Travel Reading: Madonna House Part 1

After my trip home to BC, I went to a farming community in the middle of nowhere (if anything can be called "the middle of nowhere", rural Canada can), with no electronics. It is far too difficult to write up proper reviews in these circumstances, so I'm continuing the Travel Reading series, where I simply write a couple sentences about each book read, and leave it at that. Here goes the first set of three:


"The Man in the Queue" by Josephine Tey
Grade: 3 stars
Entertaining Golden Age British mystery story, with some delightful but spoilery twists on the usual outcomes of such mysteries. I didn't enjoy this as much as some of Tey's other works, though. Her tendency towards atmospheric description I found a little more boring, rather than breathtaking and claustrophobic, as in The Singing Sands, or than entertaining and intriguing, as in Miss Pym Disposes. And although I loved to a surprising degree some of the secondary characters ([Raoul Legarde, Miss Dinmont, even Ray Marcable--Tey really has a strength with fascinating characters you want to know more about), they weren't as impactful as MPD, The Daughter of Time, or The Franchise Affair. In general, it seemed a little less well written. But it was her first book, after all.

"The Paladin" by C. J. Cherryh
Grade: 2 1/2 stars
Retired general in east Asian inspired land reluctantly takes on a young and passionate-for-revenge girl as a student. The ending felt a bit rushed, and there was too much emphasis on how much the older guy wanted to sleep with his student. Cherryh is great at a properly limited third person view, but in this case I would have liked the romance better if it had more of the girl's perspective. Especially because it was so much more central than expected. It didn't throw me off Cherryh, though. I found her writing both excellent and entertaining, and I'm looking forward to reading her more well-known works.


"Lost in the Labyrinth" by Patrice Kindl
Grade: 2 stars
Retelling of the Minotaur story. I think it is too young for me at this point in my life, and I didn't find it as unique as some of her other books, so not my favourite read of the year. It would be good for teaching kids about myths though, I think.






"Speaker for the Dead" by Orson Scott Card
Grade: 3 stars
Had a bunch of notes on this, but I lost them. Will update this if I find them. It was too long ago to remember most of what I thought, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping. Still good, though.

"A Confusion of Princes" by Garth Nix
Grade: 2 1/2 stars
The first half was pretty cool because of Nix's worldbuilding (which he always does awesomely), of the scifi future-y sort, and his secondary characters, of the distinct and memorable sort. But the second half, with the romantic relationship and the sudden resolution seemed a bit simplistic. Also, why is Khenri so special? He didn't strike me as being particularly special... The characterization could have used a bit of work, think. Anyway, ultimately it was fun but too light.

Travel Reading: BC Summer

It is far too difficult to write up proper reviews when I've been away from regular internet access for extended periods of time. Thus I started this Travel Reading series, where I simply write a couple sentences about each book read, and leave it at that. So from a trip home to my family and friends in BC comes the following:

"Owl in Love" by Patrice Kindl
Grade: 3 stars
Strange little book, which seems to be Kindl's style. I like her best in fairy tale land, where strangeness doesn't seem unusual (Goose Chase made me very happy). But this one was surprisingly entertaining. The strangeness was less disconcerting than in The Woman in the Wall. Owl's voice is unique, even from Kindl's other heroines; her inhuman-ness was treated well. And I still want to read every one of the rest of her books, if only for curiosity's sake. 2 1/2 stars because I think it was a little young for me, but then an extra 1/2 star for the fact that I couldn't really stop reading it.



"A Coalition of Lions" by Elizabeth Wein
Grade: 3 stars
A sequel to the Arthurian retelling The Winter Prince, but not nearly as heart-wrenching and impactful. I still enjoyed it, especially in the enormous potential for a favourite new character that was young Telemakos (the future books follow him as a protagonist). The setting and politics were cool as well. But it felt too short, and like some of the relationships (especially Priamos and Goewin) and characters needed more background and build up.





