The Dry / Jane Harper

 

3 out of 5 stars

Not bad, but not really what I'm looking for these days. Oh, it kept me reading, but like many modern mysteries and thrillers, there were so many details that I wanted to quibble with.

I haven't read many books set in Australia and this one is positioned in a drought-stricken, financially shaky rural area. I've spent limited time in Australia and almost all of it in urban areas. That would be like trying to understand rural Canada by spending time in Vancouver or Toronto. However, I grew up in small town & rural Canada and I think it has some similarities. Prejudices are pronounced and memories are long. But I'm not sure that anyone could hold a grudge as long as this community seemingly has.

Harper uses Aaron Falk's childhood memories of the Kiewarra area as a way of intertwining a historical mysterious death of a young woman with a current tragedy. In the present, Falk's childhood friend has apparently killed his wife, one of his kids, and himself. Falk was a suspect in the former death and he and his father left the community to avoid the vindictiveness of their neighbours. It was a useful conceit for the purposes of the plot, but I thought abandoning their farm was a bit of an extreme action. And is policing and investigation in Australia really so ineffective and uncaring?

The historical mystery seemed tissue paper thin to me. When someone dies, the first and strongest suspects are family members. It also seemed absolutely obvious that the young woman was a domestic abuse victim, making her family the primary suspects, not her high school friend. The modern mystery seems not so mysterious, but Falk has questions. He is a white collar crime investigator, not a homicide specialist, so what is he doing teaming up with the local copper? Unofficially investigating a closed case? And they are the talk of the community, but no one has clued in the larger police force who were the original investigators?

I often have these struggles with the believability of thrillers. That's on me, I'm not a fan of the genre. But I've got to try one now and then to see if it's still so. Harper is a decent writer, at least, making this a less painful experience than it might have been.

Hunt the Stars / Jessie Mihalik

 

3.75 out of 5 stars

2022 Free Range Reading

A book chosen for fun, not part of any project, plan, or list. And oh so worth it!

I have evolved over the last number of years, from someone who sneered at romance novels, to tolerating romance elements in a story, to enjoying a mystery or fantasy novel with a strong romance element, to a woman who actually has a favourite romance trope. Yup, I am a fan of the enemies-to-lovers scenario, so this novel was ideal for my taste. Octavia Zarola is human, Torran Fletcher is Valovian and they were both well known on their respective sides of an interstellar war, currently at peace.

The book was recommended by one of my favourite authors (Ilona Andrews), who use this set up a lot and I adore their books. And there are a lot of similarities to the Andrews' writing. Torran Fletcher is an extremely powerful telekinetic, much like a certain Mad Rogan from the Hidden Legacy series. He has similar intimate talents too, and the couple find themselves very tempted to hit the sheets before they have established a fully trusting working relationship. Like Nevada Baylor and Mad Rogan, Tavi and Torran are trying to work together platonically, with varying degrees of success. If you're familiar with the Andrews' Kate Daniels series, you will also identify a certain hot tub scene as another overlap.

What is different here is that Mihalik doesn't keep the tension going for more than one book. For me, things moved along much more quickly than I would have chosen. I very much believe in delayed gratification in order to maintain plot tension. But I note that the next book concentrates on another woman, Kee, the information specialist on Tavi's crew. Naturally, it is a Valovian man on Fletcher's team who will be her opposite number. Their friendship gets a rocky start here in book one, but I don't think there's any doubt where they are heading. I think that's one of the most frustrating thing about romance novels for me: there's no question of what the end point will be, even though they will concurrently be trying to avert another war.

So don't go into this book expecting the romance to take a back seat to the political plot—it doesn't. The relationships overwhelm all other concerns like a tsunami. If you can live with that, you will enjoy this novel as much as I did. For the record, I want to read book two.

Spells for the Dead / Faith Hunter

 

3.75 out of 5 stars

2022 Free Range Reading

I had to interlibrary loan this book in order to finish this series. I suppose that Hunter may write more installments, but this one ended on a rather complete note, with Nell's life squared away tidily. I've enjoyed the ride, even if the last couple of books have been just a speck less fun for me. Once Nell and Occam became a couple, the tension went out of the story for me, despite the paranormal investigations, the Church politicking, or the Nicholson family dynamics. Frankly, when Nell became less of a Church woman, I knew she was making personal progress, but she lost some of her zest.

