Cretaceous Sea / Will Hubbell

 

2 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

Oh, the perils of cover art! When I ordered this book, it was the dinosaurs on the cover (and the sale price) that hooked me. The thought of being able to time travel to the Cretaceous was also pleasing and I clicked “buy" without thinking too deeply about the matter. This I regret.

The dinosaurs, when they are encountered, are fabulous. However, this novel is far too people-infested. And they are not very interesting. We have the ice-cold entrepreneur who controls the time machine and his minions (who are crystal clear regarding their status as mere minions). We have the selfish, self-indulgent billionaire, who comes complete with a blonde floozy and a daughter whose affection he is trying to buy. Plus a geology student who has been hired to be tour guide for said daughter, who is judged young and biddable (completely disregarding scientific curiosity).

Off they go, using this mysterious technology, to the Cretaceous. It doesn't take our geology student long to figure out that things are hinky. Apparently our entrepreneur has conked a time traveler over the head and claimed his vehicle, which can only be toggled between the present and the dinosaurs. The site where they are camping was built by future-dude. Entrepreneur needs billionaire to fund the reverse engineering of the tech. Meanwhile, the daughter finds a hidden room, filled with screens and a clock with a mysterious countdown. To the asteroid event that will end the dinosaurs.

The dialogue is dull, the roles of the characters are stereotypes, and I just couldn't find much enthusiasm for the plot. Of course the women must be protected, but not by the fat cats. It'll be the pilot and the geology student who step up. The one brown guy sacrifices himself to comfort the blond floozy, who graciously bestows one (count 'em, one) kiss on this guy she would normally not even acknowledge. Ick. I read to the 52% point, then skipped to the final chapters to see if I was missing anything worthwhile. Let's just say that people from the future are jerks.

I read this book to fulfill the Portal Fantasy square of my Halloween Bingo card.

A Night in the Lonesome October / Roger Zelazny

 

5 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

I was delighted earlier this year when I was able to buy a copy of this out-of-print edition of Roger Zelazny’s final novel. I love James Warhola's cover art. It's obvious that Warhola had read the book and shared Zelazny’s joy in all the references to other literature and to the horror film genre.

I must thank my reading buddy Elentarri for researching the details of this elaborate book. The evocative title comes from an Edgar Allan Poe poem, Ulalume. The timing of a full moon over London on Halloween sets a date of 1887, perfect for including both Jack the Ripper and the Great Detective. Rumour has it that someone bet Zelazny that he couldn't write a story that made Jack into a sympathetic character (or even a hero). I'm glad he took the challenge.

Although I have read Zelazny's Amber series and his Lord of Light, I must admit that Lonesome October is by far my favourite. Now that I own a copy, I was finally able to follow the one-chapter-per-day reading plan. It was quite satisfying and I intend it to be an annual exercise in future Octobers.

I read this book to fulfill the Halloween square of my Halloween Bingo card.

Carpe Jugulum / Terry Pratchett

 

4 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

This Discworld novel had a number of my favourite characters: the Witches, DEATH, and the Nac mac Feegle. Throw in some vampires and what could be better? The witches must kick some bat!

Mr. Pratchett examines the powers of choices. Mightily Oates, confused follower of the god Om, must decide if he’s going to see every side of every issue, or is he going to choose a position. You have to choose if you want to make a difference. Granny Weatherwax must keep choosing her balance between the dark and the light. Nanny Ogg steps up when Granny seems to have disappeared.

The vampires have decided to use the power of positive thinking and gradual desensitization to overcome their weaknesses: garlic, lemon, holy water and sunshine. The trick is to keep believing in your invulnerability. But they don’t know headology like Granny does—can she out-manoeuvre and outThink them?

Any book with the Nac mac Feegle is my kind of book! Pratchett obviously enjoyed writing them.

I read this book to fulfill the Gallows Humour square of my Halloween Bingo card.

The Old Woman with the Knife

 

3 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

This book was interesting just because it was quite different from what I expected. I guess I thought it would be more like Killers of a Certain Age or The Thursday Murder Club, which have a certain humour to them. After all, the protagonist is an older woman who has been an assassin as a career, which sounds rather like those novels. Instead, I got a meditation on the decrease of abilities as one ages, the difficulty of making friends after a lifetime of self-isolation, and the unintended consequences of earlier deeds in one’s life.

Hornclaw suspects that her employer is thinking of removing her from the payroll. She isn’t getting as many jobs as she used to and a younger coworker seems to be trying to make her life miserable. Perhaps he’s been instructed to mess up her jobs and her confidence to make the employer’s wish easier? In the meanwhile, she makes the “mistake” of getting to know some of her neighbours. She has always maintained distance in the past, realizing it’s more difficult to kill people that you know.

