Villette / Charlotte Bronte

 

Villette by Charlotte Brontë
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I truly enjoyed this book, but I can see that it is not for everyone. For as thick as it is, very little actually happens. Our narrator, Lucy Snowe, is a woman who is hiding her passions under a veil of plainness and self effacement. She may have a cold name and try to project a cold persona to the world, but there is a molten core to the woman, causing occasional tectonic upheaval. Indeed, the many storms which feature in the book seem to represent her internal hurricanes. She declares at one point her delight in sitting out in a thunderstorm, reveling in its power. Does she long to cause significant drama around her? I think so, judging from her performance in the school play!

Nor is Lucy completely forthcoming to the reader. We know there is some trauma in her past which left her without means and forced her to find her way to employment in France, but she confides none of the details to us. She also recognizes Graham/Dr John well before she lets her audience in on the secret.

In many ways, she illustrates the tiresome responsibilities that devolve onto women: dealing with children, taking care of the elderly and the invalid, and doing this difficult work for barely a pittance. Lucy has intelligence, but whatever disaster left her adrift in England also deprived her of an education. During her tenure at Mme. Beck's school, she educates herself, studying in her spare time. Mme. Beck recognizes this and promotes her from nursemaid to teacher. Charlotte Bronte's personal experience as both a student and an instructor in such situations allows her to write a very realistic scenario for Lucy.

There are two men who dominate Lucy's life. John Graham Bretton, the handsome Englishman, who she has known since her youth, and M. Paul Emmanuel, the fiery & opinionated literature teacher at the school. Once again, Lucy declines to tell us how she lost touch with her godmother, but in Villette she comes back into their lives when she collapses in a rainstorm and Dr. John is the doctor who comes to her aid. When she returns to the school, his letters sustain her and we know of her devotion to him. Ironically, he also is reunited with Polly/Pauline as a result of his profession and Lucy is with him during that event. Shortly afterwards, Lucy buries his letters in the garden, effectively burying her hope of his love. But who tends this garden? Why M. Paul, of course, whose fiery and passionate nature worries Lucy as much as it attracts her. It would seem that Paul is a confirmed bachelor, possibly a safe man to love for someone who prizes independence as much as Lucy does. It is his attention and kindness that causes Lucy to bloom a bit, to learn mathematics for example, and to have confidence in her teaching abilities.

For Lucy does prize independence and intellectual pursuits with all her heart. Probably more than either John or Paul. The drive towards marriage seems to be a cultural expectation. Frustration of all kinds is at the heart of the volcano that is Lucy Snowe. Financial, intellectual, sexual frustration, all of which can only be solved in a culturally appropriate manner in Victorian society by the institution of marriage. In this book, Charlotte gets to have her cake and eat it too, if I am interpreting that ending correctly.

As I said at the beginning, very little happens. Most of what takes place happens exclusively in Lucy's imagination, her fantasy life if you will. Readers who need more direct action should set this book aside.


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An Unexpected Peril / Deanna Raybourn

 

An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An absolute delight, as usual. Ms. Raybourn, thank you for the continuing perils of Miss Veronica Speedwell. She is an entrancing feminist in a stuffy Victorian setting, and I absolutely adore her. Plus, her charming associate, Mr. Templeton-Vane. He is described delectably.

If you have read this far in the series, you know of Veronica’s connections to the Royal Family, murky as they are. In this volume, these bonds do up the ante, requiring our heroine to attempt a dangerous deceit and having an unanticipated run in with her famous father. Having just dealt admirably with ambassadors and diplomats, Veronica is rendered speechless when he suddenly appears and she sees him in person for the first time.

As always, Stoker can be depended upon to try to be the voice of reason, and as usual resistance is futile. He makes the best of things by eating whenever food is available and stashing sweets in his pockets. The dynamic between the two has taken a much more serious turn, and I will be interested to see where Raybourn intends to take it. Because there must be another book coming, judging by the final chapter. (Although I thought that about her Lady Julia series and was seriously mistaken sadly.) Shall we say that I hope there are more Veronica adventures to come? Please, Ms. Raybourn, may we have some more?


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No Time to Spare / Ursula K. le Guin

 

No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this book the other night, knowing that it was a series of essays. Perfect when I needed some company as I waited for a pill to take effect, but which I could then set aside and return to after finishing two other books or so I thought. What actually happened was that Ursula K. le Guin's wonderful voice seized me, hijacking my attention until I was finished.

