. But its a happy time for the unit, as Tona Criid's adopted son is going in for RIP training, or Retraining, Indoctrination and Punishment. Dalan Criid isn't related to her by blood, he's merely a child she protected and kept safe on the planet of Vervunhive. She is a former gang member who joined the Ghosts, and brought Dalan and his sister along with her. She found a man to love in Caffran, a man of Tanith, and with him and the other Ghosts, raised Dalan. It turned out that Dalan's blood father, a man named Kolea, was also still alive and had also joined the Ghosts, but he stepped aside to let Tona and Caffran raise Dalan, feeling he hadn't been much of a father beforehand.
Dalan, trained by Caffran and the rest of the Ghosts, is one of the best men in indoctrination, and that confuses and irks the Sergeant in charge, Kexie, who takes it out on Caffran by beating him and making sure the nail that sticks up is getting a stiff pounding down. Tona can't help but see the abuse Dalan is taking and offers to speak to Kexie, but Dalan knows that the universe is unfair, and tells her to say nothing. He would only get it worse for her having spoken, anyway. Partway through his time in RIP, another of the Ghosts, a man named Merrt, joins the RIP brigade and speaks up when Kexie starts abusing Dalan. Kexie is about to beat on Merrt, too, when Merrt offers to let Kexie beat him instead of Dalan, but instead, Kexie ignores him, knowing to do so would lead to him losing face with the other men.
Just as Dalan's time in RIP is over, the orders to assault Gereon is announced. However, instead of returning the men in RIP to their units, they are turned into a unit all of their own, Activated Tactical 137, or AT 137 for short. They will be taking part of an assault on Gereon, but miles away from the Ghosts. And he'll be doing it with the others in the RIP unit, all of whom are unfit for combat, on punishment detail or are completely green in combat. Not the best conditions for success, or even for staying alive.
Gaunt's Ghosts are assigned to assault a town named Cantabile, a town formerly of 30,000 that is a mere ghost of itself. The Chaos forces have planted twisted crops of their own, sucked up much of the water on the planet, and worked the people to collapse, then used their bodies to feed the soldiers of Chaos. Gaunt's men have their work cut out for them rooting out enemy soldiers, finding survivors of the enemy occupation, and trying to find their own lost soldiers from eight years before, including a female medic named Anna Curth, and a sniper and soldier named Mkvenner. They also have some help, a priest who helps keep up morale and who is assigned to the unit by one of the female higher-ups.
Backed up by a battalion of tanks, they take the town, but the tank commander is green, unused to real combat, and quite useless after the town is taken. Meanwhile, Dalin Criid is attempting to survive combat on one of the main battle lines. Men die around him, and he is injured several times as he struggles to survive. His first experience on the front lines of combat is hellish for him, and he feels he has been on the surface far longer than he actually has. Merrt helps him as best he can, even though before he had been standoffish at best. As they fight to survive, together and apart, Merrt reveals he was once a sharpshooter, and perhaps the best in the Ghosts, until he took a shot to the head in one of the worlds they fought on. It made his face an ugly mask, gave him a hand that shook badly and made him unable to press the gun close enough to his jaw to give him a straight shot. He attempted to make enough money to go to a hive world and get fixed, but his luck at games of chance (he was too honest to steal or defraud people) made that supremely unlikely. It was his inveterate gambling, as well as his continued losses, that put him on the RIP detail in the first place. He wants to die, but continues to battle because he wants to go down fighting.
Meanwhile, Gaunt contacts the freedom fighters that have been resisting the forces of Chaos on the planet since Gaunt's Ghosts left, but he has been betrayed from within his own ranks, and Cantabile is turned into an Internment camp by the forces of the Inquisition, who were angered that Gaunt and his men managed to fight for twelve times the length of a usual engagement on a Chaos-corrupted world and come out untainted themselves. They were convinced that something on Gereor was responsible, and one of Gaunt's people told them what they wanted to hear so that Tanith First and Only would be sent back to Gereor. But this was not they way they wanted it to end. But then, battle is never like you want it to be, is it?
This is a very exciting book. Dan Abnett writes battle scenes that bring home what a bloody, confusing and dirty a business war is. In this book, he also makes it clear that Gaunt is unusual in how he treats his men. Other Comissars, for example, carry whips with them to "encourage" their men in battle. Dalan Criid's temporary commander certainly does so, and Kexzie has his "Saroo", a club he uses to enforce his will on the men he is training. But Gaunt thinks such "encouragements" are brutal and out of date with the times, and his superiors think Gaunt's sense of honor and rectitude make him a throwback, and dangerous as well, as he will probably get his men killed over issues of honor. But as his men make clear, they prefer Gaunt's way to the way of the rest of the army.
Dan Abnett writes battle and combat so convincingly that you would swear the fights and battles were actually happening around you, as well as the "hurry up and wait" nature of a great deal of fighting out of the front lines. The only way he could be said to err is that too many of Gaunt's people survive in ways that seem extremely unlikely. But then, a lot of them die in stupid ways, too, which is much more usual in war. (I am thinking of the "clicker" scene in "The Longest Day", in which a soldier dies when he mistakes the sound of bolt-action gun being loaded and cocked for the sound of the clicker the allied troops were given to identify themselves with.)
This is definitely a series I enjoy, and as long as Dan Abnett keeps writing them, I will keep reading and enjoying them!
Now, it seems, eight years later, the Imperium have revisited the idea and are willing to try and liberate Gereon. But its a happy time for the unit, as Tona Criid's adopted son is going in for RIP training, or Retraining, Indoctrination and Punishment. Dalan Criid isn't related to her by blood, he's merely a child she protected and kept safe on the planet of Vervunhive. She is a former gang member who joined the Ghosts, and brought Dalan and his sister along with her. She found a man to love in Caffran, a man of Tanith, and with him and the other Ghosts, raised Dalan. It turned out that Dalan's blood father, a man named Kolea, was also still alive and had also joined the Ghosts, but he stepped aside to let Tona and Caffran raise Dalan, feeling he hadn't been much of a father beforehand.
Dalan, trained by Caffran and the rest of the Ghosts, is one of the best men in indoctrination, and that confuses and irks the Sergeant in charge, Kexie, who takes it out on Caffran by beating him and making sure the nail that sticks up is getting a stiff pounding down. Tona can't help but see the abuse Dalan is taking and offers to speak to Kexie, but Dalan knows that the universe is unfair, and tells her to say nothing. He would only get it worse for her having spoken, anyway. Partway through his time in RIP, another of the Ghosts, a man named Merrt, joins the RIP brigade and speaks up when Kexie starts abusing Dalan. Kexie is about to beat on Merrt, too, when Merrt offers to let Kexie beat him instead of Dalan, but instead, Kexie ignores him, knowing to do so would lead to him losing face with the other men.
Just as Dalan's time in RIP is over, the orders to assault Gereon is announced. However, instead of returning the men in RIP to their units, they are turned into a unit all of their own, Activated Tactical 137, or AT 137 for short. They will be taking part of an assault on Gereon, but miles away from the Ghosts. And he'll be doing it with the others in the RIP unit, all of whom are unfit for combat, on punishment detail or are completely green in combat. Not the best conditions for success, or even for staying alive.
Gaunt's Ghosts are assigned to assault a town named Cantabile, a town formerly of 30,000 that is a mere ghost of itself. The Chaos forces have planted twisted crops of their own, sucked up much of the water on the planet, and worked the people to collapse, then used their bodies to feed the soldiers of Chaos. Gaunt's men have their work cut out for them rooting out enemy soldiers, finding survivors of the enemy occupation, and trying to find their own lost soldiers from eight years before, including a female medic named Anna Curth, and a sniper and soldier named Mkvenner. They also have some help, a priest who helps keep up morale and who is assigned to the unit by one of the female higher-ups.
Backed up by a battalion of tanks, they take the town, but the tank commander is green, unused to real combat, and quite useless after the town is taken. Meanwhile, Dalin Criid is attempting to survive combat on one of the main battle lines. Men die around him, and he is injured several times as he struggles to survive. His first experience on the front lines of combat is hellish for him, and he feels he has been on the surface far longer than he actually has. Merrt helps him as best he can, even though before he had been standoffish at best. As they fight to survive, together and apart, Merrt reveals he was once a sharpshooter, and perhaps the best in the Ghosts, until he took a shot to the head in one of the worlds they fought on. It made his face an ugly mask, gave him a hand that shook badly and made him unable to press the gun close enough to his jaw to give him a straight shot. He attempted to make enough money to go to a hive world and get fixed, but his luck at games of chance (he was too honest to steal or defraud people) made that supremely unlikely. It was his inveterate gambling, as well as his continued losses, that put him on the RIP detail in the first place. He wants to die, but continues to battle because he wants to go down fighting.
Meanwhile, Gaunt contacts the freedom fighters that have been resisting the forces of Chaos on the planet since Gaunt's Ghosts left, but he has been betrayed from within his own ranks, and Cantabile is turned into an Internment camp by the forces of the Inquisition, who were angered that Gaunt and his men managed to fight for twelve times the length of a usual engagement on a Chaos-corrupted world and come out untainted themselves. They were convinced that something on Gereor was responsible, and one of Gaunt's people told them what they wanted to hear so that Tanith First and Only would be sent back to Gereor. But this was not they way they wanted it to end. But then, battle is never like you want it to be, is it?