She knows that she’s not as strong or as fast as she used to be. Her joints hurt and it’s harder to dodge blades or bullets. But her appearance as a small, older woman is useful camouflage which she can employ quite effectively. Occasionally she considers giving up, but it hasn’t come to that yet.

Are her problems all that different than those of other seniors? Declining physical abilities, social isolation, and a changing society that no longer values her? Her profession exaggerates these problems, but many seniors will recognize them.

I read this book to fulfill the Death in Translation square of my Halloween Bingo card.

Fang Fiction / Kate Stayman-London

 

3 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

Not nearly as much fun as I anticipated. I liked it, but it could have been so much better.

Have you ever daydreamed about visiting your favourite fictional world? If I'm having trouble getting to sleep, I imagine having a conversation with one of my favourite characters. It relaxes me enough that I'm soon out like a light. Tess not only gets to dream about it, she is sent through a portal to experience it, but what was meant to be a quick message delivery turns into something rather more complicated.

Tess's beloved book is Blood Feuds which describes the lives of vampires, banished to an alternate reality overlaying mundane Manhattan. When she gets there, everything seems familiar. She recognizes the major players and the landmarks. But does she really know them? This all seemed like a good idea when Octavia, an accidental escapee from the Island, talked her into it, but now she's one lone, tasty human among a lot of bloodsuckers. Will she find safety with Callum or with Felix?

The additional wrinkle is that Tess has trauma in her past. The author flirts a long time with the details, but any woman will recognize the situation—date rape drugs. She experiences panic attacks and leaves the university where she and the man in question both study and teach. (And in real life, it doesn't usually wrap up so positively.)

So, on the surface, this a story about Tess falling in love with a vampire, but really it is a rather thinly disguised sermon on consent and the way women are treated when they report sexual assault. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I prefer messages such as this to be less blatant. Tell me without spelling it out directly. I mean, it's a good lesson, but I want a fun novel more than I want a moral to the tale. In addition, once this point is hammered home, the rest of the plot is rather tepid and paint-by-number. Disappointingly, the vampires aren't too much different from mortals.

I read this book to fulfill The Carpathians square of my Halloween Bingo card.

The Broken Sword / Poul Anderson

 

3.75 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

I liked this book fine, but it was Anderson's use of history and folklore that was fascinating. As one of my friends has pointed out, this novel and The Fellowship of the Ring were published in the same year (1954). Even though Anderson and Tolkien used the same basic material, they made very different fictional worlds. Tolkien chose to make his elves to be tall, beautiful, and noble. Anderson sticks closer to the ones we know as the Fae in current literature—believing themselves vastly superior to humanity, rather callous toward them, and existing in a slightly different reality. Anderson based his story in our historical, mundane Medieval Northern Europe, while Tolkien created his own Middle Earth, containing many similarities to our world, but separate. (I have taken a couple of Medieval history courses lately that cause me to appreciate some of the details very much.)

This is, at its root, a Changeling story. Skafloc is the human, raised among the Elves. Valgard is the Elven-troll hybrid sent to grow up among humans in his place. While Skafloc excels in Elven society, Valgard makes everyone uneasy and rightly so, as he has no empathy for those around him. In this version, it is trolls rather than orcs/goblins who are the main enemy. Skafloc, like Aragorn, wields a sword that has been reforged, though this one appears to be cursed. The gods of the Norse and the Irish both stick their noses into the action.

I can definitely see the influence on Michael Moorcock and his Elric of Melniboné series. He took the cursed sword idea and ran with it. And although D&D is largely influenced by Tolkien, the idea of light elves and dark elves shows up in the Legend of Drizzt books by R.A. Salvatore. As a result, I am somewhat surprised that this novel doesn't get more love from fantasy lovers. I also have a powerful urge to re-read The Lord of the Rings—it must be at least 10 years since I last did that.

I read this book to fulfill the Sword and Sorcery square of my Halloween Bingo card. It is also number 22 in my 2024 Read Your Hoard Challenge.

Love Sucks / Cynthia St. Aubin

 

4 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo

Hanna Harvey's life has changed beyond recognition in a very short time. She's divorced, living on her own with three cats, and working at an art gallery owned and operated by werewolves. Werewolves who insist that she's a werewolf too. Hanna refuses to believe this (despite her love of a good steak). Her boss, Mark Abernathy, keeps his cards close to his (drool worthy) chest, but finally reveals that Hanna is heir to an alpha werewolf line and that mating with an alpha male will trigger her transformation. Of course he then disappears, as he is prone to doing.