Her wise and wonderful voice was entrancing. An obvious admirer of the natural world and an acceptor of the scientific point of view, while still able to entertain more spiritual beliefs. She saw no reason why a person could not contain all those things, which I could not agree with more. She experienced awe in the natural world or at the opera. She reflects on writing, on fan mail, on feminism, on her latest cat, and on the trials of old age. I don't get fan mail and I don't have a cat, but I can relate to the other concerns.

I also appreciated her as a woman writing speculative fiction during a time when it was (more) difficult to be a woman author in that genre. Some of her contemporaries wrote under gender neutral pen names, but Ursula remained Ursula. And she wrote some marvelous books. Although I rather wish that I had sent her an email to let her know that her fiction was meaningful to me, but I'm comforted by knowing that she appreciated these notes while also considering them a bit of a weight—her personal code seemed to feel that such communications required acknowledgment. I'm glad I didn't add a burden to her life.


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The Solstice Countdown / Lisa Shearin

 

The Solstice Countdown by Lisa Shearin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Look what came in the mail yesterday! These books are fun and I will read them as long as Lisa Shearin continues to write them.

This is the first book where Makenna doesn't have her SPI partner Ian backing her up. But she has returned to her home in North Carolina and is surrounded by her community. There are big surprises waiting for her there, one good, most in the regrettable category. Once she comes to terms with her mother's revelations, she realizes where some of her supernatural talents come from.

This is Rake's introduction to the Frazer clan and he passes muster, as we knew he would. A dark battle mage is always handy to have around and he earns his place in the family. Now it remains necessary for Makenna to go to Regor to meet the goblin family that she is joining. Maybe the next book?

I hope that Shearin will make enough dough from these self published volumes to continue on. My only regret is that my only source to purchase them is through the behemoth bookseller who shall remain unnamed. Don't draw the evil one's attention by speaking their name, you know the drill, fantasy readers!


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Every Penguin in the World / Charles Bergman

 

Every Penguin in the World: A Quest to See Them All by Charles Bergman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It seems appropriate that I finished reading this book on World Penguin Day. The author and his wife traveled to see all 18 species of penguins, a journey that I have been on for many years. Unfortunately, I won't be completing my quest, as I think the Emperor penguin trip is beyond my capabilities now. As the author says, don't wait to fulfill your goals, do it now. I'm so glad I did Antarctic travel when I was in my 40s-–the younger you are when you go there, the more fun you will have. I've logged 13 species of penguin and have fabulous memories of birds and travel to show for it.

The photos in this volume are spectacular. I really enjoyed his adventure stories too, relating to some of them very strongly, particularly the feeling of communion with nature that I feel when I am in a penguin colony. I'm told by my travel companions that my face glows in those situations. Who knows what the future will bring, for us or for penguins?

In the meantime, here are some photos of my own penguin adventures.


African penguins, South Africa


King penguins, Chile


Me in a King penguin colony on South Georgia island


Me again, seeing Humbolt penguins for the first time in Chile


Yellow eyed penguin, New Zealand


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Colors of Chaos / L.E. Modesitt

 

Colors of Chaos by L.E. Modesitt Jr.


It’s rather perverse of me, but I am finding it much easier these days to read 3 star books rather than my usual four star fare. I've found myself becoming extra choosy as the pandemic progresses and have been setting aside books which I intellectually know are good books to be enjoyed when my patience and good humour have been restored. So now is the time to read the science fiction and fantasy that I like but don't love. It's like I can stick with them because my expectations are lower. Sorry, Mr. Modesitt. Nothing personal.

This novel covers the same ground as The Magic Engineer from the other side of the fence. That novel was written from Dorrin's POV, the engineer of the title. This one is from a white mage's POV, Cerryl, who we met in the last novel The White Order. Cerryl is a very typical fantasy hero: he's an orphan, he’s from a humble background, he has special talents that he doesn't broadcast to the world, he's stuck in a subordinate role, he aspires to be a good and fair person, he harbours doubts about those in charge, and he's a little thick about politics. Mind you, all of Modesitt's main characters are a bit dense, particularly regarding women and relationships. Cerryl is certainly not an exception to the rule.