In this book, Nell gets a better handle on her powers and meets an Irish witch who recognizes her species. Unfortunately, this is a ships-in-the-night thing, with the witch moving along before Nell can extract more information. I think her PsyLED manager, FireWind, knows more than he's telling too. But it seems that Nell is teaching herself quite effectively, so perhaps their information isn't as important as I'm thinking it is.

I have relished this foray into recreational reading—books that I'm reading purely because the spirit moved me to. Not part of any plan or list, just plain old book love.

Vespertine / Margaret Rogerson

 

4 out of 5 stars

I received this ARC through a Goodreads Giveaway. Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada.

If you have ever felt socially awkward, like your brain has gone blank when someone asks you a question, like you are freaky in some basic way, then Artemnisia is your girl. You see, she spent her childhood possessed by a spirit and confined to a shed by her peasant family. Not much opportunity to learn basic human skills. Now she is a nun who cleanses the dead to prevent such things from happening to others. But even in the convent she feels weird among the other nuns.

Truth be told, it's my belief that most of us feel like outsiders at one point or another. We doubt our abilities and our worth. That's why stories like this one resonate with so many of us. Learning to accept friendship and assistance is a struggle for Artemnisia. Perhaps it's a good thing, then, that during a battle at her convent, she ends up being possessed again, this time by a powerful revenant. There's no escaping this interaction!

I completely agree with friends who have noted that both Artemnisia and the revenant, Rathanael, have antisocial tendencies reminiscent of Martha Wells' Murderbot. As the nun and the revenant tentatively grope their way towards a partnership, I was reminded of Murderbot coming to trust Dr. Mensah and becoming protective of the survey team. Both authors use their novels to show the difference that can be made by recognizing the basic human-ness of revenants and self-governing SecUnits, not to mention other people.

So far, Rogerson has written three stand-alone books. I have to admit that I really like that. I enjoyed her first novel a lot and this one rates right up there with it. It's rather refreshing also, in a young adult novel, to have the plot revolve around non-romantic issues (that was my biggest issue with her second book, that is was far too obviously focused on a romantic relationship far too quickly). As a nun, Artemnisia isn't really available for a romantic entanglement, but she can and does learn how to make friends. It was great to see her realize how crucial communication is to friendship, something that Rathanael definitely helps with.

The ending was satisfying, although I saw some threads that could be put towards a sequel. I wonder if Rogerson had plans for another installment or if she's just keeping her options open?

I Shall Wear Midnight / Terry Pratchett

 

4 out of 5 stars

As Miss Tiffany Aching matures, she faces more adult challenges. She has realized that she is a social worker as well as a healthcare worker and that both are demanding roles. As she says at one point in the book, sometimes there are no good choices, just choices.

She must also learn to take care of herself first. Like they say in airline safety talks, put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others. She's going to need more than naps and snacks if she's to be the Chalk's witch. I don't know about you, but my mother had a similar philosophy about sleep. “Go to bed,” she would say, “and things will look better in the morning.” I most often found this to be true, as we need sleep as a mood stabilizer and refresher. And I know many people who get hangry if not fed and watered regularly, myself among them.

Additionally, Pratchett shows us the ease with which people can be convinced of totally false ideas when the zeitgeist is right. There are always gullible people out there or people who want to do harm or those who are looking for someone to blame for their troubles. It's difficult to combat, but we must give it our best effort.

One of Tiffany's best characteristics is her ability to see the good qualities in the people around her and she makes those folks into friends and allies. It's good to see this positive side of a very young woman who has allowed herself to get worn down and bossy. Thankfully she recognizes that she has been condescending to those around her and that she must adjust her attitude and fix her own mess. I wish I had been so sensible at sixteen!

Balance of Trade / Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

 

4 out of 5 stars

This book returns to the Liaden world that I am familiar with—lots of linguistic complexity (am I addressing this person in the correct mode?), lots of bowing (am I judging my relationship to this person rightly?), plenty of polite manoeuvring, and indirect communication. What's a Terran human to do?

