This is an elaborate, stylish book that demands your whole attention, and does not mix well with heavy-duty painkillers. Those painkillers probably acThis is an elaborate, stylish book that demands your whole attention, and does not mix well with heavy-duty painkillers. Those painkillers probably account for my struggle to get through the first few chapters, because once I was through them I was absolutely swallowed by this world.
And what a world. This is more or less a regency drama of manners: that is, it's about people whose happy passions are thwarted by society's expectations of them. The twist here is that both these people are magical. One is a woman in a world where cooks might charm a souffle to rise but a proper lady learns to suppress her magic abilities. The other is the leader of Britain's magicians, the Sorcerer Royal, and also a black man, a freed slave no less -- which does not sit at all well with the thaumaturges he supposedly leads.
For a layer of politics, there's the low-grade continual power struggle between Britain's magicians and its government, the "don't interfer in the war" treaty between the British magicians and the French sorcerers, matter of the prickly official relationship with the lands of faerie -- what will Britain do for a magical source with the faerie border closed? -- not to mention the problems with the far flung Pacific kingdom that Britain would like to have as client/outpost. Their sultan wants help putting down the vampiresses. Their female magicians want help putting down the sultan.
Zacharias Wythe, Sorcerer Royal, would have plenty to do just balancing all the political problems. But he also has to handle assassination attempts, racial snubs, a mysterious magical affliction, and the ghost of his predecessor. Not to mention Prunella, profoundly magical and not content with souffles, looking to make a good marriage to win herself some practical freedom, who just so happens to be by far the most powerful magician of the age.
If you like a perfectly inflated, overly elaborate, flawlessly executed souffle of a book -- dig in. ...more
So it's *possible* that the universe is enacted information, in the way that that a virtual reality is enacted code. Mathematics first, physical univeSo it's *possible* that the universe is enacted information, in the way that that a virtual reality is enacted code. Mathematics first, physical universe as an emergent property.
If you find that idea fundamentally disagreeable (and I do) this book will get right up your nose.
It's heavy sledding. It's argumentative. It's good. Really good. ...more
Ooo, this one was yummy. I didn't even pick it out; James brought it home for me and it was better than a box of chocolates.
I'm a Holmes fan -- not aOoo, this one was yummy. I didn't even pick it out; James brought it home for me and it was better than a box of chocolates.
I'm a Holmes fan -- not a rabid one, and certainly not a Holmesian scholar, but I did read the original stories over and over when I was ten or twelve. (Later I fell for Mr. Spock, so you can go ahead and spot the pattern.) This book is catnip for people like me -- people who like the fact that the boarding school is named "Sherringford" and feel in on the joke.
It's also well structured and well done in its own right. The mystery is over the top and baroque in the same way as the originals, but that is grounded in good writing and great characters. I read it in a day. If you like Holmes at all, and if you're willing to buy the idea of a female, teenaged, oxy-hooked Holmes, then this is absolutely a book you'll eat up. ...more
Osip Mandelstam was one of the four great poets of 20th century Russia. I came across him because one of the other poets, Akhmatova, is one of my all-Osip Mandelstam was one of the four great poets of 20th century Russia. I came across him because one of the other poets, Akhmatova, is one of my all-time favorites, and I was told I really could not set about memorizing her Requiem without knowing more about Mandelstam and what happened to him. So piece by piece I found my way to this book, the memoir of his wife and widow, Nadezhda, or Nadia -- whose name means hope.
Though Nadia did other things, and is important in other ways, this is a memoir of love, and of art, and of endurance, centered around the persecution by the Stalinist machinery of Osip. The short version: he wrote a poem that certainly seems critical of Stalin, and though Stalin was not named, that was enough. He was under suspicion and survelliance, then arrested. He went to Prison, then was sent south, and then went to a labour camp, where he dropped out of history into a nameless grave.
There were many like this -- millions -- but this book is about the one man, and the one woman who loved him. Nadia writes: "Anticipating his arrest M. obtained a copy of the Divine Comedy in small format and always had it with him in his pocket, just in case he was arrested not at home but in the street."