I know that battle scenes are part of most fantasy books, but I did find my enthusiasm flagging as the battles stretched on and on. When that was finally finished and we got back to the regular plotting and planning, it was a relief. Cerryl is depicted as careful and cautious, but he would have been an excellent chess player.

Just as an aside, I was somewhat disappointed in the cover art. Darrell Sweet usually illustrates something with horses, which he obviously enjoys drawing. This cover is the White Tower, but I'd rather have more horses.

Book number 403 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.



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Heir to the Shadows / Anne Bishop

 

Heir to the Shadows by Anne Bishop
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There are so many things about this series that are just over-the-top faux horror, problematic, and cheesy. And yet, during this pandemic time as I'm languishing at home, I couldn't quit reading it. I mean there are still the issues that I had with book one, namely men named Saetan and Daemon who live in Hell. What's with the Old English diphthongs? I still find them distracting at the end of the second novel. They still make me roll my eyes.

And although women are supposed to have supremacy in this world, it is still the men (Saetan, Daemon, and Lucivar) that the author builds the narrative around. Despite the fact that Jaenelle is depicted as the ever-so-powerful Witch who seems to be destined to rule the world, she remains a rather secondary character. We don't get to share her viewpoint so she ends up being merely the motivation for the men to do things. She's like Helen of Troy, the face that launched one thousand ships, but at least she gets a little more attention than Helen did in The Iliad. (And her name has another one of those annoying ae combinations). Saetan is the Lord of Hell, but is also a big soft teddy bear for Jaenelle? He wants to be a supportive parent and good feudal lord, which just doesn't square in my head with how he got to his position. Cognitive dissonance for me for sure.

Bishop tries too hard with her world building, too. There's so much blood drinking, poisoning, sexual violence (or threat of it), torture, you name the vice. Saetan snarls and growls on virtually every page throws an awful lot of glassware. (You can tell he doesn't do the cleaning and his butler must have an impressive collection of brandy snifters.) In my opinion, George R.R. Martin portrays evil in a much more chilling fashion, simply by letting the foibles of realistic people shine through, the casual brutality and calculated cruelty. Ordinary humans can horrify much more than demons and witches, because I know I'll be in contact with them. (Stephen King knows this too, as demonstrated in The Shining.)

I'm having big problems with both concentration and maintaining interest in my reading material these days. So I have no idea why this book seemed to call my name right now and kept me going when I can't stick with many objectively better novels, but I stayed up far too late last night to see how things would shake out. Go figure! It gets three stars because I'm just so damn glad to find some flow in my reading life again without revisiting an old favourite. I've almost worn those favourites out over the past year. Oh, and book three is sitting on my shelves and may see action sooner than anticipated.

Book number 402 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.



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The Shadow of the Wind / Carlos Ruiz Zafon

 

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

2021 Re-Read

I first read and loved this book in 2012 and I've always meant to read the following two books by Zafon. Before attempting them, however, I felt the need to refresh my memory of The Shadow of the Wind. I'm not sorry to have revisited it, as I found that I recalled how it made me feel, not the plot details. It still gave me that wonderful melancholy that my favourite books produce. What does it say about me that I treasure sad longing?

It's amazing what you notice when you read a book at a different stage of life. This reading felt very dreamlike and magical to me. It is full of circularities and coincidences that I was perfectly willing to accept in this novel, but I might look askance at in another author's hands. I found myself contemplating the relationship between authors and readers, between Julian Carax and Daniel Sempere. I remember with fondness the days before the internet and Amazon, back when I could accidentally discover a new author that I loved. The months that followed, searching for more titles and seizing on facts about my newest authorial crush. I've always been all about anticipation—achieving a goal leaves me feeling satisfied, but somewhat empty at the same time. In these days of internet shopping, it's entirely too easy to know exactly what has been published, where it can be obtained, and personal details regarding an author that you might wish you didn't know. I loved the details of Daniel's search for Carax's novels and his unraveling of the details of Carax's life. There are few better satisfactions available to a reader and researcher.

Don't get me wrong, there's a certain joy to getting to know a favourite author, especially if they turn out to be fun and kind people, as so many authors are. But for the connoisseur of research and anticipation, it blunts the thrill of the chase. I'll never again stumble upon a book that I never knew existed. That kind of joy has been replaced by the much diminished waiting for the postal worker to deliver a package whose contents are already accounted for.

