A Drop of Corruption / Robert Jackson Bennett

 

4.25 out of 5 stars 

Often the second book in a series isn't quite up to the standard of the original volume. This couldn't be farther from the truth with this book. It is better than the first one, at least in my opinion.

Part of this is because we already know Ana and Din. We can enjoy their interactions and partnership, while being amused at how they also irritate each other. Ana knows that Din isn't thrilled with his assignment as her assistant, but she still relies on his investigative efforts. Din has his own problems, but he nevertheless does his best on each task. Although he is familiar with Ana's remarkable insights, he is still chagrined when she sees his motivations so clearly.

Our duo is sent to the edge of the empire, to the kingdom of Yarrow, which has been in negotiations for years to unwillingly join the empire. Here, an imperial functionary has seemingly disappeared from his locked quarters. Soon after, parts of him are recovered in the nearby swampy area. Can Ana makes sense of his death, the smugglers of the area, the local officials, and the imperial negotiation process and makes sense out of chaotic events? To assist them, a local warden is assigned to guide them. Malo is a woman with enhanced senses: exceptional hearing, sight, and especially smell. She is none too fond of imperial persons, but she reluctantly comes to admire Ana's reasoning abilities and Din's grit and determination.

This is a particularly unattractive fantasy world. Everything seems squishy, damp and changeable. Citizens must always be aware of contagion. You know those “where would you like to visit" hypothetical questions? This world is definitely off my list!

A Proposal to Die For / Molly Harper

 

4 out of 5 stars 

I am an unabashed Molly Harper fan. It started for me with Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs, featuring Jane Jameson, a children's librarian who accidentally becomes a vampire and who has a highly amusing inner dialogue. I continued on with more books set in the same town, Half Moon Hollow, then moved on to her Starfall Point series, witchy fantasy combined with romance. So, I was game to try this new offering, having enjoyed those books a lot.

This is a departure from those paranormal romances. It's a murder mystery with a romantic subplot. I found the writing style to be recognizably Harper's. The main character, Jess Bricker, has a very similar voice to the women from previous books, which suits me, as I enjoy Harper's humour. I appreciated that Jess didn't set out to become an investigator—she just kept stumbling across information (and bodies). I also liked that the romance was so low key. Jess has, after all, just met the Osbourne family that runs the resort where she has ended up with the client from hell. She is, in fact, getting to know all of them, not just Dean, a much more realistic situation than many mystery/romance hybrids out there.

Jess spends a fair amount of time convincing herself that she needs the big payday at the end of this gig, orchestrating the proposal for one of the mean girls that she went to school with. She had more determination than I would have in similar circumstances. Her attention to detail while setting up perfect proposals makes her an excellent mystery solver. She notices things.

Although I won't reveal the ending, it was more complex than I anticipated. I liked that I was caught flat footed, having no suspicions about who was guilty. If Ms. Harper writes more mysteries, I'll be ready to read them.

Deadline / Mira Grant

 

3.75 out of 5 stars 

Book number 534 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project

I wondered where this series would head with the loss of Georgia Mason in the first volume. Can the media company she and her brother Shaun founded survive her loss? Part of the appeal of these novels is the clever vision of the role of bloggers and video to attract eyeballs to their product. The reporters who gather facts are the Newsies, but the best job title belongs to the Irwins, christened to reference Steve Irwin, he who grabbed snakes and jumped on crocodiles. The Irwins leave safe bases to go poke zombies with sticks for your viewing pleasure. The Fictionals provide poetry and stories appropriate to life in a zombie-infested world.

Shaun Mason has been driven to the edge of sanity by the loss of his sister. She was the brains of the operation; he was the reckless Irwin. When a CDC employee fakes her own death and ends up on their doorstep, Shaun must assess what is going on and figure out what to do about it. Strategy and analysis are not his strong suits and his emotional intelligence is low. Will he estrange his team, the folks who are better at these skills?

The scientific details of the virus which cause zombification are well thought out. The constant decontamination procedures and blood tests to detect infection made me think of all our early efforts to deal with Covid 19 in 2020, how our routines changed to include infection precautions. Since this novel was published almost 10 years before Covid 19, Grant scored points with me for her research and insight.

This is a very fast paced, tense novel. If you're into first-person shooter games, the constant presence of guns will make you happy. Maybe conspiracy theories are your jam? Welcome, you will love this book. It's more apocalyptic than post apocalyptic, as the zombie rising just continues on and on. Although I am not a big fan of the zombie genre, I found this novel engrossing. But I need a rest to get my nervous system under control before tackling the third volume.

Tales of Space and Time / H.G. Wells

 

3 out of 5 stars 

Ever since I catalogued a big collection of H.G. Wells' work for the library I worked at, I have been meaning to read more of his fiction. He was a prolific writer, interested in many things and thoughtful about their meaning. As I am experiencing some disruption in my ability to concentrate, I opted for a collection of short fiction.

I was struck by his story The Star, about a comet impacting Neptune. It made me think back to 1992, when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into Jupiter. Just as in this story, both the astronomical and popular press were excited and entranced by the event. Thankfully it had far less effect on Earth than in this fiction. Nevertheless, I noted that many people of Wells' story try to deny expert opinion and seem to think that refusing to believe the science will somehow spare them from danger, much like folk today refuse to believe in climate change despite floods, forest fires, destructive hail storms, stronger hurricanes and tornadoes. Wells understood human nature quite clearly. He also anticipated a worry which the astronomical community has today, the possible impact of Earth by an asteroid or comet.