If that wasn't enough, Hanna, an art history major, has discovered how many famous artists are also werewolves and she can hardly contain herself. Despite this newfound delight, she is being determinedly and forcefully pursued by a crowd of hopeful male werewolves, all convinced that she will choose to mate them. Hanna has news for them, she is going to London to track down Abernathy and get the truth out of him.

Hanna's devotion to food, especially cheese, is amusing, as is her reaction to a crowd of men in hot pursuit. Her snark is fabulous as she deals with secretive men, drunken artists, jealous women, art shows, and threats to her life. And you have to know that Oscar Wilde would make an excellent vampire, yes?

I can see book 3 in my future. Abernathy is doing his damnedest not to take advantage of her, despite her current lack of control. I think I need to see how that works out for him.

I read this book to fulfill the Urban Decay square of my Halloween Bingo card. It is also number 21 in my 2024 Read Your Hoard Challenge.

Trader's Leap / Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

 

4+ out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

The Liaden Universe never fails to charm me and this volume was like visiting an old friend. I recognized the characters, applauded their plans, and was pleased to see them prevail. Lee and Miller are/were expert at creating a sweeping number of people who could carry this complicated number of plotlines while making it seem easy.

Shan yos'Galen, master trader, has been charged by the Delm of Clan Korval to find new trade routes and to do his best to replenish the clan's finances following their expulsion from the planet of Liad and relocation to Surebleak. He is training his daughter Padi, who had been suppressing her mental talents until they dangerously exploded on her. Now she must learn to control them and to shield herself, without injuring others. Padi is a talent, a dramliza of extraordinary power, but her heart's desire is master trader status.

This novel is very much centered on Padi and Shan. In the very first books that I read in this series, Shan was a small boy, so the authors have persevered over many years (and I do note that this is volume 23). I am every bit as engaged today as I was at the beginning.

Korval still find themselves pursued by the Department of the Interior—their welcome has been withdrawn at many space stations and they are treated deceitfully at others. This makes trade next to impossible, leading Shan to think outside the box. Now that the Dust is settling away from the planets of the Redlands, they are an untouched market. The traders outfit themselves with an assortment of trade goods, including up-to-date stellar maps and useful ship parts and set off to try their luck.

I greatly enjoyed this visit with my favourite family and I would be lying if I didn’t say that the novel was finished far too soon. However, I still have not reached the end of the line. Rumour has it that Sharon Lee will continue writing despite her mate's untimely recent death. I wish her all good things with her future endeavours and tender my sincere thanks for the hours of entertainment that she and Steve have provided to me over the years. I am a faithful re-reader, so I know their books will provide sustenance for years to come.

I read this book to fulfill the Lost in Space square of my Halloween Bingo card. It is also number 20 in my 2024 Read Your Hoard Challenge and number 530 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project.

We Solve Murders / Richard Osman

 

3.5 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

I wasn't sure how I would feel about this new offering from Richard Osman, seeing as it's not a Thursday Murder Club book. Would I like these new people? Would it be as much fun? I needn't have worried. They aren't quite as charming as the folks from Coopers Chase, but they have a brand new set of rather endearing quirks.

Steve is a retired policeman who is set in his habits and it's a chore to get him out of his comfortable rut. Rosie is a well known author who is willing to do all kinds of new things while spending lavishly to make them more to her taste and she has never met a drink she didn't like. Amy started out as Rosie's bodyguard, but has become an assassination target herself. When she needs help figuring out what's going on, she calls her father-in-law, Steve. Amy strongly believes that guns are the solution to all her problems (and maybe a bit of punching TBH). Between the three of them, they set out to investigate who is trying to frame Amy for murder and/or kill her.

I loved the way they relied on each other and just kept moving and investigating. Just like our team of good guys, there are equally quirky bad guys. Everyone is interesting and everyone has a story. Rosie can get people to talk, Steve can logic things out, and Amy can plan & act decisively. An excellent team.

The last chapter leaves little doubt that this will become a series. I'm sure I will read future volumes. But I don't feel the compulsion to own this novel, like I did with the Thursday Murder Club. Who knows? Perhaps my mind will change with the next volume.

I spent my Sleepy Hollow wild card to use this book to fulfill the In the Dark, Dark Woods square of my Halloween Bingo card.

Knight in Peril / Alice Bienia

 

3.5 out of 5 stars 

Mystery Book Club 2024

From the very first pages, this novel racheted up my anxiety level. Although I have loved travel, I am very definitely a tour traveller. I have zero desire to be all on my own in an unfamiliar place. So Jorja's arrival in Istanbul with no friend waiting to greet her would be a nightmare for me. Realizing that her travel companion and BFF has gone missing adds a whole new layer of angst. I immediately knew that I would need to take frequent breaks while reading this book to soothe my own anxieties.