If you love books and you have never read The Shadow of the Wind, I would encourage you to try it. There is mystery, drama, kindness, cruelty, love, hate, synchronicity, improbability, and everything else we humans bring to our circle of life. It is beautiful and it is sad. I find myself ironically wishing I could read the fictional work of the same title by Julian Carax.

Original Review

I am very impressed. This novel kept me reading frantically, and not just because I needed to finish it before my book club meeting! Have you ever fallen in love with a book and tried to find out everything about the author? I sure have. But never have I met such a conundrum as Daniel finds when he tries to research Julian Carax, a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Daniel in an unusual young man and he finds his difference mirrored in Carax. When the details of Carax's life finally begin to emerge, there are many parallels to Daniel's own situation.

In my opinion, this novel has some similarities to Robertson Davies' work (I'm thinking "Fifth Business" or "What's Bred in the Bone"). And since I love Davies, that is certainly praise. The main character has a habit of stumbling across just the person to fill him in on some detail. Mind you, when you go out searching for something, it would be strange not to find any help along the way. And Daniel's friends are unusual enough to remind me of Davies as well. Not your typical young man's friends.

As one blurb on the cover said, even the subplots have subplots. I found the wheels in my brain turning, trying to figure things out, even when I set the book down. I will definitely track down the remaining books in the trilogy.

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Against the Tide of Years / S.M. Stirling

 

Against the Tide of Years by S.M. Stirling
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2 stars, it was an okay reading experience for me. This is part of my reading project which is why I ordered book two of this series via interlibrary loan. It's really not my cuppa tea, but it might be yours. Are you interested in sailing? If so, there is quite a bit of shipboard life, plenty of sails and rigging. Maybe you like martial arts? There are numerous descriptions of skirmishes. Maybe ancient warfare is your jam? Behold, many peoples of the ancient world, ready to kick butt. Are you a fan of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court? This book will let you speculate on the effect of 20th century humans on the ancient world. Are you a devotee of L.E. Modesitt's Saga of Recluce series? These books also go into detail regarding the mechanics of survival and the development of industry which may scratch the same itch.

For my tastes, Stirling is dumping way too much technical detail into the novel while skimping on what makes a great story, the personal relationships. It's like he's trying to prove how much research he did or how much knowledge he has or something. The relationships are sadly paint-by-number, very superficial and rather anemic. The exact opposite of what entertains me.

Surprisingly, there's remarkably little philosophy about time travel. A bit of speculation about creating an alternate timeline, but mostly cursing their luck that their 20th century history books are becoming less accurate as they go. Also, there are all kinds of assumptions made about the superiority of American culture and leadership. Manifest Destiny, moved to the Bronze Age. The Nantucket crew use the term “locals" which, as more than one indigenous inhabitant notes, essentially means “uncouth barbarians.” They attempt to treat everyone equally, but are relentless in their quest to turn ancient people into quasi-Americans, willing to thump modern values into the people around them.

There are other issues that I wonder about. For example, when William Walker goes rogue and establishes himself a kingdom in Ancient Greece, how likely is it that ancient peoples would be as amenable to his plans as Stirling portrays them? (The people in those areas are still pretty resistant to American hegemony to this day and not too proud to resort to guerilla warfare.) And how about all of the sailing all over the world that the Nantucketers do? The opening pages of the book show Moas being herded, obviously brought from New Zealand, and a later visit to Mauritius and concern for Dodos demonstrate just how far ranging the time travellers are. Both of these questions are predicated on the premise that a random selection of 20th century folks would be able to reverse engineer so many modern products and conveniences. I don’t know too many people who would be able to work with metal or wood well enough to reestablish a rather sophisticated society, complete with paper work, again so soon. (Mind you, I appreciate that Stirling didn't have his characters resort to desperate cannibalism as Niven did awfully early in Lucifer's Hammer.)

At this point, I'm unsure that I want to devote more of my valuable reading time to book 3. It would also require interlibrary loan and I'm debating whether the effort is desirable.

Book number 401 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.



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Voices of Dragons / Carrie Vaughn

 

Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is on the younger end of YA, in my opinion. The sentence structure and vocabulary are geared to less sophisticated readers. But the basic bones of the story are good. Humans and dragons have reached a détente, just after WWII and just like the Berlin Wall, they've been keeping an eye on it and preventing any cross over. The problem is that there's no communication between the two sides any more. History has been forgotten and there are no ambassadors to renegotiate terms.

