Rosemary and Rue / Seanan McGuire

 

4 out of 5 stars

2022 Re-Read

It's hot, I'm at low ebb, and I need a shot of reading fun. Having recently finished rereading the Jane Yellowrock series, I needed a new rereading project. I've acquired most of the October Daye series over the years but have never revisited it, so it's time to rectify that!

I have always loved these books for the Fae world that Seanan McGuire has created. This first novel sets up that world, introducing the reader to some of the rules of Fairie and some of the characters who have become regulars. I had forgotten how weak October was in the beginning, barely able to conceal her fae features from humans and experiencing distress at sunrise. But right from the very start, she is accidentally assembling her circle of supporters. I had completely forgotten her first meeting with Quentin and only vaguely remembered the initial interview with the Luidaeg.

Just the ticket as I wait for the newest installment, Be the Serpent, to be published.

Appointment with Death / Agatha Christie

 

4 out of 5 stars

Appointment with Agatha August 2022

Dame Agatha really relished thinking up unpleasant characters to fill up her novels. This one gives us Mrs. Boynton, a nasty, sadistic lump of a woman who enjoys tormenting her own family. Christie also glories in describing the listless, the weak, and the incompetent. This seems to characterize the entire younger generation of the Boynton family. Yet it seems likely that either one of them or all of them have conspired to murder the old woman. Has the worm turned?

One of M. Poirot's acquaintances asks him early in the novel if bodies tend to show up wherever he goes and he allows that it happens more frequently than he would prefer. By having him travel, Christie avoids creating another little vortex of death like Chipping Cleghorn of Miss Marple fame. (And leading to books like Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village by Maureen Johnson). Christie was a devoted traveler and used her personal experience to provide wonderful settings for her fiction. I've always wondered why Hercule Poirot would travel to these environs, however, where his shoes will get scratched and all of his possessions will become dusty!

As usual, I completely missed all the relevant clues and allowed myself to be distracted by all the emotional drama in the story. As M. Poirot points out, this is all revealed by the psychology of both murderer and victim. I'm getting used to being wrong, indeed I think I would have been disappointed had I come to the correct conclusion. I marvel at how many ways there are to distract and deflect in such brief novels. As usual, Christie manages to deftly pour so much into such economic prose.

World War Z / Max Brooks

 

4 out of 5 stars

Zombies don't feature prominently in my reading life. Why, I'm not sure. You would think that someone who adores vampires would like zombies, too, wouldn't you? I find them creepier for some reason, perhaps because they can't be reasoned with. I mean, zombies and vampires are both animated corpses, but you can talk with a vampire and make a deal. No relationship is possible with a zombie.

This is an interesting book because of its structure: a series of “eye witness accounts,” arranged chronologically through the war and from all around the world. Living in pandemic times as we do, it is easy to identify lots of the behaviours demonstrated here. It's a clear eyed commentary about our seeming human inability to get along with one another and to cooperate. The situation has to be very extreme to overcome our long-held prejudices and bigotries. It might have felt choppy, but the consistency of the interviewer keeps things on track. I could identify with him. There's also a fundamental reorganization of work life. Executives, consultants, motion picture makers, and their ilk are suddenly worthless and new and/or undocumented immigrants who can fix things and know valuable skills are now on the top of the heap. It's a shock to the system for those who used to run things.

There were some particularly well realized entries, I thought. I particularly enjoyed the Japanese submarine crew who finagled their families onto the submarine and hid out at sea, dodging their own government as well as zombies. Then there were the dog trainers and their canine partners. True devotion to duty and each other. The female resupply pilot who goes down in zombie territory and makes it out with support from a woman on her radio (was she real?).

Much more enjoyable than I expected. Poor Iceland, here's hoping they got stabilized eventually!

Book Number 467 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project

True Dead / Faith Hunter

 

4 out of 5 stars

Jane, Jane, Jane. You aren't alone anymore. It is a difficult transition for our Dark Queen. It takes a brush with death to make her realize that the well being of all New Orleans depends on her continued existence. She must remove herself from the frontlines and let others protect her and her dependents. Like most ultra-independent people, she resists this arrangement until she gets that dose of reality. Plus she is still struggling with transformation between forms, not having much control and not being able to maintain human form for very long.