Jethri Gobelyn is an unhappy young man on his family's trade ship. He is youngest and his mother, the captain, dislikes him. This situation reminded me a lot of C.J. Cherry's Company Wars series, with plenty of trade decisions to be made, family ships to be run, and spots to be found for promising youngsters. (Incidentally, the Gobelyn Market is a wonderfully named ship, a clever use of a family name and a well known poem, combined with its appropriateness for a trade vessel). Jethri is ambitious, despite the circumstances against him. He has been studying trade and the Liaden language with an eye to expanding the family's trade horizons. While in a port, he attempts an independent trade which rapidly goes pear shaped. The con man has used the business card of a respected Liaden trader, implying a connection, and does not expect the young man to be able to directly approach the trader in question. It turns out that the trader sees an interesting opportunity in the young Terran who was brave enough to show up in her office.

This is a pretty standard fish out of water story. Master Trader ven'Deelin offers Jethri a position as her apprentice trader. This is unheard of, Terra and Liad being rivals in trade and very different culturally. There is lots of prejudice to go around on all sides. Jethri makes friends and enemies both, eventually becoming the Master Trader's foster son. Watching him learn his lessons, deal with discrimination, and find his place in this new world was compelling. I stayed up much, much too late last night because I simply could not put the book down.

I certainly hope that there will be other Liaden novels in which Jethri (aka Jeth Ree) makes an appearance. He is a charming young man with a good heart and the business acumen of a shark! I've become quite fond of him. And my love of the Liaden universe continues.

Book Number 453 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project

Crystal Dragon / Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

 

4 out of 5 stars

Well, I feel like I have just witnessed the creation of Clan Korval. The yos'Phelium and yos'Galen lines have been joined, legally. And dea'Gauss has been hired. The Tree has been successfully stowed on the bridge of the transport ship that Cantra and Tor An currently own and command. The first cat is in residence. History has been explained and the events that I've already enjoyed are ready to unfurl. M. Jela has created a lasting legacy.

There are two intersecting storylines in this novel: one in the material universe and one in the energy universe. Both were necessary for the story to make sense, but as a material being, my attention was mostly for the world where Jela and Cantra struggle against time and the enemy that is decrystalizing that reality. Fortunately they have the assistance of the Dramliza and the elderly scholar, Liad dea'Syl.

I give you three guesses where the name Liaden comes from! The drama was high, the pace was pretty steady, and the company was good. The new clan is assembled over the course of the novel, drawn together by luck, kept together through loyalty and love. There were at least two points where I cried, a good sign, as it shows authors who are willing to sacrifice characters when it is realistic. There are limits to how far one can push luck, after all.

Book Number 452 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project

Crystal Soldier / Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

 

3.95 out of 5 stars

Crystal Soldier is a sort of a prequel, started back in the mid 1980s but not finished and published until 2005. The authors realized that they needed to have more writing experience before tackling the Liaden universe origin story. So it was on the back burner for a long, long time.

I have really enjoyed the first six Liaden novels, gradually noticing all the unusual details that make Clan Korval into the interesting family that it is. They are extremely talented as pilots, they have an intriguing family home, with a very literal family tree, and they have visionary family members, known as dramliza, witchy magical folk. This historical novel shows us the origins of all of these things and I expect that Crystal Dragon will finish the lesson.

I maybe don't find this book quite as entrancing as the previous offerings, but only by a tiny amount. This series caught on just as the internet was becoming a thing and fans were able to let their admiration be known. It might have stalled out after three books if Lee and Miller had not received this strong encouragement. I'm just catching up, but count me among the fandom now.

Book Number 451 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project

The Impossible Impostor / Deanna Raybourn

 

4 out of 5 stars

How I love these adventures of Veronica Speedwell! In this installment, Ms. Raybourn is channeling her inner Arthur Conan Doyle, including lonely moors with dangerous bogs, sparkling jewels of uncertain provenance, and the mysterious return of a long lost relative.

Someone from Veronica's past reappears unexpectedly, throwing a wrench into the inner workings of her life. She must face the fact that she has not been completely honest with her beloved Stoker and that it may damage their relationship irreparably. But in the meanwhile, there are mysteries to be solved and Veronica distracts herself from her troubles by applying herself to the work at hand. This is a shrewd strategy to maintain the romantic suspense which is often sucked out of a storyline when the couple actually declare their attachment.