The tales varied from one about human ancestors (A Story of the Stone Age) to people of the future (A Story of the Days to Come) . The prehistoric people were depicted as well able to deal with the world around them, while the very urban people of the future have highly romantic and unrealistic ideas of rural life. Denton and Elizabeth are clueless about weather, animals, and how to support themselves outside the city. I thought it was interesting that Wells' future included huge corporations and unrecognizable ultra-processed food. He didn't envision a cashless society, as they still worry about money and find it to be a limiting factor in their lives. Wells' socialist leanings are on clear display as he critiques the capitalist system that cuts his future society off from nature, crowds them into cities, feeds them unidentifiable foodstuffs, and still limits their dreams. I also thought I glimpsed some of the thought that later produced The Time Machine.

The final story (The Man Who Could Perform Miracles) explores the plight of a skeptic who suddenly finds himself possessed of miraculous powers. Wells explores the morality of tinkering with other people's lives and the dangers of not fully thinking through the results of certain miracles. It seemed to me to have a similar flavour to Ursula K. Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven, with the “whole miraculous manipulation of the world” aspect.

There are good reasons that we still read H.G. Wells. He was an influential and progressive thinker. Although his writing style is slow and wordy compared to modern science fiction, he is still fairly easy to read. I bet he would love to see where the modern genre has gone and that we are still exploring many of the same issues.

Ocean Light / Nalini Singh

 

3.75 out of 5 stars 

I've chomped down three of these books in four days. They're like popcorn, irresistible. Each one focuses on a different character who was peripheral in a previous novel. I keep getting pulled along to explore a new aspect of the Psy-Changeling world.

This is the book where we learn about the marine Changelings and see them build bonds with Bowen Knight, head honcho of the Human Alliance. Bowen has two strikes against him: he has a electronic chip in his brain to protect him from Psy manipulation, but it is rapidly degrading, threatening to kill him. Additionally he has taken a sniper's bullet to save his sister. There's a scientist deep under the sea who can maybe help with both problems. That's where Bowen awakes.

Bowen is pulled in multiple directions, especially when he meets a lovely shifter, Kaia. She starts out hostile and suspicious, but comes to realize that love of family and loyalty to coworkers isn't limited to shifters. Kaia is a bubbly, mischievous caretaking woman. Opposites attract, so they say, and Bowen and Kaia are proof of that adage.

My mini reading binge halts here for a while, as the next book has a looong waiting list at the library. This is just as well, as I have a stack of library books staring at me, wondering when their turns will come.

Allegiance of Honor / Nalini Singh

 

3.7 out of 5 stars 

It's been over a year since I last visited the Psy-Changeling world and I felt the pull this week. Singh has increased the ante in the last few volumes. Of course there's still a strong romantic element--that's her signature, after all, but the global politics between the Changelings, the Humans, the Forgotten, and the Psy have become absorbing for me. This change in focus is noticeable in the cover art for recent books. They no longer feature headless, shirtless male torsos. With the introduction of plotlines focusing on Psy main characters, clothed male figures became more prevalent, followed by this novel with a much more abstract image. I don't mind one little bit!

This story involves a big win for multi-species co-operation. Working together, they recover a kidnapped member of the aquatic shapeshifter community. The wolves and leopards may be leading the way, but other groups are seeing the benefits of the Trinity group too. Now the challenge will be deflecting the malign influences of the Consortium. 

There's a little too much baby kissing in this book for my taste, but I decided at age 11 that children were not on my list of life goals. I realize that I am in the minority on this issue. Babies agree with me, however; they start to fuss soon after some well meaning person insists that I hold them. Inexperienced as they are, infants recognize a rank amateur. 

I had hoped to plunge on into the next book and was ever so disappointed to find that it would be necessary to wait. Humph! But Libby promises that a copy will be available soon. I certainly hope so.

Exit Strategy

 

3.75 out of 5 stars 

Kelley Armstrong is going to be attending a conference this summer that I am registered for and it is my practice to read something by the featured guests before the event. I have previously read two books from Armstrong's urban fantasy Otherworld series and, despite being a UF enthusiast, they didn't inspire me. Since then, the author has branched out into other genres and I decided to give this series a try. I'm glad I did, as I quite prefer it.

Contract killers seem to be having a moment. I guess they are exotic and intriguing to us ‘normal’ folk and their inner lives are fun to speculate about. Most of us will never meet such a person, so a novel chock full of them, like this one, multiplies the allure. Maybe it's like the current fascination with true crime—our society trying to figure out its dark side.

At any rate, I rather liked Nadia, the former police officer, who now owns a vacation lodge in the Ontario wilderness and takes hit jobs to pad her budget. Kind of like the farmer who has a job in town so he can keep on farming. Her mentor, Jack, is more enigmatic, taciturn to the point of ridiculousness. It becomes obvious that he would like to be more meaningful in Nadia's life, but has no idea how to accomplish that. He can easily plan someone's death, but can't plan how to advance a relationship. Armstrong introduces the rogue FBI agent Quinn in part to inspire Jack to quit dillydallying. Quinn has no problem relating to Nadia and she is attracted to him in return. Although I'm not usually into love triangles, I find this one interesting and I found myself placing a hold on book two immediately after finishing this one.

I guess I have found a way into Armstrong’s work. I'll be interested to hear her speak in August.