And it seems that her Beast form has inspired some xenophobic and bigoted reactions in a certain segment of vampire society. They don't know the real Jane. But those that get to know her, like Thema and Kojo, end up pledging themselves to her service. Everyone who knows her realizes her feelings of loyalty to her people, her desire to protect those who are under her care, her lack of ego, and her fairness.

Jane tortures herself a lot with guilt. I was pleased when she stops in at a church and has a little chat with the preacher there, who tells her, “You also did great things for this city. Reined in the feral vampires that once preyed on the homeless. Forced them to do better by their own blood servants. Forbade the creation of new blood slaves. Don't think, Jane Yellowrock, that your contributions have gone unnoticed by the Almighty. They haven't gone unnoticed by us either.” Being responsible is a heavy load. It's not easy being the one in charge, at least if you care about those in your organization. If you don't care, it's no big deal.

There are some startling developments in this installment. Jane acquires an ultra-competent personal secretary/dresser/bodyguard, a character that I quite like. Koun has become her champion and executioner, one of her most devoted scions. She has finally bonded with Ayatas Firewind, her Cherokee brother. Some significant people disappear (Sabina, Derek) and others reappear. By the end, Jane and her circle finally figure out who is pulling the strings of the enemy forces.

The next book comes out in September and I can hardly wait.

The Marlow Murder Club / Robert Thorogood

 

4 out of 5 stars

I have to be honest, I went into this book with a very skeptical attitude. After all, I have read The Thursday Murder Club and I loved it. It seemed to me that this book would be merely an inferior clone, written simply to cash in on the success of the earlier book. I have no way of knowing where Thorogood got his inspiration from, but I have to say that I enjoyed this novel every bit as much as TTMC.

It is obvious that Thorogood, like Richard Osman, was surrounded by strong, loving women. He mentions them in his acknowledgements. Both authors portrayed older women as strong, smart, and capable. Maybe a bit too brave for their own good. They're not too perfect, they have failings: a little too much to drink, a tendency to fight with family members, or an unhealthy fixation on being a perfect wife. But I loved all three women for both their strengths and their weaknesses. Some of the antics that the author wrote for them were a bit over the top (the shredded paper caper), but that could be forgiven.

I note that there are plans for a second installment of Marlow and I have to say that I shall look forward to it. I hope my library will be acquiring it. What a conversion I've had from skeptic to enthusiast!

Wyrd Sisters / Terry Pratchett

 

3.75 out of 5 stars

An early Discworld novel, written before Terry Pratchett had hit his stride I think. It's good, don't get me wrong, but I liked its predecessor, Equal Rites, a bit more. His later Tiffany Aching series is even better to my way of thinking, being more focused and the author just generally being more experienced.

Nevertheless, there is a lot to enjoy here, especially if you are a Shakespeare fan. Macbeth enthusiasts will be particularly rewarded, as Pratchett plays with lines from the Scottish play. While entertaining us with his version of Macbeth, he manages to comment on desirable traits in a national leader and the nature of leadership in general.

Granny Weatherwax in later Discworld novels is more sophisticated than she appears in these early volumes. Here, she seems baffled by the concept of actors and theatre, something that I didn't care for. People have been telling and acting out tales around the fire for millennia and I can't recall hearing of anyone who didn't understand it. It didn't strike me as Pratchett's kindest treatment of a character, but he couldn't have known at this early point that she would become a regular character (and a beloved one).

I'm so glad that my friends got me reading these books, they are delightful. Now that I've overcome my compulsion to read the series in numerical order, I am free to enjoy Discworld on my own terms. That is a wonderful thing.

The Confusion / Neal Stephenson

 

3.25 stars?

I found this second volume of the trilogy more engaging than the first, but I'm still underwhelmed. Stephenson indulges in so much detail. He has obviously done a pile of research and is determined that the reader knows about it. At least this volume spent more page time on my preferred characters, Eliza and Jack.

This is a real round-the-world tour, as Jack Shaftoe and his Cabal go to places as diverse as Egypt, India, the Philippines, China, Japan, and Mexico. Circumstances are never easy for Jack and he is forever having to plot and plan his way out of one scrape or another. Eliza doesn't get everything her own way either. She deals with financial schemes with élan, but must deal with smallpox, raise several children (one of whom is abducted), and convince the men around her that they should follow her advice. They are both the worse for wear when they see one another again briefly.

I had to interlibrary loan this and will have to do the same with the third volume. It will have to wait a while, but I foolishly hope to get to it before the end of the year.

Book Number 466 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project