"Port Eternity" by C. J. Cherryh
Grade: 2 1/2 stars
Not as good as the other Cherryh I read (Cuckoo's Egg) but that was expected. I'd read reviews beforehand that indicated this. I only read it as my next Cherryh because it was an Arthurian retelling of sorts, and I've been on a bit of an Arthurian kick recently (see A Coalition of Lions above and the Top Ten (Or So): Arthurian Retellings list). I think I would have preferred even more character development, though maybe that wouldn't be possible with the kind of characters these "people" were. Or maybe what I wanted was more action... It happened at the end, but there seemed to be a big, slow build up to some large character explosion, and that never happened as much as I expected. The mythic, idyllic ending seemd to suit more conflict and events than actually happened.



"The Curse of Chalion" by Lois McMaster Bujold
Grade: 3 1/2 stars
It was a little slow to start out with, but once I got far enough through, the Bujold-ness showed up, especially with the main character, Cazaril. The interaction between gods and men was great. There are certain elements of theism that Bujold seems to understand much better than most people (this also showed up in the Vorkosigan saga with Cordelia's beliefs).
Note: everything about this edition (the back cover text, the inside cover picture) indicates there's a cliched main romance, which there isn't. Just putting that out there because it turned me off for a while.



"Tomorrow When the War Began" by John Marsden
Grade: 3 1/2 stars
I appreciated the realism of this YA post-apocalyptic Australian survival story. The teens seemed to me to act and think much like real teens. There was even a religious (not just "spiritual") girl who wasn't stupid or puritanical! That was hugely refreshing. The Australian element also gave it a bit of exciting exoticism for me as a Canadian. I think I'd like to read the sequels, once I come back from my travels and adventures and start a normal life again. It won't be that high on my list, since I didn't become passionate about any particular element. But it was a great and exciting and highly readable start to a series, and I'd recommend it to people who were mature enough for the small amount of sexual content.

Cuckoo's Egg

by C. J. Cherryh

Story summary: Summary from Goodreads:
"They named him Thorn. They told him he was of their people, although he was so different. He was ugly in their eyes, strange, sleek-skinned instead of furred, clawless, different. Yet he was of their power class: judge-warriors, the elite, the fighters, the defenders.
Thorn knew that his difference was somehow very important - but not important enough to prevent murderous conspiracies against him, against his protector, against his castle, and perhaps against the peace of the world. But when the crunch came, when Thorn finally learned what his true role in life was to be, that on him might hang the future of two worlds, then he had to stand alone to justify his very existence."

Why You Will Like This Book:

• Humanity from an alien viewpoint.
• The characters, the politics, the writing, ahhhhhh, so good.
• Father-son relationship.
• It's a fairly short book and a stand-alone, so it seems like a pretty good introduction to this author's work. (I haven't read anything else by her, though, so this is pure conjecture.)

And Why You Might Not:

• Not everything is explained simply, not every explanation is given to you straightly.
• The ending is a little open, in some ways. I think it's perfect and suits the tone of the rest of the story and it doesn't feel unresolved, but I think it could be found bothersome by some people.

And All the Stars

by Andrea K. Höst

Story summary: At first: survival under weird, mysterious circumstances! Then: friendship and The Three Musketeers! After that: plot twists and aliens!

Why You Will Like This Book:

• See all the exclamation points in the story summary?
• It's very Australian!
• At least one of the twists made me want to go back to the beginning and reread from there. (That's by far the best kind of twist.)

And Why You Might Not:

• There are definitely reasons why you might not like this book, but as I discuss in my thoughts below, Höst's books confuse me somewhat. You'll have to read my thoughts to get a better idea, but my recommendation is to read one of her books yourself and figure it out.
• For those concerned about sexual content in YA books, there is some here. Not a lot, mostly just one particular scene.

Rags & Bones

edited by Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt

Why You Will Like This Book:

• Neil Gaiman! Garth Nix! Gene Wolfe!
• Unlike many collections of retellings that I've read, these retell literature instead of folklore and fairytales. Not that the latter are bad things, but it makes it unique.
• There are some great little scifi gems with ideas that make you think.
• And great little fantasy gems with worlds that make you dream.