This is my worst nightmare in fictional form. Searching for a missing woman in a country where I do not know the language and where women's status is definitely second class. A country where the police are not inclined to care about foreigners. Far from friends and family, feeling extreme fear about Gabriella's situation, Jorja demonstrates far more bravery than I think I would. Although I've experienced challenges while outside Canada, nothing this serious has ever happened to me, thank the Goddess! I'll not complain about lost luggage or flight delays ever again.

I am now ready for book club tomorrow night. The author will be attending, so I hope to have some questions formulated for the event. October is evaporating on me and I still have a number of Halloween books to get to. Too bad I couldn't figure out a way to wiggle this book into that game.

Last Argument of Kings / Joe Abercrombie

 

4 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

I’m not sure why, but reading this book felt like wading through pudding. It was delicious pudding, but I felt like it was much more than 600 pages. None of the characters are particularly endearing, yet I like them and I’m interested in their antics. I mean, Sand dan Glokta has a fabulous inner dialog. Logen Ninefingers, when he’s not berserking out as the Bloody Nine, has plenty of practical wisdom (Better to do a thing than live in fear of it. You can never have too many knives). Ferro, with her disgust for the vast majority of humanity, is highly entertaining. Even poor old Jezel has his moments.

I suspect my problem was a combination of the plethora of battle scenes and the torture sessions. Lately, I have found the endless battle scenes in fantasy fiction to be exhausting and repetitive. And much as I enjoy Glokta, his profession as torturer is off putting. The good news is that the second half of the book seemed to go easier and I picked up steam. The writing is excellent, the settings well realized, the plot is complex enough to keep me reading, but as I indicated above, it was the characterization that cinches this book as well worthwhile.

Abercrombie has tied up enough loose ends to satisfy me. At this point I don’t believe I’ll be continuing on beyond the First Law trilogy. Dark fiction has just worn me down. My apologies to the unfortunate person waiting patiently for me to return this tome to the library—it will be 3 days overdue when I chuck it in the book return tomorrow.

I read this book for the Dark, Darker, Grimdark square of my Bingo card. It is also Book number 529 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project

Gone With the Twins / Kylie Logan

 

3.7 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

I'm both glad and sad that I've reached the last Literary Ladies novel. I will miss learning of the future adventures of this funny foursome: Bea, Chandra, Kate and Luella. They have come a long way since the first book, where they were sentenced to a court-ordered book club where they could work out their differences. But I also think that this is a good stopping place.

Each mystery in this series centres around some classic novel that the book club is reading. This time it's Gone With the Wind, which I found a little odd for a series set on a little island on Lake Erie, deep in Yankee country. Obviously, Kylie Logan had come up with a way to use details from the classic to dress up her cozy mystery and was willing to live with that dissonance. There's a new B&B in town, run by twins who are famous for being kidnapped and mysteriously escaping. They've named their establishment Tara and are hosting a Civil War themed fund raising gala there. And they seem to be out to ruin Bea's business.

In the meantime, there's been a murder of a local real estate agent who has so many detractors that the police are spoiled for choice of suspects. Bea learns that the dead woman broke up Chandra's first marriage and Chandra has been acting erratically. It doesn't take Bea long to take up the hunt for the killer in order to clear her friend.

This was perfect for the Twilight on the Great Lakes square of my Bingo card, as it takes place on South Bass Island on Lake Erie.

The Fake Mate / Lana Ferguson

 

3.5 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

So this was and wasn't what I expected. I mean with a title like The Fake Mate, I knew that faking would backfire on Mackenzie and Noah. The fun would be in watching it happen. That was the expected part.

The unexpected part was the werewolf part. I'm glad I had previously read (and obsessively re-read) Bride, so the whole idea of knotting wasn't new to me, but in that book the woman of the couple is a Vampyre. No going into heat for her. That was a new (somewhat horrifying) concept. And werewolf sex is … um….juicy? There are an awful lot of bodily fluids involved. I have never been so pleased to be plain vanilla human!

Ferguson also portrays the roles of alpha and omega much differently than my other instructor, namely Patricia Briggs. You couldn't get much different from Charles and Anna Cornick. But I liked Mackenzie's smart aleck sense of humour and her teasing of the initially grumpy Noah. I also enjoyed watching them deal with Noah's mother and Mackenzie's gran, all while trying to maintain the nonchalant façade.

So, reluctant romance reader that I am, I must admit that I enjoyed this quite a bit. Still not as much as Bride—I don't think it'll be in my re-reading queue—but I'm glad I picked it up. (And if this had just been humans in a similar plot, I'm pretty sure it would have bored me to death.)

I read this for the Shifters square on my Bingo Card.