This is a very exciting book. Dan Abnett writes battle scenes that bring home what a bloody, confusing and dirty a business war is. In this book, he also makes it clear that Gaunt is unusual in how he treats his men. Other Comissars, for example, carry whips with them to "encourage" their men in battle. Dalan Criid's temporary commander certainly does so, and Kexzie has his "Saroo", a club he uses to enforce his will on the men he is training. But Gaunt thinks such "encouragements" are brutal and out of date with the times, and his superiors think Gaunt's sense of honor and rectitude make him a throwback, and dangerous as well, as he will probably get his men killed over issues of honor. But as his men make clear, they prefer Gaunt's way to the way of the rest of the army.
Dan Abnett writes battle and combat so convincingly that you would swear the fights and battles were actually happening around you, as well as the "hurry up and wait" nature of a great deal of fighting out of the front lines. The only way he could be said to err is that too many of Gaunt's people survive in ways that seem extremely unlikely. But then, a lot of them die in stupid ways, too, which is much more usual in war. (I am thinking of the "clicker" scene in "The Longest Day", in which a soldier dies when he mistakes the sound of bolt-action gun being loaded and cocked for the sound of the clicker the allied troops were given to identify themselves with.)
This is definitely a series I enjoy, and as long as Dan Abnett keeps writing them, I will keep reading and enjoying them!
Monday, March 03, 2008
Deception by Eleanor Cooney and Daniel Altieri
Reading this book was unusually difficult for me. Maybe because I was far more used to reading Robert Van Gulik's Judge Dee Mysteries, where the Judge's hard edges have been filed off (because I read Dee Goong Anh, or "The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee", and was a little put off by the very real harshness of the penal code in that time.) Or maybe it was the fact that the book is over 600 pages long and takes place over the lifetime of the venerated Judge.
The book starts out with Dee as a young man, an Assistant Magistrate in Yangchou. A man, a gardener, has been hanged for the murder of a local Minster of Transport. Dee feels that the gardener, a man with extremely bad teeth, would not have been able to stand over the corpse and eat the honeyed cakes that the Minister had been snacking on. He investigates and manages to get the man's robe and does a little demonstration on his own. Someone definitely stood over the dead man eating the cakes. But could a man with rotting teeth do so without incurring a great deal of pain?
Meanwhile, the new Emperor, Kaotsung, has taken one of his father's concubines as his own mistress. Wu Tse-tien ties him to her with a special caress, making herself the only one who can ignite the new emperor's lust. Then, after giving birth and smothering her own female child, she has the Emperor dismiss his wife (saying that the Empress was the one who killed her child) and has Wu Tse-tien take her place. Kaotsung's six councillors are aghast at the Emperor's behavior, but she has her newly-appointed "Court Historian" circulate a pamphlet subtly heaping scorn on the councillor's heads. Soon, two of them have committed suicide to deal with the strain, and the other four are arrested, tried, declared insane, and sent to the country in hope of a cure. Only one, Wu-Chi, manages to escape and go into hiding at a Buddhist monastery under the guise of an old man who can no longer remember his name. The other three are killed on the orders of the Empress, under the guise of suicides. She announces that all of the councillors have died, so that no one will even think of looking for, or believing Wu-Chi, if he were to come back and announce itself.
Meanwhile, Dee has risen high in the court, because he has been campaigning against the Buddhists who have come and taken over from the Confucian Hierarchy. He has gone after several Buddhist charlatans who were defrauding the people with bogus miracles, and spurious sutras and artifacts. His opposition to Buddhism itself, however, puts him in bad odor with the court, and he is told to leave the upper class of people alone, but to protect the lower and middle classes, who need more guidance.
Empress Wu soon gets tired of Kaotsung, and begins having affairs everywhere, mostly with Buddhist holy men from Tibet, who claim to know superior techniques of endurance. But when he shows interest in other women of her family, she has the other women killed, jealous for her power. When Kaotsung has a stroke, she nurses him back to limited health, but he is afraid of her and ends up hating her. As time passes, his own sons by her seek to bypass her authority and she ends up disposing of two of them. Shortly after, Kaotsung dies, and she takes over the reins of power completely.
Meanwhile, Judge Dee pairs up with an honest Buddhist holy man to take down the fakes and conmen seeking to prey on China's newborn love for Buddhism. But when he sends the holy man into the household of the Empress' mother, the man apparently decides that the Empress can give him more, and ends up becoming the leader of a new brand of Buddhism, called the White Cloud, and also the abbot of White Cloud Monastery, built in the capital. This man, Hsueh Huai-i, proclaims the Empress to be the leader of the divine ones on earth, the body of the goddess, and the spirit of God. She takes to this immediately, and bolstered by many donations from the Empress, the new religion spreads.
Dee, without his former friend, and shocked by this betrayal, chooses to leave the Capitol and take a new post in a faraway city, Ch'ang-an, about 300 li from the capital of Loyang. While there, he must solve a series of murders which are occuring in his city. Whole families slaughtered in their houses, cut up and mutilated, and then, apparently, a horse led through the house and a pool of blood. The citizens believe that the murders are the work of demons, and even Judge Dee's wives and mother are afraid.
As Dee works to solve the mystery, he is arrested for disloyalty to the crown. Some of the men know he is innocent, and work to free him from his captivity. They manage to free him, and Dee works with them to stop the murderers and prove his innocence. When Dee does stop the murderers, he finds that they are monks of the White Cloud Monastery, under orders from his old friend, Hsueh Huai-i.
Hsueh Huai-i is falling out of favor with the Empress as well. She suspects that he is sleeping with the women who serve as nuns in his monastery, and he is no longer satisfying her in bed. He claims that her rooms stink of the dogs she keeps as pets and companions, and she blames his drunkenness and gluttony. She attempts to remove him from his position, and he withdraws her supposed divinity, saying that due to her own lecherousness and whoring, it has left her for a virgin. Since he was responsible for putting the god into her with his lovemaking, he will attempt to impregnate any and all women who would like to assume such a divine position.
Judge Dee doesn't like the Empress. Through the friendship of Wu-Chi, he is aware of her killing of her sons and daughter, and her role in the downfall of the Emperor. But to bring down Hsueh Huai-i, he goes to her and shows what the White Cloud Abbot has been up to. She authorizes Dee to arrest in try him, in exchange for clemency for herself, at least until her mother passes away.
Dee arrests, tries and sentences Hsueh-Haui-i to death. Hsueh tells the Judge when he is arrested that he was also responsible for the death of the Minister of Transport all those many years ago. However, instead of sending him to his death, he sentences him to be returned to Tibet. The monks responsible for the murders he sentences to perpetual imprisonment, helping to build the Great Wall in one of its most inaccessible mountain locations.
Finally, he returns to his work, and many years later, he is summoned to the Capital, where the Empress lies dying. Her mother, though, is amazingly still alive...
This was a novel where a lot of stuff went on. The main part covered more than 20 years in the life of both Judge Dee and the land of China. It is set in a turbulent period, when China was moving from being mostly Confucianist, to being mostly Buddhist. Dee remains, throughout the novel, a staunch Confucianist, even though his wives become enamoured of Buddhism. Another thread running through the novel is his two sons, who are ne'er-do-wells who seem cut out only for villainy. Yet another is the rise of Wu Tsu-tien, a real woman who became Empress of China, the first and only Empress of China. The book writes about her objectively, but considering the things she does, it is hard to see her as admirable: Killing off her baby daughter so she can get rid of Kaotsung's first empress, having her pet historian write scurrilous screeds about Kaotsung's council because they dislike her, Killing two of her sons because they would seek to overthrow her, and so on. None of these made her particularly likeable. And even when bad things happen to her, like when Kaotsung rapes her after finding her with one of her lovers, you kinda think she had it coming.
So when Judge Dee goes to her and agrees to forgo charging her in order to bring in Hsueh Huai-i, it's rather disappointing, and disconcerting. And then the authors play the "madness" card to make us hate Huai-i. I honestly thought that, even if he was mad, the Empress was the worse kind of criminal, killing off her own children. I wanted some kind of payment out of her, too, but I had to settle for her dying about 30 years later, and the fact that she expressed regret on her deathbed, none of which really satisfied me in the end. The book also ends with a very Buddhist ending of Hsueh Huai-i, by having him apparently reborn as an Ox pulling heavy loads in Tibet.
Well, it was a very interesting read, but the ending was not really all that enjoyable because of the lack of closure on the deeds of the Empress. Next up, "The Armor of Contempt" by Dan Abnett.
The book starts out with Dee as a young man, an Assistant Magistrate in Yangchou. A man, a gardener, has been hanged for the murder of a local Minster of Transport. Dee feels that the gardener, a man with extremely bad teeth, would not have been able to stand over the corpse and eat the honeyed cakes that the Minister had been snacking on. He investigates and manages to get the man's robe and does a little demonstration on his own. Someone definitely stood over the dead man eating the cakes. But could a man with rotting teeth do so without incurring a great deal of pain?
Meanwhile, the new Emperor, Kaotsung, has taken one of his father's concubines as his own mistress. Wu Tse-tien ties him to her with a special caress, making herself the only one who can ignite the new emperor's lust. Then, after giving birth and smothering her own female child, she has the Emperor dismiss his wife (saying that the Empress was the one who killed her child) and has Wu Tse-tien take her place. Kaotsung's six councillors are aghast at the Emperor's behavior, but she has her newly-appointed "Court Historian" circulate a pamphlet subtly heaping scorn on the councillor's heads. Soon, two of them have committed suicide to deal with the strain, and the other four are arrested, tried, declared insane, and sent to the country in hope of a cure. Only one, Wu-Chi, manages to escape and go into hiding at a Buddhist monastery under the guise of an old man who can no longer remember his name. The other three are killed on the orders of the Empress, under the guise of suicides. She announces that all of the councillors have died, so that no one will even think of looking for, or believing Wu-Chi, if he were to come back and announce itself.