And Why You Might Not:

• The stories were of mixed quality. (Or at least mixed in nature. Some reviews I read had pretty much exactly the opposite opinion from me, so I suppose it depends on what you're looking for. Point is, it's likely that you'll really like some and not like others.)
• There were a lot of romances I didn't like: adultery, great passion, sex with a stranger, marriage rejection, etc.

Calamity

by Brandon Sanderson

Story summary: It's time to fight the ultimate Epic--the superhero who has caused all the rest of the evil superheroes plaguing the world. But to do that, our group of eclectic freedom fighters first have to confront someone a lot closer to home.
Sequel to Steelheart and Firefight.

Why You Will Like This Book:

• The world-building is super cool and obviously Sanderson's strength (that strange, moving salt city!). This is so much a strength that it totally delights me, even though the characters aren't awesome and I'm almost always more about characters than world.

And Why You Might Not:

• The characters and their dialogue aren't that interesting or well written.
• Some could be disappointed by how everything in the trilogy is wrapped up. I'm still a bit undecided on that myself.

The Hunt

by Andrew Fukuda

Story summary: He is a lone human in a society run by vampires. Barely managing to escape notice (and a gory death) through a series of rigorous personal rules, he lives a quiet, lonely life without love or friendship. Until the worst happens, and he's thrown into the spotlight of the event of the century... a human hunt.

Why You Will Like This Book:

• Everything's inverted! It's the vampires that are just called "people" while humans are strange creatures hunted for their blood!
• It's gripping! How's our protagonist going to survive when every time he sweats or bleed or shows any emotion whatsoever, he will be ripped to shreds and eaten?

And Why You Might Not:

• It's a pretty standard YA dystopian. Other than the central twist, there's not really anything new or exciting.
• I found the characters pretty uninteresting.

Deep Secret

by Diana Wynne Jones

Story summary: Multiple universes! Missing emperors! Beautiful centaurs! Scifi/fantasy conventions!

Why You Will Like This Book:

• See the story summary, basically. What a lovely list of awesome things.
• Also: Characters with faults who are still endearing! Intricate plotting! Humour and romance and magic!

And Why You Might Not:

• If you're looking for explicitly stated rules for the magic system, that are easily figured out and explicitly stated, you won't find that here.
• And if you're looking for a story that realistic enough to not have all the chaotic plot points tied up together nicely by the end, you won't find that either. Connected plots are DWJ's specialty.
• And if you're looking for a typical Diana Wynne Jones story with only the subtlest of references to adult situations--again, you won't find that here. This is an adult story, though written in DWJ's typical fantastical style.

Stars Above

by Marissa Meyer

Why You Will Like This Book:

• Short stories starring the delightful ensemble of characters you loved from the Lunar Chronicles (Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter).
• Backstory! Alternative viewpoints! Weddings!

And Why You Might Not:

• You've got to be a fan of the Lunar Chronicles to enjoy this. For the most part, there's no point without that, I think.
• I think most stories could be more tightly written, in terms of view point and theme. I find this quite essential in short stories, so if you do too, you might not enjoy these.

The Caves of Steel

by Isaac Asimov

Story summary: Basically a normal mystery story, but with humanoid robots and space colonization and strange, massive mega-cities and other futuristic developments.

Why You Will Like This Book:

• How would the general population treat robots? What if someone actually died, and you knew a robot was involved somehow? There are some interesting speculations on such politics and human reactions in the future.
• SciFi mystery combo! Double the genre points!

And Why You Might Not:

• The futuristic advances and changes were a little ordinary, especially for a millennium in the future.
• I didn't become attached to any of the characters, though that might just be me (for reasons I discuss below).