In the course of the investigation, Stoker is delighted to discover a taxidermied thylacine, that extinct predatory marsupial. Trust this author to insert such an eccentric item in such a charming way and to give Stoker such enthusiasm for it. Of course, Patricia, the Galapagos tortoise, still wanders the earl’s garden, and Veronica and Stoker have acquired quite the canine retinue. I love all the natural history details that Raybourn seeds through the novel.

Although there is not yet a listing of an eighth book, the ending of this one leaves me in no doubt that it is in the works. For this, I am incredibly grateful. I will mourn when this lovely series comes to an end.

Song of Susannah / Stephen King

 

3.5 out of 5 stars

I'm never going to be a big Stephen King fan; I like his stuff, but I don't love it. Constant Readers, I cry your pardon! However, this sixth volume of the Dark Tower series had some amusing moments. Although focusing largely on Susannah Dean, my favourite part happens late in the book when Roland and Eddie decide to go visit an author, namely Stephen King.

We learned of King's presence in this fictional world in book five, when a character from Salem's Lot showed up and told enough of his story to fill in the folks like me who hadn't read that novel. And then a rare book dealer insisted that Eddie take a case of his books to safety in his timeline and Pere Callahan gets to hold a copy of the novel which features him.

So I guess it's no surprise that Randall Flagg from The Stand stomps into the story, too. I'm sure that if I'd read more of King's many books, I would have recognized many more Easter eggs like these. (Incidentally, why do so many authors want to somehow tie together all of their fiction, like it needs to be a unified thing?)

It's very meta for King to write himself into the action. He gives a very self deprecating performance, acknowledging many of the facts of his life that many people know: booze and drug problems, his reputation as the author of uncanny fiction, and in the very last chapter, he works in his brush with death when he was struck by a vehicle while walking on the side of the road near his house. He has given his past self a sense of feeling threatened, perhaps by the forces faced by Roland & Co. whenever he is writing these novels. Presumably the accident was part of the threat by the Crimson King. Way to use a difficult experience to good effect.

Well done, Mr. King! I award an extra half star for this amusing conceit!

Book Number 450 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project

A Tale of Two Biddies / Kylie Logan

 

4 out of 5 stars

I really like how Kylie Logan links each of these mysteries to a well known novel. The first book referred to Murder on the Orient Express and this one relied on A Tale of Two Cities. The League of Literary Ladies have developed a reputation for themselves in their small community, so this time around they have more people keeping track of their actions. This requires a bit more subterfuge.

The relationship between the women has progressed from the first installment, where they started out as feuding neighbours. There are still tensions, but they are working on alleviating those rather than returning to fighting. They help each other as well as annoy each other. And I have to wonder if the judge who sentenced them to be a book club has any second thoughts about what he has unleashed on the community!

In addition to the mystery, we are given three other questions to consider. First, what exactly is Bea's history? What has brought this New Yorker to this remote island town? Second, what's up with Levi? It's become apparent that he's escaping something in his past too. Third, can Bea and Levi quit sniping at each other long enough to see if they have a chance at being a couple?

Those outstanding issues make me want to request book number three right away, but I currently have a large pile of library books and delayed gratification will make the third volume more enjoyable anyway.

A Room of One's Own / Virginia Woolf

 

4 out of 5 stars

This is my first foray into Virginia Woolf’s writing. I don't know quite why I have avoided her for so long. I probably wouldn't have picked up this slim volume if I hadn't read Vita Sackville-West’s novel All Passion Spent last month. Knowing of the close relationship between the two women, I decided to read this essay, partly because it was short and unthreatening and partly because it shared a theme with VSW's novel.

I can't honestly proclaim that I will plunge into Woolf's works immediately, but I will definitely stop actively avoiding them. She expresses her argument clearly and I am intrigued to discover what she did with her own room and legacy income.

Robertson Davies / Val Ross

 

3.7 out of 5 stars

I chose this biography to accompany the literature of Robertson Davies, who was chosen as one of our Writers in Residence for the second quarter of 2022 at the (Mostly) Dead Writers Society. In all honesty, he was my choice, having encountered his work in 1979 as part of a first year English course at university. I remember being jazzed after reading Fifth Business and getting my mom to read it too. She was a writer, with a number of published short stories, and we shared a love of good literature. We both looked forward to each new Davies novel.