Meanwhile, Dee has risen high in the court, because he has been campaigning against the Buddhists who have come and taken over from the Confucian Hierarchy. He has gone after several Buddhist charlatans who were defrauding the people with bogus miracles, and spurious sutras and artifacts. His opposition to Buddhism itself, however, puts him in bad odor with the court, and he is told to leave the upper class of people alone, but to protect the lower and middle classes, who need more guidance.
Empress Wu soon gets tired of Kaotsung, and begins having affairs everywhere, mostly with Buddhist holy men from Tibet, who claim to know superior techniques of endurance. But when he shows interest in other women of her family, she has the other women killed, jealous for her power. When Kaotsung has a stroke, she nurses him back to limited health, but he is afraid of her and ends up hating her. As time passes, his own sons by her seek to bypass her authority and she ends up disposing of two of them. Shortly after, Kaotsung dies, and she takes over the reins of power completely.
Meanwhile, Judge Dee pairs up with an honest Buddhist holy man to take down the fakes and conmen seeking to prey on China's newborn love for Buddhism. But when he sends the holy man into the household of the Empress' mother, the man apparently decides that the Empress can give him more, and ends up becoming the leader of a new brand of Buddhism, called the White Cloud, and also the abbot of White Cloud Monastery, built in the capital. This man, Hsueh Huai-i, proclaims the Empress to be the leader of the divine ones on earth, the body of the goddess, and the spirit of God. She takes to this immediately, and bolstered by many donations from the Empress, the new religion spreads.
Dee, without his former friend, and shocked by this betrayal, chooses to leave the Capitol and take a new post in a faraway city, Ch'ang-an, about 300 li from the capital of Loyang. While there, he must solve a series of murders which are occuring in his city. Whole families slaughtered in their houses, cut up and mutilated, and then, apparently, a horse led through the house and a pool of blood. The citizens believe that the murders are the work of demons, and even Judge Dee's wives and mother are afraid.
As Dee works to solve the mystery, he is arrested for disloyalty to the crown. Some of the men know he is innocent, and work to free him from his captivity. They manage to free him, and Dee works with them to stop the murderers and prove his innocence. When Dee does stop the murderers, he finds that they are monks of the White Cloud Monastery, under orders from his old friend, Hsueh Huai-i.
Hsueh Huai-i is falling out of favor with the Empress as well. She suspects that he is sleeping with the women who serve as nuns in his monastery, and he is no longer satisfying her in bed. He claims that her rooms stink of the dogs she keeps as pets and companions, and she blames his drunkenness and gluttony. She attempts to remove him from his position, and he withdraws her supposed divinity, saying that due to her own lecherousness and whoring, it has left her for a virgin. Since he was responsible for putting the god into her with his lovemaking, he will attempt to impregnate any and all women who would like to assume such a divine position.
Judge Dee doesn't like the Empress. Through the friendship of Wu-Chi, he is aware of her killing of her sons and daughter, and her role in the downfall of the Emperor. But to bring down Hsueh Huai-i, he goes to her and shows what the White Cloud Abbot has been up to. She authorizes Dee to arrest in try him, in exchange for clemency for herself, at least until her mother passes away.
Dee arrests, tries and sentences Hsueh-Haui-i to death. Hsueh tells the Judge when he is arrested that he was also responsible for the death of the Minister of Transport all those many years ago. However, instead of sending him to his death, he sentences him to be returned to Tibet. The monks responsible for the murders he sentences to perpetual imprisonment, helping to build the Great Wall in one of its most inaccessible mountain locations.
Finally, he returns to his work, and many years later, he is summoned to the Capital, where the Empress lies dying. Her mother, though, is amazingly still alive...
This was a novel where a lot of stuff went on. The main part covered more than 20 years in the life of both Judge Dee and the land of China. It is set in a turbulent period, when China was moving from being mostly Confucianist, to being mostly Buddhist. Dee remains, throughout the novel, a staunch Confucianist, even though his wives become enamoured of Buddhism. Another thread running through the novel is his two sons, who are ne'er-do-wells who seem cut out only for villainy. Yet another is the rise of Wu Tsu-tien, a real woman who became Empress of China, the first and only Empress of China. The book writes about her objectively, but considering the things she does, it is hard to see her as admirable: Killing off her baby daughter so she can get rid of Kaotsung's first empress, having her pet historian write scurrilous screeds about Kaotsung's council because they dislike her, Killing two of her sons because they would seek to overthrow her, and so on. None of these made her particularly likeable. And even when bad things happen to her, like when Kaotsung rapes her after finding her with one of her lovers, you kinda think she had it coming.
So when Judge Dee goes to her and agrees to forgo charging her in order to bring in Hsueh Huai-i, it's rather disappointing, and disconcerting. And then the authors play the "madness" card to make us hate Huai-i. I honestly thought that, even if he was mad, the Empress was the worse kind of criminal, killing off her own children. I wanted some kind of payment out of her, too, but I had to settle for her dying about 30 years later, and the fact that she expressed regret on her deathbed, none of which really satisfied me in the end. The book also ends with a very Buddhist ending of Hsueh Huai-i, by having him apparently reborn as an Ox pulling heavy loads in Tibet.
Well, it was a very interesting read, but the ending was not really all that enjoyable because of the lack of closure on the deeds of the Empress. Next up, "The Armor of Contempt" by Dan Abnett.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Why I should Be Kept Away from Bookstores
Both yesterday and today, I made trips to local malls. Yesterday specifically to visit my local bookstore, and the one today to go to a not local at all Bath and Bodyworks for glycerine soap. But when I got to the mall, I had to pass a huge Borders, which I thought might not be there any longer because I had been recieving e-mails from Borders saying they were going to close a Borders near Atlantic City.
Well, the one I passed today just happens to be very near Atlantic City, so I had mistakenly thought it was closed. But it wasn't, and that made me happy, because the store is so full of booky goodness. I ended up buying nearly $170 worth of books, and at my local bookstore, I had already spent $110. My biggest problem now? Places to put them.
I have five bookshelves in my room. Two of them and part of a shelf on a third actually hold my DVD collection (and yeah, I have a problem there, too), but one of those is only two shelves deep and holds my TV on top, along with my DVD/VCR, and cable box. Two are taken up with my collection of D&D, AD&D and other RPG books and modules, but at this point its mostly D&D and AD&D. I also have my Writing Books in these bookshelves, and my Macintosh game collections (More sit with the humungous holder for CDs in my room. I save the shelf for the DVD game boxes, like for Civilization, my Sims2 Collection, Neverwinter Nights 2 and packages of treats for my cat.
The last bookshelf is another two-shelfer and holds my books to be read file (which has overtaken the bedside table in six huge stacks) and my blank books for writing in. Everything is stuffed (My DVD collection is shelved two deep), and I don't really have the room for more. Yet, I went out and bought more books. I am beginning to think I should be chained up when I go past bookstores, like some werewolves chain themselves up on the nights of the full moon to prevent themselves from going on a rampage. Do you think it would help?
(What I bought: Trinity Blood 5, Naruto 27, 28 and Saiyuki Reload 7, Colliding Forces by Constance O'Day Flannery, Wolf Blood by Jane Lindskold, Dead Perfect by Amanda Ashley, Vampire Interrupted by Lynsay Sands, White Night by Jim Butcher, Ravenor Rogue by Dan Abnett, Howling at the Moon by Karen MacInerny, Firebird by Mercedes Lackey, Undead by Reggie Lee Byers, Kris Longknife: Audacious by Mike Sheppard, to Hell and Back by Lilith Saintcrow, Rebel Fay by Barb and J.C. Hendree, Unquiet Dreams by Mark Del Franko, Dragon Fire by Allyson James, The Warrior by Kinley MacGregor, Kiss of Flame by Deborah Cooke, In the Midnight Hour by Patti O'Shea, The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City (which I already read and reviewed), The Complete Divine, Expedition to the Demonweb Pits and Anita Blake: First Death, a graphic Novel.)
Well, the one I passed today just happens to be very near Atlantic City, so I had mistakenly thought it was closed. But it wasn't, and that made me happy, because the store is so full of booky goodness. I ended up buying nearly $170 worth of books, and at my local bookstore, I had already spent $110. My biggest problem now? Places to put them.
I have five bookshelves in my room. Two of them and part of a shelf on a third actually hold my DVD collection (and yeah, I have a problem there, too), but one of those is only two shelves deep and holds my TV on top, along with my DVD/VCR, and cable box. Two are taken up with my collection of D&D, AD&D and other RPG books and modules, but at this point its mostly D&D and AD&D. I also have my Writing Books in these bookshelves, and my Macintosh game collections (More sit with the humungous holder for CDs in my room. I save the shelf for the DVD game boxes, like for Civilization, my Sims2 Collection, Neverwinter Nights 2 and packages of treats for my cat.
The last bookshelf is another two-shelfer and holds my books to be read file (which has overtaken the bedside table in six huge stacks) and my blank books for writing in. Everything is stuffed (My DVD collection is shelved two deep), and I don't really have the room for more. Yet, I went out and bought more books. I am beginning to think I should be chained up when I go past bookstores, like some werewolves chain themselves up on the nights of the full moon to prevent themselves from going on a rampage. Do you think it would help?