To Hold the Bridge

by Garth Nix

Why You Will Like This Book:

• Charter magic! Gloriously competent bridgemistresses! Beings of terrible power! Sherlock Holme's odd cousin! An annoyingly invasive Rapunzel!
• Basically, a collection of short stories both original and fun, with some fascinating worlds and splendid characters.

And Why You Might Not:

• There are a lot of stories in this book, and sometimes reading too many short stories by the same author in a row makes each story loose its distinction.
• Some individual stories were less good or enjoyable than others, of course, although you'll get that in any decently large collection like this.

The Forever War

by Joe Haldeman

Story summary: William Mandella, one of Earth's best and brightest, is forced into the military to fight the new war against the aliens. But this is a war of the stars, where unimaginably huge distances and the effects of relativity cause time dilation--where a few years of Mandella's life mean centuries on Earth, and the war goes on for endless ages.

Why You Might Like This Book:

• Fascinating view on what interstellar war would actually be like (complete with fancy new tech, time delays due to relativity, interesting and unusual war tactics, etc.).
• Written by a real veteran of the Vietnam War, so has a distinct realism (despite the sci-fi elements).

And Why You Might Not:

• There are parts of this story that take place in what was then the near future, and is now the present. People who try to predict the near future are almost always wrong in many ways, and it brings me out of the story somewhat.
• Many people have found it too grim for them. I didn't personally, but it might be an issue for others. It was written by a war veteran, after all.

The Scorch Trials

by James Dashner

Story summary: Thomas and the gang of boys that survived the Maze have been brought to safety with the mysterious WICKED group. Except--surprise! Turns out there's another part to this horrible experiment, and instead of being sent to a maze full of monsters, they're sent to a scorching desert full of crazy people and lightning. So that's... great.
Sequel to The Maze Runner.

Why You Will Like This Book:

• Like The Maze Runner, the primary appeal of this book is finding out what the heck is going on. Reminds me a bit of the days of watching LOST.
• It's fast-paced and exciting. Not surprising they're making a series of movies out of these books.

And Why You Might Not:

• It was really light, lacking in character development or interesting ideas.
• There is an annoying love triangle.

Stone in the Sky

by Cecil Castellucci

Story summary: Meh, I'm lazy. It was fun to read this book, but not fun enough to get the energy necessary to write a story summary.  I'm going to use the Goodreads description:
"In this thrilling follow-up to Tin Star, Tula will need to rely on more than just her wits to save her only home in the sky.
After escaping death a second time, Tula Bane is now even thirstier for revenge. She spends much of her time in the Tin Star Café on the Yertina Feray—the space station she calls home. But when it's discovered that the desolate and abandoned planet near the station has high quantities of a precious resource, the once sleepy space station becomes a major player in intergalactic politics. In the spirit of the Gold Rush, aliens from all over the galaxy race to cash in—including Tula's worst enemy."
Sequel to Tin Star.

Why You Will Like This Book:

• Traveling the galaxy! Multitudes of alien species! Even alien romance!
• In other words, it's fun scifi/space opera.

And Why You Might Not:

• It was too short to fit in all that it tried to fit in, and felt a bit too busy and lacking in build-up.
• There was a love triangle I found annoying.

Tin Star

by Cecil Castellucci

Story Summary: Thula is beaten and left for dead by a cult leader to whom she was just a little too clear-thinking. Stuck in a space station outpost with no money, friends, family, food, anything, she has to build up her life from the ground up, while navigating the tricky world of inter-species relations.

Why You Will Like This Book:

• Survival on a space station! How Thula learned to survive in the gutters of a space station is probably my favourite part of the book.
• Interesting and well-developed alien races! The galaxy has an interesting political system too.
• Quite unexpected romance! (There's also some quite expected romance, but that's for the second set of points below.)

And Why You Might Not:

• As I mentioned above, some of the romance seems a bit cliched YA to me. It was all about "he makes my heart race!" and nothing about his actual character in any way.
• It's quite short. Some changes seemed a bit abrupt because of that. Could have used a bit more build for a few things.