RD would definitely agreed with Shakespeare that all the world's a stage. He treated his life like a theatrical production and greatly enjoyed both being on stage and being a playwright. He belongs to a time period in Canada when we were desperately trying to create our own identity, free from our Mother Britain. RD studied in Oxford and had intellectual aspirations, which were dashed when his father summoned him back to Canada to take up the family business, newspaper publishing in Southern Ontario. Journalism honed his craft, teaching him to write clearly and to a schedule.

Returning from Oxford and London, RD found Ontario very colloquial and boring. Although he was an actor, he couldn't seem to conceal his condescending attitude towards his neighbours and they noticed. RD was also remarkably thin skinned when it came to criticism of his own work. He seems to have expected to be the smartest guy in the room and was offended when his superiority was challenged. Plus he desperately wanted Canada to be more cosmopolitan and much more sophisticated, but it seemed to him that Canadians resisted him at every turn.

Reading about his upbringing in rural Ontario, I realized how much he mined his own experiences for the details of life in the Deptford trilogy. Like all writers, he gussied up these details, exaggerating or rearranging as needed to accomplish his purpose. His time as Master of Massey College is thoroughly reflected in The Rebel Angels and, interestingly, I feel that the marriage of Maria Theotoky and Arthur Cornish in that book had some aspects of RD's relationship with his wife, Brenda.

It is the role of a writer to feel like an outsider—we all feel that way at least some of the time, making outsider status a regular theme of literature and film. RD felt this status particularly keenly, being Master of Massey without having finished his own degree. He was a shy and sensitive man with a mercurial temperament, being aggressive to defend himself when he felt misunderstood. Nevertheless, he managed to produce powerful novels that depict characters who feel real and whose concerns I understand. His best work was produced after the deaths of both of his parents, which seems to have set him free of their judgment. It's a great shame that he felt so constrained. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have more of his magical writing to enjoy?

Murder in Mesopotamia / Agatha Christie

 

4 out of 5 stars

April 2022 Appointment with Agatha

In this novel, Nurse Leatheran fulfills the role of Hastings, becoming the confidante of Poirot and giving the reader insight into his thought processes. Unlike Hastings, she is able to follow his reasoning more easily, although not completely. But then she isn't being distracted by attractive women or overly impressed by people's social class. She is a nurse, so she is used to seeing everyone as a potential patient, a great leveler. She is similar to Hastings in her very ingrained Englishness, persisting in seeing people in Iraq as “foreign” despite the fact that she is the foreigner in Iraq. (She also displays a certain judginess concerning Poirot’s self confidence that Hastings frequently expresses).

It was only four years ago that I first read this novel and the identity of the killer had been purged from my memory banks. It was the setting and the atmosphere that had stuck with me. At the point that this book was published, Christie had been married to Max Mallowan for six years. She had been accompanying him to dig sites in the Middle East, giving her first hand experience to inform her fiction. No wonder the archaeological setting is so well realized.

Well worth a second reading, as are so many of Dame Agatha's mysteries. I continue to be amazed at how she accomplished so much in such short novels.

Dreams Made Flesh / Anne Bishop

 

3 out of 5 stars

The illogic of this fantasy world drives me nuts. Supposedly the women are dominant and in charge, but then there are Saetan, Daemon, and Lucivar rampaging about, making all these theoretically powerful women wet themselves from fear. If women actually ruled, there wouldn't be all these snarly alpha males hogging the limelight. It makes me grumpy.

This volume consists of four pieces of short fiction in the Black Jewels world. The first one was almost incomprehensible to me, so there's that. Then each of the remaining three centred around one of the three men mentioned above. Two of them (Lucivar's and Daemon's stories) are basically romances, getting Lucivar married to Marian and repairing Daemon's relationship with Jaenelle (and incidentally marrying them too). Despite all the referencing of Hell, darkness, spiders, venom, etc., they pretty typical romances, complete with jealousy, misunderstandings, and forgiveness culminating in happily ever after endings.

Several of my friends really like a couple of other series that Anne Bishop writes, so I'm hoping to like those better when I get to them. Despite all my eye rolling at the details that distract me in these books, I like them well enough to continue on. However, I completely understand those folks who find them ridiculous, I think I understand why some love them, and I would never critique either position. We like what we like. I probably wouldn't choose to continue if they weren't part of my reading project, but I don't hate them, so I’ll continue onwards.

Book Number 449 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project