(What I bought: Trinity Blood 5, Naruto 27, 28 and Saiyuki Reload 7, Colliding Forces by Constance O'Day Flannery, Wolf Blood by Jane Lindskold, Dead Perfect by Amanda Ashley, Vampire Interrupted by Lynsay Sands, White Night by Jim Butcher, Ravenor Rogue by Dan Abnett, Howling at the Moon by Karen MacInerny, Firebird by Mercedes Lackey, Undead by Reggie Lee Byers, Kris Longknife: Audacious by Mike Sheppard, to Hell and Back by Lilith Saintcrow, Rebel Fay by Barb and J.C. Hendree, Unquiet Dreams by Mark Del Franko, Dragon Fire by Allyson James, The Warrior by Kinley MacGregor, Kiss of Flame by Deborah Cooke, In the Midnight Hour by Patti O'Shea, The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City (which I already read and reviewed), The Complete Divine, Expedition to the Demonweb Pits and Anita Blake: First Death, a graphic Novel.)
Saturday, March 01, 2008
The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City
Marvel Comics is headquartered in New York City, and unlike other comics companies, ::Cough,cough:: DC ::Cough,cough.:: they set all their heroes (or a large percentage of them) in New York City. While Washington DC may be the administrative capital of the United States, New York is its financial capital.
Many of the real landmarks in NYC show up in Marvel Comics, such as City Hall, where Peter Parker, better known as Spiderman, married Mary Jane Watson in a civil ceremony. But there are less well-known places, such as the Home of Doctor Stephen Strange, Warlock Supreme, at 177A Bleecker Street, in the heart of the West Village. But even if you go there to find it, you won't, as Dr. Strange has covered the house with an illusion of a Starbucks, permanently under construction.
In addition to actual landmarks, the book covers some fictional landmarks. For example, Timely Plaza, where the She-Hulk works, is named after Timely Publications, the former name of Marvel Comics. And the firm she works for, Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg and Holliway, immortalizes the real name of Stan Lee (Stanley Lieber), Jack Kirby (Jacob Kurtzberg) and the Founder of Marvel Comics, Martin Goodman. The fourth name is the fictional senior partner who hired Jennifer Walters, the She-Hulk, when she started working as a lawyer.
Some locations are given a general area, but no street name, such as Alicia Masters' studio loft, which is located somewhere in Tribeca (TRIo of streets BEneath CAnal Street), the Coffee Bean, a 60's beatnik coffee house located somewhere in the East village, Shield Headquarters (before it was moved to the Shield Helicarrier)- Midtown on the eastern side, or Nelson and Murdock, the law office where Daredevil, Matt Murdock, works (which is somewhere on the Upper East Side).
Others are given an actual location, but no street number, like the Baxter Building, owned by the Fantastic Four, at 42nd Street and Madison Avenue, The Daily Bugle, at East 39th Street and 2nd Ave, The Hellfire Club, 5th Avenue and East 66th St. and Fogwell's Gym and Josie's Cafe, from 34th and 57th Streets between 8th Avenue and the Hudson River.
It also points out some interesting trivia, such as that the Avengers mansion is based on the Frick Collection building, and showed the difference between the movie and comica versions of Spiderman. It also pointed out the inaccuracies in the comics version of the Death of Gwen Stacy. Which bridge did she fall off of? The script says, George Washington Bridge, but the images in the comic are of the Brooklyn Bridge. So, according to this book, since comics are primarily a visual medium, the Brooklyn Bridge edges it out for the win.
And the book also gives some advice should you be transported to the Marvel Comics version of NYC: move to Staten Island. No Supervillain has yet fought a battle or destroyed that section of the city. And the only supervillain that lives there is the Vulture, who apparently doesn't want to dirty his own nest. So, if you are looking for somewhere sane (and *quiet*) to live, live there!
The book ends with a Spider-Man centered Walking Tour, covering past big battles of the wall-crawling webslinger, and the places where he supposedly lives and works (comics and movies both). So, if you love comics and plan to be going to NYC, this would make an excellent book to let you relive some of your favorite (or not so favorite) moments.
Many of the real landmarks in NYC show up in Marvel Comics, such as City Hall, where Peter Parker, better known as Spiderman, married Mary Jane Watson in a civil ceremony. But there are less well-known places, such as the Home of Doctor Stephen Strange, Warlock Supreme, at 177A Bleecker Street, in the heart of the West Village. But even if you go there to find it, you won't, as Dr. Strange has covered the house with an illusion of a Starbucks, permanently under construction.
In addition to actual landmarks, the book covers some fictional landmarks. For example, Timely Plaza, where the She-Hulk works, is named after Timely Publications, the former name of Marvel Comics. And the firm she works for, Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg and Holliway, immortalizes the real name of Stan Lee (Stanley Lieber), Jack Kirby (Jacob Kurtzberg) and the Founder of Marvel Comics, Martin Goodman. The fourth name is the fictional senior partner who hired Jennifer Walters, the She-Hulk, when she started working as a lawyer.
Some locations are given a general area, but no street name, such as Alicia Masters' studio loft, which is located somewhere in Tribeca (TRIo of streets BEneath CAnal Street), the Coffee Bean, a 60's beatnik coffee house located somewhere in the East village, Shield Headquarters (before it was moved to the Shield Helicarrier)- Midtown on the eastern side, or Nelson and Murdock, the law office where Daredevil, Matt Murdock, works (which is somewhere on the Upper East Side).
Others are given an actual location, but no street number, like the Baxter Building, owned by the Fantastic Four, at 42nd Street and Madison Avenue, The Daily Bugle, at East 39th Street and 2nd Ave, The Hellfire Club, 5th Avenue and East 66th St. and Fogwell's Gym and Josie's Cafe, from 34th and 57th Streets between 8th Avenue and the Hudson River.
It also points out some interesting trivia, such as that the Avengers mansion is based on the Frick Collection building, and showed the difference between the movie and comica versions of Spiderman. It also pointed out the inaccuracies in the comics version of the Death of Gwen Stacy. Which bridge did she fall off of? The script says, George Washington Bridge, but the images in the comic are of the Brooklyn Bridge. So, according to this book, since comics are primarily a visual medium, the Brooklyn Bridge edges it out for the win.
And the book also gives some advice should you be transported to the Marvel Comics version of NYC: move to Staten Island. No Supervillain has yet fought a battle or destroyed that section of the city. And the only supervillain that lives there is the Vulture, who apparently doesn't want to dirty his own nest. So, if you are looking for somewhere sane (and *quiet*) to live, live there!
The book ends with a Spider-Man centered Walking Tour, covering past big battles of the wall-crawling webslinger, and the places where he supposedly lives and works (comics and movies both). So, if you love comics and plan to be going to NYC, this would make an excellent book to let you relive some of your favorite (or not so favorite) moments.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Shifting Love by Constance O'Day-Flannery
Magdalene O'Shea has a secret. From the time when she was very young, she could shift into any animal form that she desired. Her mother, who already resented Magdalene for ruining her life just by being concieved, refused to believe that Magdalene was telling the truth when the young girl told her what she could do. She told Magdalene that if she persisted in such lies, she was surely bound to hell, to a fiery end.
Magdalene used her powers to get close to boys that she liked, until she was 20, when a man that she liked told her he was in love with her, and would kill himself if she left him. Maggie didn't believe him and he promptly threw himself off a cliff. Maggie was horrified, and ran as fast and far as she could, but was discovered by a man and shapeshifter named Marcus Bocelli, who, after hearing her story about the man who had thrown himself from the cliff, told her she must atone for her crime. He will teach her how to use her powers, and she must use them in the service of good, and light, and love.
Fourteen years later, Maggie is tired of her job. She wonders for how much longer she will have to continue to atone for her crime. Every time she thinks she is done and can settle down to a normal life, Marcus will appear with a new job that he insists it is extremely important she take on. Since her job consists of teaching damaged men to open their hearts and love again, she must sincerely love the men she takes on. Now, each job is becoming no more than a job, and it feels wrong to approach it that way.
Marcus appears back in her life, and gives her a job he says will be the most important of her life. Julian McDonald is a wealthy entepreneur whose life was darkened when his wife and young son went down in an airplane wreck. He threw himself into his work, but he could be so much more, and he is being groomed to be such. However, he must be able to love in his new position, and since Magdalene is their best operative, Marcus has decided to give her the job. Magdalene sees that she could easily step over the line and fall in love with Julian in the wrong way and want him for herself. Nonetheless, she agrees to take him on.
Magdalene meets Julian at a charity auction, and piques his interest by challenging his bid on a watercolor painting painted by a local student. At the auction she also meets D., a local television journalist and shockingly direct woman. D and Maggie become quick friends, especially when they escort each other to dinner and manage to once again intrigue Julian, but also confuse him.
When Maggie hasn't heard from Julian within a week after the auction, she breaks into his house as a falcon and plants her business card in a place where he can't fail to see it. Unfortunately, she hasn't counted on his dog being there, and must abandon the body of the falcon, which she possessed, and instead takes over Julian's dog, Maxamillion. From this, she learns Max has really bad hip joints, but is able to lead him to her card.
A few days later, Julian meets her for dinner at her shop, Soul Provisions, which sells books, jewelry, CDs and candles, along with other things for people to pamper themselves with. He's made reservations at a Chic restaurant, but instead she takes him to her house and forces him to relax by making him take off the armor of his suit. He eats the dinner she prepared, and has a wonderful time. The next weekend, he "kidnaps" her and takes her to his house in Bermuda for dinner, but they end up staying the night.