Enter our intrepid teenager, Kay Wyatt, an only child of the town sheriff and a member of border control. (I was amused, by the way, that the border between human and dragon was in Montana. I apparently live in Dragon country—kind of appropriate with the vast dinosaur fossil beds that we have in Alberta.) Kay is sweetly portrayed as an outdoorsy girl, into hiking and rock climbing. She is a bit intimidated by her BFF Tam, who is rather boy crazy and can't believe that Kay isn't. She's managing a budding relationship with her hiking & climbing friend Jon and the two of them are learning about communication.

Kay, being a typical 17 year old, occasionally does things that seem unwise, such as hiking or climbing alone. I was 17 once and I remember that feeling of being invulnerable and overconfident, so that part feels realistic to me. On one of these solo hikes, Kay falls into a stream on the border and is carried into dragon territory, where she is rescued by a young dragon, Artegal. She is shocked when he speaks to her, but curiosity is stronger than fear. They agree to continue to meet and become friends.

Leading a secret life is difficult, especially when the military is spoiling for a fight and willing to engineer a confrontation. But what can a teen girl and a young dragon do to prevent war? It's a pretty simplistic set up. For instance, there's no suggestion of a world wide human government, so it's unclear why the other countries aren't objecting to the American military provoking a mutual enemy.

Just like Kay and Jon learning to tell each other what they want, humans and dragons must quit trying to guess what the other side thinks and actually express themselves. Not a bad message and I would probably have adored it at age 13 or 14. I’m not unhappy to have read it, but I doubt that I will track down the sequel. Unlike some other YA series, there isn't quite enough meat here to satisfy the older adult reader.


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Rogue Protocol / Martha Wells

 

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

They were all annoying and deeply inadequate humans, but I didn't want to kill them. Okay, maybe a little. A SecUnit's job is to protect its clients from anything that wants to kill or hurt them, and to gently discourage them from killing, maiming, etc., each other. The reason why they were trying ti kill, maim, etc., each other wasn't the SecUnit's problem, it was for the humans' supervisor to deal with. (Or to willfully ignore until the whole project devolved into a giant clusterfuck and your SecUnit prayed for the sweet relief of a massive accidental explosive decompression, not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.)

I do love Murderbot, who claims to hate humans, and then wades into their problems to save their slow processing minds from getting themselves scragged. If that's not enough to annoy a rogue SecUnit that just wants to watch some new media, then there are other technological beings to deal with, like Miki, designated by Murderbot as a pet robot. Murderbot has to carefully and completely lie to Miki, something which makes our favourite rogue highly uncomfortable. After one such encounter, it says, “I needed to have an emotion in private.” As the tag line on the dust jacket says, who knew being a heartless killing machine would present so many moral dilemmas?

Wells' notion of using the (supposedly) less than human SecUnit to explore the human condition is absolutely brilliant. I adore these novellas and I'm restraining myself from bingeing them (but that's getting more difficult by the week). What will I do when there's no more Murderbot? We must preserve Martha Wells at all costs for she is the source of this goodness. I hope Murderbot is on hand should she run into any hostiles of any kind.


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Death of an Expert Witness / P.D. James

 

Death of an Expert Witness by P.D. James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An interesting mix of the usual and unusual. It's normal for the murder victim to be hated by multiple people (for example, Georgette Heyer's A Christmas Party). It's also normal for a forensic lab to be involved in a murder investigation. What was unusual was that the murder victim should be one of the members of the lab, killed in the lab, and that his fellow employees should become suspects. I wonder why this plot line doesn't get more use? After all, people of all walks of life have the same kinds of personal conflicts.

Another issue I found myself contemplating, especially in these physical distancing times, was how much of my life passes without having any kind of alibi. We don't live our lives expecting to be suspected of a crime. Living alone as I do, I would have a difficult task to find another person to vouch for me for most of every day.