Firefight

by Brandon Sanderson

Story summary: Continuing on their quest to rid the world of the evil superheroes called Epics, David and his friends move on to a new city and a new Epic. This time, it's Regalia, one of the most powerful and intelligent Epics around, and ruler of Babylon Restored (New York of old). And while they fight to defeat this Machiavellian and almost all-seeing High Epic, David has his own agenda: to discover the truth behind the Calamity.
Sequel to Steelheart.

Why You Will Like This Book:

• Plot twists and well structured surprises.
• Excellent world-building.
• Entertaining writing.
• Some memorable imagery.
• Just... a really great book. If you don't have anything against fantasy, you should really try out Sanderson's books.

And Why You Might Not:

• If you don't like superheroes, I guess? (Even though these superheroes are definitely different than the normal ones.)
• The characters are a little one-dimensional as well. Doesn't really detract too much because it's not the point of this book, but it's the main criticism I have.

Steelheart

by Brandon Sanderson

Story summary: Superheroes have begun to appear on Earth, but unlike your standard superhero story, every single one of them is cruel and twisted. A group of normal humans make it their mission to kill these hugely powerful people and free the earth of their evil. Starting with Steelheart, one of the most powerful of them all.

Why You Will Like This Book:

• The twist where all superheros are evil is quite interesting, and makes for a different feel than is usually found in superhero books.
• The writing is gripping and immensely entertaining. This is one of those read-in-a-day books.
• There are lots of twists and mysteries that are solved in a pleasantly structured and rational way. Yay for excellent plotting!

And Why You Might Not:

• The characters, though fun, are not the most complex.
• Anything else I could think of as a criticism is something that is likely to be explained/fixed/discussed in the sequels.

Illusionarium

by Heather Dixon

Story summary: There is a boy named Jonathan, living an ordinary life in a cold, northern aerial city. There is a plague sweeping through the empire and killing women at incredible speeds. There is a newly discovered chemical, fantillium, which can connect people into shared illusions, speed up time, and even open gateways to other worlds. And there is Jonathan, revealed as a prodigy at controlling this dangerous and enticing substance--and the only hope to save his mother and sister and perhaps the whole empire.

Why You Will Like This Book:

• Steampunk, multiple universes, time travel, aerial cities: this book has it all.
• Light and wholesome, while still having darkness, danger, and adventure.

And Why You Might Not:

• The science seems quite iffy to me. At the very least, it is very unexplored. And maybe I just wasn't reading carefully enough, but illusioning seems weirdly contradictory. (It all takes place in your mind, yet it has real consequences like throwing people across rooms and transporting to other universes.)

Cress

by Marissa Meyer

Story summary: Retelling of "Rapunzel" in a futuristic, cyberpunk world where Rapunzel is stuck in a satellite instead of a tower, rescued by a dashing spaceship captain instead of a prince.
See the first books, Cinder and Scarlet, and the next book, Winter.

Why You Might Like This Book:

• AIs, mind control, evolved societies living on the moon, daring escapes, thrilling heroics, and lots of trudging through the desert.
• Captain Carswell Thorne: Han Solo of YA. 'Nuff said.

And Why You Might Not:

• By this point, with the story lines and relationships from the previous two books still not resolved, there ends up being a lot of threads going on at once. There are six or more different viewpoint characters, and it gets a little much at times.

Scarlet

by Marissa Meyer

Story summary: Retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" in a future, cyberpunk world. Also a continuation of the "Cinderella" retelling from the first book, Cinder.
And see also the next books, Cress and Winter.

Why You Should Read This:

• Great scifi world, funny and interesting characters, just all round great fun.
• Wicked moon queens! Mental control powers! Charming space captains! Sentient spaceships!

And Why You Shouldn't:

• There's a fairly typical YA romance. Can be slightly offputting for me.
• There ends up being a lot of characters with points of view, and it switches up a lot. I like this, but sometimes it can be a bit tiring to switch up so much.