While she is there, Maggie attempts to swim in the ocean in dolphin form, but becomes entangled in some fishing nets, and is rescued by a barracuda, who also happens to be the housekeeper... and a shapeshifter as well. She tells Maggie that Maggie has a choice. If she wants to stop doing work for the organization and retire, it is up to her. She also tells Maggie something about the organization she works for. It's not much, but it's more than Marius has ever told her.
When she returns to Philadelphia, Marius returns to see her. He's perturbed that, while the housekeeper gave a good report on Maggie, Marius was reprimanded for not giving her an adequate background on the organization. Maggie is so fed up with him by this point that she really can't care. In fact, she takes pleasure in the fact that it was Marius who got reprimanded, not her. She also tells him this will be her last job. She wants to be free and have a normal life, with a husband and children. Marius enjoys the chase and capturing different women, she doesn't really enjoy her job. Soon after, Maggie and Julian become lovers.
After a few more weekends together, Maggie pushes Julian to talk about his family, even though he doesn't really want to. After pointing out a few home truths about Julian's family life, Julian blows up, runs out, and decides not to return to her. But later on, he talks to his older female assistant, who gives him another few home truths about his own behavior. He rewards her by letting her husband surprise her with a trip to his home in the Bahamas over the coming weekend. Then he returns to Maggie and they talk out his problems with relationships. When he asks her to marry him, Maggie reveals that he has been her project and that she cannot marry him. She tells him that great things are awaiting him, and that he will soon meet another woman whom he will fall in love with and marry.
Julian is approached by a senator and is invited to become the Senator's protegé, taking over for him in politics. He is introduced to a young woman named Victoria, who would be the perfect wife for his political career, but he tells the senator that his heart is already engaged, and when the Senator asks the woman's name, he tells him, "Maggie". He turns down the senator's offer, and finds that Victoria and Maggie say many of the same things. Victoria learned hers from a man she was recently involved with...
After breaking up with Julian, Maggie becomes very sick, and eventually, realizes she is pregnant. When Julian returns and tries to minster to her, she drives him away by showing him her powers. He leaves, thinking that she is some sort of monster. Eventually, Julian decides to take the senator up on his offer and goes to see him at his estate. The Senator has also invited Maggie to join him, and reveals to her that he is her father. At first, she is upset with him, but when she sees Julian on the estate, she realizes she still loves him, and Julian realizes this as well when he gets jealous of Marius. When the senator is shot by a sniper, she and Marius take care of the assassin, while Julian phones for help. But will the organization allow Maggie to take Victoria's place and marry Julian?
This book was an extremely good read. Both characters are intelligent, passionate and capable of surprising each other as well as the readers. Maggie's plight, her frustration with having to live a life where she must atone for a thoughtless act over and over, really came through. Marius, who had been her mentor and lover, came off as very manipulative, as seen through Maggie's eyes. Since he's Italian, he tries using his charm to manipulate her, but by the time of the beginning of the book, it's obvious she won't be falling for it any longer.
I really enjoyed the ending of the series, and the sequel will apparently focus on Marius and Maggie's friend, D. Since Marius is portrayed as someone who is rather manipulative and enjoys chasing women, I'm not sure he is exactly the kind of man who is a romance hero. But we'll see.
I also read Death Note #13: How to Read, which gives timelines for the series, and gives notes that makes the storyline and high-level plotting more accessible to readers. The book also answers reader questions, has interviews with the writer, Tsugumi Ohba, and the artist, Takeshi Obata, separately, and then one together. It's packed with information and stuff on all the important character, and includes a section in the back with traditional Japanese four-panel comics featuring the characters from Death Note, and the original story that the series grew out of, as well as a hilarious look at the Shinigami Ryuk's take on the series.
Magdalene used her powers to get close to boys that she liked, until she was 20, when a man that she liked told her he was in love with her, and would kill himself if she left him. Maggie didn't believe him and he promptly threw himself off a cliff. Maggie was horrified, and ran as fast and far as she could, but was discovered by a man and shapeshifter named Marcus Bocelli, who, after hearing her story about the man who had thrown himself from the cliff, told her she must atone for her crime. He will teach her how to use her powers, and she must use them in the service of good, and light, and love.
Fourteen years later, Maggie is tired of her job. She wonders for how much longer she will have to continue to atone for her crime. Every time she thinks she is done and can settle down to a normal life, Marcus will appear with a new job that he insists it is extremely important she take on. Since her job consists of teaching damaged men to open their hearts and love again, she must sincerely love the men she takes on. Now, each job is becoming no more than a job, and it feels wrong to approach it that way.
Marcus appears back in her life, and gives her a job he says will be the most important of her life. Julian McDonald is a wealthy entepreneur whose life was darkened when his wife and young son went down in an airplane wreck. He threw himself into his work, but he could be so much more, and he is being groomed to be such. However, he must be able to love in his new position, and since Magdalene is their best operative, Marcus has decided to give her the job. Magdalene sees that she could easily step over the line and fall in love with Julian in the wrong way and want him for herself. Nonetheless, she agrees to take him on.
Magdalene meets Julian at a charity auction, and piques his interest by challenging his bid on a watercolor painting painted by a local student. At the auction she also meets D., a local television journalist and shockingly direct woman. D and Maggie become quick friends, especially when they escort each other to dinner and manage to once again intrigue Julian, but also confuse him.
When Maggie hasn't heard from Julian within a week after the auction, she breaks into his house as a falcon and plants her business card in a place where he can't fail to see it. Unfortunately, she hasn't counted on his dog being there, and must abandon the body of the falcon, which she possessed, and instead takes over Julian's dog, Maxamillion. From this, she learns Max has really bad hip joints, but is able to lead him to her card.
A few days later, Julian meets her for dinner at her shop, Soul Provisions, which sells books, jewelry, CDs and candles, along with other things for people to pamper themselves with. He's made reservations at a Chic restaurant, but instead she takes him to her house and forces him to relax by making him take off the armor of his suit. He eats the dinner she prepared, and has a wonderful time. The next weekend, he "kidnaps" her and takes her to his house in Bermuda for dinner, but they end up staying the night.
While she is there, Maggie attempts to swim in the ocean in dolphin form, but becomes entangled in some fishing nets, and is rescued by a barracuda, who also happens to be the housekeeper... and a shapeshifter as well. She tells Maggie that Maggie has a choice. If she wants to stop doing work for the organization and retire, it is up to her. She also tells Maggie something about the organization she works for. It's not much, but it's more than Marius has ever told her.
When she returns to Philadelphia, Marius returns to see her. He's perturbed that, while the housekeeper gave a good report on Maggie, Marius was reprimanded for not giving her an adequate background on the organization. Maggie is so fed up with him by this point that she really can't care. In fact, she takes pleasure in the fact that it was Marius who got reprimanded, not her. She also tells him this will be her last job. She wants to be free and have a normal life, with a husband and children. Marius enjoys the chase and capturing different women, she doesn't really enjoy her job. Soon after, Maggie and Julian become lovers.
After a few more weekends together, Maggie pushes Julian to talk about his family, even though he doesn't really want to. After pointing out a few home truths about Julian's family life, Julian blows up, runs out, and decides not to return to her. But later on, he talks to his older female assistant, who gives him another few home truths about his own behavior. He rewards her by letting her husband surprise her with a trip to his home in the Bahamas over the coming weekend. Then he returns to Maggie and they talk out his problems with relationships. When he asks her to marry him, Maggie reveals that he has been her project and that she cannot marry him. She tells him that great things are awaiting him, and that he will soon meet another woman whom he will fall in love with and marry.
Julian is approached by a senator and is invited to become the Senator's protegé, taking over for him in politics. He is introduced to a young woman named Victoria, who would be the perfect wife for his political career, but he tells the senator that his heart is already engaged, and when the Senator asks the woman's name, he tells him, "Maggie". He turns down the senator's offer, and finds that Victoria and Maggie say many of the same things. Victoria learned hers from a man she was recently involved with...
After breaking up with Julian, Maggie becomes very sick, and eventually, realizes she is pregnant. When Julian returns and tries to minster to her, she drives him away by showing him her powers. He leaves, thinking that she is some sort of monster. Eventually, Julian decides to take the senator up on his offer and goes to see him at his estate. The Senator has also invited Maggie to join him, and reveals to her that he is her father. At first, she is upset with him, but when she sees Julian on the estate, she realizes she still loves him, and Julian realizes this as well when he gets jealous of Marius. When the senator is shot by a sniper, she and Marius take care of the assassin, while Julian phones for help. But will the organization allow Maggie to take Victoria's place and marry Julian?
This book was an extremely good read. Both characters are intelligent, passionate and capable of surprising each other as well as the readers. Maggie's plight, her frustration with having to live a life where she must atone for a thoughtless act over and over, really came through. Marius, who had been her mentor and lover, came off as very manipulative, as seen through Maggie's eyes. Since he's Italian, he tries using his charm to manipulate her, but by the time of the beginning of the book, it's obvious she won't be falling for it any longer.
I really enjoyed the ending of the series, and the sequel will apparently focus on Marius and Maggie's friend, D. Since Marius is portrayed as someone who is rather manipulative and enjoys chasing women, I'm not sure he is exactly the kind of man who is a romance hero. But we'll see.