James saw people, their virtues and their foibles, rather clearly, in my opinion. I find her plots believable and her characters realistic. The ailing elderly, the optimistic young people, the dissatisfied wives, the hen-pecked husbands, the unhappily divorced, the drunks, the church goers, they are all represented in her novels. They feel real. I can even understand how Dalgleish has ended up in the chilly emotional state that we find him in. Once again, I am struck with the idea that we all have pasts, not all of which we would be willing to proclaim to the world, and that we will get to keep secret unless we are caught up in a serious investigation.



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Curtsies & Conspiracies / Gail Carriger

 

Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All the best geniuses are evil.

With lines like that, Gail Carriger creates an atmosphere of frothy fun. My library labels this as YA, but I see no reason why the rest of us shouldn't enjoy it too.

One of Carriger's talents is creating suitably ridiculous names for her characters. If you thought that Sophronia and Dimity were unusual names for young women, this book gives us Lord Dingleproops, among others. Of course, it is set in the young ladies' dirigible finishing school, where several young men from Bunsen's Academy, the evil genius school, are brought in during a special mission. The young people are encouraged to learn how to properly flirt and court, while being advised that it must not get serious, as their training for espionage and evil genius are incompatible. However, Felix, Lord Mersey, may not have properly absorbed that last concept.

Plenty of plotting, scheming, spying, flirting, and adventuring. Not to be taken too seriously. Great fun.


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The Big Four / Agatha Christie

 

The Big Four by Agatha Christie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Agatha Christie may be most loved for her mysteries, but she was obviously highly enamoured with writing in the espionage genre (see The Secret Adversary, The Man in the Brown Suit, and The Secret of Chimneys) . So what could be better than a spy story investigated by Hercule Poirot! With the added benefit that Christie could bring Captain Hastings back to be Watson to Poirot's Sherlock.

She has such fun with Hastings! He may be married, but he still has an admiring eye for an auburn haired woman. Even the Big Four know of his proclivities and make use of them. She takes great joy in introducing him to a formidable female scientist, whom he regards with wonder. A mere woman who understands principles that he can only attempt to grasp. But he is right in his element when doing seating plans for dinners held with aristocracy—part of the hostess's duties. He looks down on women, but excels at their duties. Oh, Christie does love to make fun of him.

However Hastings isn't his usual distracting self in this adventure. He still completely missed the obvious set ups by the minions of the Big Four, but he wasn’t able to take me with him this time. Christie fools me so regularly that I was as triumphant as Hastings to actually be correct about something. With just as little reason to be proud.

This whole romp had a very James Bondian feel to it. My 2018 Summer of Spies introduced me to the work of Ian Fleming (which wasn't published until 1953), but I know from a biography of Fleming that he read Christie. It makes me curious if this book was inspirational for him. It certainly has international intrigue, underground lairs, and criminal masterminds!

A personal note: This title amuses me because of an accident of Calgary history. Our city hosts the Calgary Stampede each July (at least until Covid), locally known as the greatest outdoor show on earth. It was established in 1912 by four wealthy Alberta cattlemen who came to be known as the Big Four. There is a building on the stampede grounds named after them, the Big Four Building. I have a hard time envisioning an international criminal organization in conjunction with this name.


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A Storm of Swords / George R.R. Martin

 

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Each time I pick up another volume of A Song of Ice and Fire, I am quickly reminded of how much I enjoy these books! I love all the complicated plotting, the constantly shifting allegiances, and the wide variety of characters. I love the fact that Martin lets us sample life on all sides of the conflict. I think many authors favour one side or another in their fiction, writing so the reader will cheer for his darlings. Martin could have turned me into a Stark cheerleader if he had wanted to, but I find myself rooting for Tyrion Lannister too. This volume has even convinced me that Jaime isn't as nasty as I previously thought.

The Starks do tend to steal the show. Just when you think they're done & dead, they come back like White Walkers. Unlike those beasties though, I am always glad when they reappear and wreck havoc. This volume has so many good scenes and good lines. I've never watched the tv show, but who hasn't heard the tag line, “You know nothing, Jon Snow!” Then there's Arya, counting the men that she means to kill, every night like counting sheep as she falls asleep. And Bran, still out there and determined to find a way to wage war even as a crippled man.

Of course there's also Jon's friend Sam. (Is that a reference to Sam Gamgee in LOTR do you think?) What do you do when ice zombies are tearing your horse apart and a big freaky guy with cold black hands offers you & your girl a lift on his giant Irish elk? You say “yes please" and “thank you very much" and crawl up onto that cervid's back, that's what you do! Sam finds more inside himself than he ever expected to and I became quite fond of him.