I also read Death Note #13: How to Read, which gives timelines for the series, and gives notes that makes the storyline and high-level plotting more accessible to readers. The book also answers reader questions, has interviews with the writer, Tsugumi Ohba, and the artist, Takeshi Obata, separately, and then one together. It's packed with information and stuff on all the important character, and includes a section in the back with traditional Japanese four-panel comics featuring the characters from Death Note, and the original story that the series grew out of, as well as a hilarious look at the Shinigami Ryuk's take on the series.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Black Dragon by Allyson James
Saba Watanabe is a half-Japanese witch who was formerly enslaved by the black Dragon Malcolm, who had been trapped in the human world for 600 years. When, eight months back, Malcolm was freed to return to Dragonspace by the Silver Dragon Lisa Singleton, now married to the Gold Dragon Caleb, he freed Saba and left her behind a set of jewels he called Dragon Tears, which could summon him back to her side should she need him
Saba was glad to finally be free of him, and studied how to resist being marked by a dragon so that she could never be enslaved again. Even though she was glad to be free of Malcolm, she cannot stop thinking of him. Even now, she carries his dragon tears around in her pocket. But when she is assaulted by a white dragon, the fiercest, most evil of all dragon species, on the train on the way home at night, she resists the dragon trying to mark her with his mark, and when he turns to simple physical assault, she clutches the dragon tears and calls out for Malcolm. Malcolm returns and thrashes the white dragon, but he is concerned for Saba. Why should a white dragon, the most cruel, vicious and heartless of their kind, want Saba? Malcolm turns his logical mind to the task, and turns back to his minions, as well as seeking out new allies like Alex, an imp who strangely enough, isn't evil.
Malcolm tries to track down the witch who might have summoned the White Dragon to this world, only to find that she has already been disposed of by the dragon or one of his minions. Saba helps another witch, Annie, find a friend of hers from the local coven, but the witch is the same one who may have summoned the white dragon, and is sent into shock at the sight of her friend dead.
The white dragon, while not appearing in person, does manage to threaten Saba's life in other ways, including sending her a threatening E-mail. While Saba is strong, she was more than a little miffed that Malcolm, who used her as his sex slave, appeared to have totally forgotten about her after he left. As she and Malcolm spend more time around each other, she realizes that she has fallen in love with him, but she doesn't want to admit it, realizing that she would be devastated if he went away again.
Gradually, it becomes clear that the white dragon, who calls himself Roland, is not actually after Saba except as a means to an end. He wants the vast archive of the black dragons that Malcolm has been put in charge of. To do so, he has stolen a book called the Book of Dragons, which holds the image and true name of every dragon in existence. After wiping his own name from the book, he uses Malcolm's true name to kidnap him and take control of him. Malcolm is rescued by Saba and takes her back to Dragonspace with him, to the archive. But the archive is having problems of its own.
You see, the books stored there attract darkness. Normally, the books imbued with light and life energy keep the darkness contained and small. But with the Book of Dragons stolen, the darkness is rapidly taking over the archive, covering everything in a dark shroud. Not only has it doused the lights of the archive, but it has corrupted the "card catalog" that is used to reference the books. Malcolm must call on Saba, who is a computer programmer in the human world, Lisa and Alex, who is a manifestation of Baku, the god of dreams, to defeat the darkness and restore function to the archive. Not to mention deal with another attack by Roland, whose ultimate aim is to use the stored knowledge of the archive to take over Dragonspace. But can the four of them throw back the darkness and defeat it? Or will they fall prey to the darkness, to Roland, or both?
The Black Dragon was an excellent book belied by its cover art. The man depicted on the cover of the book didn't resemble my mental image of Malcolm at all, being entirely too pale, and much, much too fey. To put it mildly, the cover guy looks like he plays for the other team. I nearly put it back on the shelf because of that, and now I am glad I didn't, because I would have missed an interesting, engaging, and humorous story. This book is a sequel to a book called "Dragon Heat", and now I will be going to track down that book, even though Malcolm originally appears as a villain in the book (He's not a villain, but he does have a unique way of looking at the world, even for one of his kind).
The story of how Malcolm comes to realize the witch he left behind is Saba, his witch and holder of his heart, is a heart-warming one. Malcolm, while not tongue-tied, is not a man who can easily sound or even be romantic, but he never lies to Saba and is always willing to discuss things logically. Even though he is driven to mate because he has passed the halfway point in his own long life, he could have any female dragon, but he wants Saba. This book is a wonderful read, and should appeal to men as well as women with its many action scenes.
Saba was glad to finally be free of him, and studied how to resist being marked by a dragon so that she could never be enslaved again. Even though she was glad to be free of Malcolm, she cannot stop thinking of him. Even now, she carries his dragon tears around in her pocket. But when she is assaulted by a white dragon, the fiercest, most evil of all dragon species, on the train on the way home at night, she resists the dragon trying to mark her with his mark, and when he turns to simple physical assault, she clutches the dragon tears and calls out for Malcolm. Malcolm returns and thrashes the white dragon, but he is concerned for Saba. Why should a white dragon, the most cruel, vicious and heartless of their kind, want Saba? Malcolm turns his logical mind to the task, and turns back to his minions, as well as seeking out new allies like Alex, an imp who strangely enough, isn't evil.
Malcolm tries to track down the witch who might have summoned the White Dragon to this world, only to find that she has already been disposed of by the dragon or one of his minions. Saba helps another witch, Annie, find a friend of hers from the local coven, but the witch is the same one who may have summoned the white dragon, and is sent into shock at the sight of her friend dead.
The white dragon, while not appearing in person, does manage to threaten Saba's life in other ways, including sending her a threatening E-mail. While Saba is strong, she was more than a little miffed that Malcolm, who used her as his sex slave, appeared to have totally forgotten about her after he left. As she and Malcolm spend more time around each other, she realizes that she has fallen in love with him, but she doesn't want to admit it, realizing that she would be devastated if he went away again.
Gradually, it becomes clear that the white dragon, who calls himself Roland, is not actually after Saba except as a means to an end. He wants the vast archive of the black dragons that Malcolm has been put in charge of. To do so, he has stolen a book called the Book of Dragons, which holds the image and true name of every dragon in existence. After wiping his own name from the book, he uses Malcolm's true name to kidnap him and take control of him. Malcolm is rescued by Saba and takes her back to Dragonspace with him, to the archive. But the archive is having problems of its own.
You see, the books stored there attract darkness. Normally, the books imbued with light and life energy keep the darkness contained and small. But with the Book of Dragons stolen, the darkness is rapidly taking over the archive, covering everything in a dark shroud. Not only has it doused the lights of the archive, but it has corrupted the "card catalog" that is used to reference the books. Malcolm must call on Saba, who is a computer programmer in the human world, Lisa and Alex, who is a manifestation of Baku, the god of dreams, to defeat the darkness and restore function to the archive. Not to mention deal with another attack by Roland, whose ultimate aim is to use the stored knowledge of the archive to take over Dragonspace. But can the four of them throw back the darkness and defeat it? Or will they fall prey to the darkness, to Roland, or both?
The Black Dragon was an excellent book belied by its cover art. The man depicted on the cover of the book didn't resemble my mental image of Malcolm at all, being entirely too pale, and much, much too fey. To put it mildly, the cover guy looks like he plays for the other team. I nearly put it back on the shelf because of that, and now I am glad I didn't, because I would have missed an interesting, engaging, and humorous story. This book is a sequel to a book called "Dragon Heat", and now I will be going to track down that book, even though Malcolm originally appears as a villain in the book (He's not a villain, but he does have a unique way of looking at the world, even for one of his kind).
The story of how Malcolm comes to realize the witch he left behind is Saba, his witch and holder of his heart, is a heart-warming one. Malcolm, while not tongue-tied, is not a man who can easily sound or even be romantic, but he never lies to Saba and is always willing to discuss things logically. Even though he is driven to mate because he has passed the halfway point in his own long life, he could have any female dragon, but he wants Saba. This book is a wonderful read, and should appeal to men as well as women with its many action scenes.
Elsewhere by Will Shetterly
Ron is a teenager who comes to Bordertown, ostensibly to look for his older brother, Tony. Bordertown is a city on the edge of the human lands and Faerie, and was largely abandoned. But the number of teenage runaways that come to the town means that what was once abandoned is now occupied by squatters, clubs and borderline businesses.
Ron has sneaked onto the train to Bordertown, but is thrown off (actually, jumps) when the conductor realizes that he doesn't have a ticket. He's picked up by Mooner, a half-elf biker who takes Ron back to his home, Castle Pup, a large collection of elves, humans and "halfies", who get along and live with each other. This is not true in most places in Bordertown, where elves and humans look down on and actively persecute one another, and "halfies" are barely tolerated by both sides.
Castle Pup is run by Leda, an elf, but Mooner wants to change it, turning it from a place to crash and live into a club, which would allow them to make money, and also to take in and look after more kids, but mainly he wants to make money and stake out Castle Pup's place before what he sees as the inevitable tide of gentrification sets in.
Ron settles in to Castle Pup, rooming with a kid nicknamed "King of Beer". He also makes friends with a small dumb girl named Florida, who lives in the back garden. Something traumatic happened to Florida many years ago. She was found, bloody and almost catatonic, on the front steps of Castle Pup, and since then, she has remained outside. But after Ron reads to her from Treasure Island, she takes a liking to him and follows him inside to get some dinner, a first, for her.
Ron gets a job at a bookstore called Elsewhere. Mooner, who Ron is now friends with, doesn't like the owner, Goldie, but he won't say why. He asks Ron to steal a book from her store, and when Ron, unable to comply, gives Mooner his own copy of Yeats under the guise of having stolen it from Goldie, Mooner sets the book on fire, taking pleasure in destroying something that was once hers. Later, Mooner asks Ron to find out the security code for the protection spell that shields the store when it isn't open, claiming that Goldie stole something of his and he wants it back. Ron, miserable at the idea, promises only under the condition that if he does find out, Mooner will only steal it back, and nothing else. Mooner agrees.
Castle Pup votes on Mooner's idea, and it is defeated. Mooner is extremely upset, but Ron soothes him by letting Mooner know that he found out the password. That night, Mooner and Ron sneak into Elsewhere, where Mooner reveals it is his heart that Goldie stole, and he attempts to burn down the store in retaliation. Ron tries to stop him, and then realizes that Mooner has done the same with Castle Pup. Ron abandons the store to go back and help out at Castle Pup, and Mooner comes with him. Mooner, realizing what he has done, vanishes inside the Castle, and is later found burnt to death. Ron tries to save everyone he can, and, heartbroken at what he has precipitated, drinks mad river water and becomes a River-drinker junkie for well over a year, abandoning everyone and everything.
During his time as a River Water junkie, Ron encounters another inhabitant of Castle Pup, who fills him in on what happened. Many of the kids were taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation, Mooner is dead. Florida was taken in by Goldie, Leda returned to Faerie. Many of those left believe he set the fire, but Sparks knows he didn't. She offers Ron space, but Ron would rather return to his addiction and forget. The next time he encounters someone from Castle Pup, it is Leda, who has fallen in with a set of Young Blood Elves who ride around town on expensive human motorcycles but generally look down on humans. Ron curses and screams at her, and in retaliation, she turns him into a Dog-boy.
Hurting and afraid, Ron runs all over town, trying to hook up with some of his old friends from Castle Pup, but they chase him off as a monster. It's not until he returns to Elsewhere that he meets Florida again, who recognizes him even in his new guise, and speaks again to say his name. Then, Goldie takes him in, and it's up to Ron to put his life back together, as the spell that changed him also miraculously wiped out his addiction. But can he live his life any more successfully as Wolf-Boy than he did as just plain Ron?
"Elsewhere" is a book set in the shared world of Bordertown. There were other books set in the same universe, written by a group of writers, including Terri Windling. This is the first book in a series, the second being NeverNever. Sharing Ron's story was sometimes painful, as he makes stupid mistakes, and falls into patterns of behavior that end up costing him dearly, but watching him better himself, even as his life turns to what he thinks is shit, is interesting. The book teaches lessons about life that are never preachy, and speak much about reality while couched in the language of fantasy. Though this book is marketed for teens, anyone would enjoy the book, especially fans of fantasy.
Ron has sneaked onto the train to Bordertown, but is thrown off (actually, jumps) when the conductor realizes that he doesn't have a ticket. He's picked up by Mooner, a half-elf biker who takes Ron back to his home, Castle Pup, a large collection of elves, humans and "halfies", who get along and live with each other. This is not true in most places in Bordertown, where elves and humans look down on and actively persecute one another, and "halfies" are barely tolerated by both sides.
Castle Pup is run by Leda, an elf, but Mooner wants to change it, turning it from a place to crash and live into a club, which would allow them to make money, and also to take in and look after more kids, but mainly he wants to make money and stake out Castle Pup's place before what he sees as the inevitable tide of gentrification sets in.
Ron settles in to Castle Pup, rooming with a kid nicknamed "King of Beer". He also makes friends with a small dumb girl named Florida, who lives in the back garden. Something traumatic happened to Florida many years ago. She was found, bloody and almost catatonic, on the front steps of Castle Pup, and since then, she has remained outside. But after Ron reads to her from Treasure Island, she takes a liking to him and follows him inside to get some dinner, a first, for her.
Ron gets a job at a bookstore called Elsewhere. Mooner, who Ron is now friends with, doesn't like the owner, Goldie, but he won't say why. He asks Ron to steal a book from her store, and when Ron, unable to comply, gives Mooner his own copy of Yeats under the guise of having stolen it from Goldie, Mooner sets the book on fire, taking pleasure in destroying something that was once hers. Later, Mooner asks Ron to find out the security code for the protection spell that shields the store when it isn't open, claiming that Goldie stole something of his and he wants it back. Ron, miserable at the idea, promises only under the condition that if he does find out, Mooner will only steal it back, and nothing else. Mooner agrees.
Castle Pup votes on Mooner's idea, and it is defeated. Mooner is extremely upset, but Ron soothes him by letting Mooner know that he found out the password. That night, Mooner and Ron sneak into Elsewhere, where Mooner reveals it is his heart that Goldie stole, and he attempts to burn down the store in retaliation. Ron tries to stop him, and then realizes that Mooner has done the same with Castle Pup. Ron abandons the store to go back and help out at Castle Pup, and Mooner comes with him. Mooner, realizing what he has done, vanishes inside the Castle, and is later found burnt to death. Ron tries to save everyone he can, and, heartbroken at what he has precipitated, drinks mad river water and becomes a River-drinker junkie for well over a year, abandoning everyone and everything.
During his time as a River Water junkie, Ron encounters another inhabitant of Castle Pup, who fills him in on what happened. Many of the kids were taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation, Mooner is dead. Florida was taken in by Goldie, Leda returned to Faerie. Many of those left believe he set the fire, but Sparks knows he didn't. She offers Ron space, but Ron would rather return to his addiction and forget. The next time he encounters someone from Castle Pup, it is Leda, who has fallen in with a set of Young Blood Elves who ride around town on expensive human motorcycles but generally look down on humans. Ron curses and screams at her, and in retaliation, she turns him into a Dog-boy.
Hurting and afraid, Ron runs all over town, trying to hook up with some of his old friends from Castle Pup, but they chase him off as a monster. It's not until he returns to Elsewhere that he meets Florida again, who recognizes him even in his new guise, and speaks again to say his name. Then, Goldie takes him in, and it's up to Ron to put his life back together, as the spell that changed him also miraculously wiped out his addiction. But can he live his life any more successfully as Wolf-Boy than he did as just plain Ron?
"Elsewhere" is a book set in the shared world of Bordertown. There were other books set in the same universe, written by a group of writers, including Terri Windling. This is the first book in a series, the second being NeverNever. Sharing Ron's story was sometimes painful, as he makes stupid mistakes, and falls into patterns of behavior that end up costing him dearly, but watching him better himself, even as his life turns to what he thinks is shit, is interesting. The book teaches lessons about life that are never preachy, and speak much about reality while couched in the language of fantasy. Though this book is marketed for teens, anyone would enjoy the book, especially fans of fantasy.
Melting Stones by Tamora Pierce
When readers first met Evumeimei Dingzai, she was a young girl bartering her services in Chamurr, where she polished stones until the magic inherent in them came out. Before that, she had been a street kid, and before that a slave, sold into slavery by her own mother. But when Briar Moss, a green mage, came into the Market in Chamurr, he recognized what she was doing was magic in and of itself, and in discovering her, he also had to find her a teacher, or teach her magic himself. But Evvy's talents had also brought her to the attention of another woman, who was using the street gangs to consolidate power for herself, and Briar had to protect her and keep her safe from being used by the woman.
After his travels with Evvy and Rosethorn, they returned to Summersea and the Winding Circle Temple there. Briar left with his foster sisters, Tris, Daja and Sandry, to travel to the northern lands of the Empress with Sandry, who had finally acceeded to the Empress's request for her to visit. Briar leaves Evvy behind with his teacher, Rosethorn, asking Evvy to take care of Rosethorn while he is gone. In his absence, Rosethorn is summoned to the Battle Islands, to answer the question as to why the plants and trees seem to be dying off in patches for no discernable reason. Travelling with her is Myrrhtide, an initiate of the Water Temple, who will be investigating why some water is going acidic as well. Evvy goes with Rosethorn only because she was involved in an altercation with some noble boys at the temple who were threatening to beat up a friend of hers. So it was either go with Rosethorn or be confined to Discipline cottage for a month. With them also travels Luvo, the living heart of a mountain, in the form of a purple and green stone mannikin that Evvy carries in a sling over one shoulder.
At the main port, they are met by Oswin, the man who does most of the problem solving in the village and the apprentice of the village mage. You see, in the universe of the Circle of Magic Books (which this book is a part of), there are two kinds of mages. The first, and most numerous, are academic mages, whose magic is all a part of books, and which require time and special circumstances or things (like candles, magic circles, and the like) to perform. The second kind of mages are ambient mages, whose magic comes from outside of themselves, but who are limited to a certain kind of magic. For instance, Briar and Rosethorn are Green Mages, who can grow plants almost instantly from seeds, and change plants so that thorn vines have sharper, harder, more numerous thorns. Or they can bring out the healing properties of a plant or herbal infusion, But they cannot work magic with rocks or metal or fire, and they can't usually do the same kind of magic that academic mages can.
The mage of the village is an academic mage, and is completely unable to help or explain exactly what is killing off the plants. Almost as soon as they arrive on the island of Starns, they are surprised by continuing small earthquakes. Evvy surprises everyone by knowing when the quakes are coming and the islanders by making a cliffside of mica shine in the sun, just by using her magic. Since the academic mages have never been off the island, and rarely see other mages, Jiatt, the apprentice mage, is stunned by Evvy's command of stones and by how she does her magic.