And that epilogue! Well done, Mr. Martin! You surprised the hell out of me, but in a really, really good way. It makes me very anxious to read A Feast for Crows, but that won't be until next year, if I stick to my reading plan. Until then, I will enjoy the anticipation.

Book number 400 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.



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Two Graves / D.A. Graystone

 

Two Graves: A Kesle City Homicide Novel by D.A. Graystone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars? Rounded up to 3 because I actually wanted to finish it.

This was an impulse purchase from an online used book seller. I'd been impressed by something, maybe the blurb, back in 2013 and added this title to my TBR. It was am impulse to clear the backlog, I guess.

It's not a bad book, which I know sounds like damning it with faint praise. Graystone is a decent writer, but I never got to sink into the story and forget that I was reading. I found a lot of the plot to be clichéd: the not-quite-straight-arrow cop, who is willing to bend the rules to get the bad guy; his reporter girlfriend; the zero who becomes a serial killer to wreck revenge on a society that never protected him from abuse; the self serving politicians that the police must endure; and, of course, the Mafioso who actually runs the city. It's the stuff of lots and lots of thrillers.

It's never a good sign when I'm editing as I read, but I'm happy to report only one matter of grammar that I would have changed, who's (the contraction of who is) to be replaced by whose (the possessive). But noticing that switched me into edit mode and I couldn't extract myself from it. The plotting was decent, but I didn't “feel” the conflicts. They were just items on a checklist, barriers that the characters must overcome, not really causing me any angst, as solutions just showed up automatically as required.

Now I must temper this lukewarm review by telling you that thrillers are not my thing, although I occasionally find one that grips me. Also, I am finding that I am less and less enamoured by books that include serial murderers. I really got into that genre ten years ago, but they're not my jam anymore. I guess what I'm saying is that your mileage may vary.

Another book that I can weed from my bookshelves and that's something I'm very pleased about.


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February Fever / Jess Lourey

 

February Fever by Jess Lourey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was exceedingly grumpy today. I have a huge pile of library books, none of which appealed to me. Finally I headed to my own book shelves and grabbed this mystery. Mrs. Berns always amuses me and she did the trick again today. She decides that she and Mira should go to a private investigator conference in Oregon and they should travel on the Valentine train trip to get there. Mrs. Berns is all about booze and men. She dismisses a man her own age, stating that when you take an elderly man to the bedroom, it's like trying to put an oyster in a slot machine. She always makes me laugh!

Lourey has made a smart decision to take the Mira & Mrs. Berns team on the road. There's a limit to how many murders that can take place in a small Minnesota town. Mira gets to test her PI skills outside Battle River and she pays a price for it. I shed some tears at the end, absolutely gobsmacked by the turn of events in the final pages of the book. That was a brave move on the author's part, as somehow that doesn't mesh in my mind with the cozy mystery genre.

Tomorrow, as Scarlett O'Hara said, is another day. With any luck, I'll be in a better mood, ready to return to my normal reading plans without being twitchy about it. But I'm glad I had this mystery lurking in my collection, ready to jolly me out of a grumpy patch.



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A Curious Incident / Vicki Delany

 

A Curious Incident by Vicki Delany
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novel was a pleasant evening's reading. Even if Gemma Doyle has fallen back into the habitual ruts of her life. After the last book, with its diversion to good old London, we're back to the small town, the bookstore, the bakery, and to the animosity of Detective Estrada. At least there's less page time given to meetings between Gemma and Jayne in the bakery and less active poking into police investigations. Gemma mostly relies on the basic sources available to civilians. She can go to restaurants, pay visits to acquaintances, and fraternize with her neighbours without incurring the wrath of Estrada or the disappointment of her detective boyfriend, Ryan.

I really enjoyed the 11 year old Lauren's presence in this volume. It gave Delany a way to make Gemma a bit softer, less completely logical. I hope Lauren shows up in future books, if there are any. Gemma and Ryan haven't made any future plans yet, so I assume there will be at least one more installment to get them hitched.

These books are light, fluffy cozy mysteries (which I am usually allergic to), but for some reason I am invested in what happens in Gemma Doyle's life. (Although I do mix up details of this series with Delany's Year Round Christmas series which has so many similarities!)


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