When they get to the village, Jiatt tells them that not only are trees dying, but that the traditional magic ley lines that he and his teacher call on are disappearing or are absurdly powerful, lending too much magic to the spells they use. Evvy knows where the ley lines are, because she can feel that magic sizzling through them, a strange feeling that makes her skin itch. More of this magic permeates the ground around where the trees have died, and Evvy, in absorbing it, goes a little crazy and finds where the new ley lines are. But in doing so, she is drawn deep inside the ground, where she finds spirits of molten stone, which is trying to break free to get to the outside air. Two of the spirits, who Evvy names Flare and Carnelian, seem most desperate to escape, and are constantly exploring the cracks in the earth or ramming themselves against the cracks to try and break free. They claim that the other magma spirits won't try to break free, so it is up to them. If they can lead the spirits out, and die, they will prove themselves to become something greater.
When Evvy comes back to the town and tells her story, Rosethorn and Myrrhtide realize that the local mountain is actually a volcano, and it is getting ready to erupt. Can they get everyone off the island in time, or will Evvy have to try to take on a volcano with her magic, all by herself?
The story held me while I was listening to it, even though I almost never listen to audio books, because I can read faster than any readers can say the lines and narration. Aside from this book, I only listened to the CD version of Saving Faith by David Baldacci, and that only because it was read by Chris Noth, who was one of my favorite actors at the time. Evvy is portrayed as someone who doesn't care for other people much, and who has no problem letting the locals deal with the mountain while she, Rosethorn and Myrrhtide flee back to Summersea. But Rosethorn, who also doesn't hold people high on her list, won't let Evvy dodge the responsibility she holds towards the people of the island, and when Evvy's bad temper and contempt for people may result in their death, only then does Evvy decide to save the island by going for the riskiest of ploys using her magic.
There isn't all that much character growth for Evvy between Street Magic, in which she first appears, and this book, but Evvy is a young character, and given the background which the story brings out, is perhaps understandable. Evvy has had to look after herself, and only herself, for a very long time. Because of mistreatment by others, she is not used to thinking about or liking, other people very much or at all. By the end of the book, she is well on her way to changing her attitude, but realizing she still has a lot to work on.
I liked the story, and I will probably like it better as a book, when I can read it in a much faster amount of time than I did listening to it here. And not only did Tamora Pierce write the book and the audioplay, she also provided some of the voices, along with Bruce Coville, fellow author and owner of the Full Cast Audio company that staged the book.
After his travels with Evvy and Rosethorn, they returned to Summersea and the Winding Circle Temple there. Briar left with his foster sisters, Tris, Daja and Sandry, to travel to the northern lands of the Empress with Sandry, who had finally acceeded to the Empress's request for her to visit. Briar leaves Evvy behind with his teacher, Rosethorn, asking Evvy to take care of Rosethorn while he is gone. In his absence, Rosethorn is summoned to the Battle Islands, to answer the question as to why the plants and trees seem to be dying off in patches for no discernable reason. Travelling with her is Myrrhtide, an initiate of the Water Temple, who will be investigating why some water is going acidic as well. Evvy goes with Rosethorn only because she was involved in an altercation with some noble boys at the temple who were threatening to beat up a friend of hers. So it was either go with Rosethorn or be confined to Discipline cottage for a month. With them also travels Luvo, the living heart of a mountain, in the form of a purple and green stone mannikin that Evvy carries in a sling over one shoulder.
At the main port, they are met by Oswin, the man who does most of the problem solving in the village and the apprentice of the village mage. You see, in the universe of the Circle of Magic Books (which this book is a part of), there are two kinds of mages. The first, and most numerous, are academic mages, whose magic is all a part of books, and which require time and special circumstances or things (like candles, magic circles, and the like) to perform. The second kind of mages are ambient mages, whose magic comes from outside of themselves, but who are limited to a certain kind of magic. For instance, Briar and Rosethorn are Green Mages, who can grow plants almost instantly from seeds, and change plants so that thorn vines have sharper, harder, more numerous thorns. Or they can bring out the healing properties of a plant or herbal infusion, But they cannot work magic with rocks or metal or fire, and they can't usually do the same kind of magic that academic mages can.
The mage of the village is an academic mage, and is completely unable to help or explain exactly what is killing off the plants. Almost as soon as they arrive on the island of Starns, they are surprised by continuing small earthquakes. Evvy surprises everyone by knowing when the quakes are coming and the islanders by making a cliffside of mica shine in the sun, just by using her magic. Since the academic mages have never been off the island, and rarely see other mages, Jiatt, the apprentice mage, is stunned by Evvy's command of stones and by how she does her magic.
When they get to the village, Jiatt tells them that not only are trees dying, but that the traditional magic ley lines that he and his teacher call on are disappearing or are absurdly powerful, lending too much magic to the spells they use. Evvy knows where the ley lines are, because she can feel that magic sizzling through them, a strange feeling that makes her skin itch. More of this magic permeates the ground around where the trees have died, and Evvy, in absorbing it, goes a little crazy and finds where the new ley lines are. But in doing so, she is drawn deep inside the ground, where she finds spirits of molten stone, which is trying to break free to get to the outside air. Two of the spirits, who Evvy names Flare and Carnelian, seem most desperate to escape, and are constantly exploring the cracks in the earth or ramming themselves against the cracks to try and break free. They claim that the other magma spirits won't try to break free, so it is up to them. If they can lead the spirits out, and die, they will prove themselves to become something greater.
When Evvy comes back to the town and tells her story, Rosethorn and Myrrhtide realize that the local mountain is actually a volcano, and it is getting ready to erupt. Can they get everyone off the island in time, or will Evvy have to try to take on a volcano with her magic, all by herself?
The story held me while I was listening to it, even though I almost never listen to audio books, because I can read faster than any readers can say the lines and narration. Aside from this book, I only listened to the CD version of Saving Faith by David Baldacci, and that only because it was read by Chris Noth, who was one of my favorite actors at the time. Evvy is portrayed as someone who doesn't care for other people much, and who has no problem letting the locals deal with the mountain while she, Rosethorn and Myrrhtide flee back to Summersea. But Rosethorn, who also doesn't hold people high on her list, won't let Evvy dodge the responsibility she holds towards the people of the island, and when Evvy's bad temper and contempt for people may result in their death, only then does Evvy decide to save the island by going for the riskiest of ploys using her magic.
There isn't all that much character growth for Evvy between Street Magic, in which she first appears, and this book, but Evvy is a young character, and given the background which the story brings out, is perhaps understandable. Evvy has had to look after herself, and only herself, for a very long time. Because of mistreatment by others, she is not used to thinking about or liking, other people very much or at all. By the end of the book, she is well on her way to changing her attitude, but realizing she still has a lot to work on.
I liked the story, and I will probably like it better as a book, when I can read it in a much faster amount of time than I did listening to it here. And not only did Tamora Pierce write the book and the audioplay, she also provided some of the voices, along with Bruce Coville, fellow author and owner of the Full Cast Audio company that staged the book.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Busy
Work and life have been keeping me busy. I am reading "Deception" by Eleanor Cooney and Daniel Altieri, and listening to "Melting Stones" by Tamora Pierce on CD. Plus, I picked up a new book at work, called "Your Neighbor's Secret Life Online" by Stephen Dean, about the sort of things that lead to trouble on the internet, and how information stays on your computer and your cellphone (and your Blackberry or PDA, even when you may think you have wiped it clean.
And it's not just illegal activities that can lead to harm, like Pedophiles trolling for young kids or, shall we say "Alternative Sexual Practices" that might shock and horrify members of middle America, but things that may seem more harmless, like going wild buying stuff on online sites, which can have serious effects on your credit cards and budget. He points out how online buying, 24 hour access to selling sites and the like have made it easier for hoarders and packrats to sink deeper into the morass of an addiction to accumulating things, even stuff they have no use for and will never use nor sell.
He covers, in a general way, some of the alternative sexual practices that are rife online. In a small community, one may have problems meeting someone who is in to spanking, or coprophilia, or "golden showers", but online, there are specialized sites where people who like that sort of thing can easily meet someone who shares their likes or needs. The best part of Mr. Dean's book is that he doesn't look down on people who need such things, only to remark that certain practices (such as pedophilia) are illegal and to show how hidden desires for such things can lead to inter-family strain when a spouse has to look for such practices outside of their marriage.
I am almost finished listening to "Melting Stones" by Tamora Pierce, so it's off to finish the last CD now.
And it's not just illegal activities that can lead to harm, like Pedophiles trolling for young kids or, shall we say "Alternative Sexual Practices" that might shock and horrify members of middle America, but things that may seem more harmless, like going wild buying stuff on online sites, which can have serious effects on your credit cards and budget. He points out how online buying, 24 hour access to selling sites and the like have made it easier for hoarders and packrats to sink deeper into the morass of an addiction to accumulating things, even stuff they have no use for and will never use nor sell.
He covers, in a general way, some of the alternative sexual practices that are rife online. In a small community, one may have problems meeting someone who is in to spanking, or coprophilia, or "golden showers", but online, there are specialized sites where people who like that sort of thing can easily meet someone who shares their likes or needs. The best part of Mr. Dean's book is that he doesn't look down on people who need such things, only to remark that certain practices (such as pedophilia) are illegal and to show how hidden desires for such things can lead to inter-family strain when a spouse has to look for such practices outside of their marriage.
I am almost finished listening to "Melting Stones" by Tamora Pierce, so it's off to finish the last CD now.
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