This is one of those books that should crush you but instead makes you soar. I recommend it if you want to have your heart broken in order to be saved. Easter reading.
I picked this up because I liked other books by Stratton -- especially Curse of the Dream Witch, which is a great middle grade -- and wanted to see whI picked this up because I liked other books by Stratton -- especially Curse of the Dream Witch, which is a great middle grade -- and wanted to see what he could to with what was billed as a psychological thriller. Answer: A LOT.
I didn't connect to this initially. Cameron's first person voice was authentic but not terribly interesting to me, personally. I wanted, too, more height from the ambiguity. His mother moves him from place to place because she's afraid of his estranged father. Is that threat real, or in the mother's head? At the new place -- a nasty little tumbledown farmhouse -- Cameron thinks he sees a ghost. Is it real, or is HE crazy? There's potential for dramatic stakes in these questions, but at first they seem wasted.
I was wrong, though: they aren't wasted, they're just on slow boil. And this ended up being the kind of book that I finished in the bathtub, topping off the hot water at least four times so I didn't freeze. I should have had more faith in this author!
To my eyes not flawless -- by which I egotistically mean I would have done it differently -- but very fine. I am not surprised the book is doing well, and I expect to see it on the Canadian prize lists.
This came to me because I was on a panel with JJ and she was knock-out fabulous ... I knew I had to read her book. And I am so glad I did.
This is a tThis came to me because I was on a panel with JJ and she was knock-out fabulous ... I knew I had to read her book. And I am so glad I did.
This is a true novel, or a fictionalized memoir, following the author's fifteen-year-old self through a stay in an eating disorders unit. The process through the clinic forms the low-key but high-stake plot, and the effect is likewise low-key but powerful -- transformation, friendship, trust, self-acceptance, hope.
But to tell you the truth I just enjoyed my trip back to being my own teenaged-self in the 1980s, complete with mixed tapes and a confusing but intense crush on Annie Lennox. I know this is a shallow reaction. But JJ can take you there, and she's Never Gonna Give You Up.
I've been on a middle-grade-scary-is-the-best-scary kick recently, and this one does not disappoint. My own middle-grade reader (who is ten, and very I've been on a middle-grade-scary-is-the-best-scary kick recently, and this one does not disappoint. My own middle-grade reader (who is ten, and very sensitive) I think would find this too scary, but I found it YUMMM. Virtues, let us count them:
-Young heroine to love. Kara actually reminds me a bit of my Plain Kate. -Sharp prose. -Well-constructed world about which I have questions in a GOOD way -- that is, I think the author knows what he is doing, and has laid enough clues that if I do read the next books and do figure out the relationships of the Fold to the World, I'll go "of course!" -A sort of gentle page-turning pace. Not much I-would-find-it-dull action, but puzzles and happenings and building tension, punctuated with a few points of genuine hair-raising creep. Just my thing, really.
I will probably pick up the next book, which I rarely do with series these days. I've been bailing even on the best of them.
Ah! Here is the truly original, sweeping yet intimate high fantasy that I didn't know I was craving. Beautifully imagined, beautifully written. I needAh! Here is the truly original, sweeping yet intimate high fantasy that I didn't know I was craving. Beautifully imagined, beautifully written. I need to let it sink in and/or get my brain back before I can say anything useful about it. For now: if you're a fantasy fan, absolutely, read it. I'm sorry I missed it when it was new and I'm going to go get Worlds of Ink and Shadow as soon as I can. ...more
Every once in a while I re-read this one to torture myself with the knowledge that are stunningly ambitious flawless masterpieces in the world, and soEvery once in a while I re-read this one to torture myself with the knowledge that are stunningly ambitious flawless masterpieces in the world, and some of them are little books of connected sonnets.... ...more
I picked this up because James Bow (my hubby) was looking for a comp for his forthcoming novel, ICARUS DOWN. This makes a good one: they both have thaI picked this up because James Bow (my hubby) was looking for a comp for his forthcoming novel, ICARUS DOWN. This makes a good one: they both have that classic science fiction trope, the generation ship. And they both have, as all generation ship stories do, A Thing That Has Gone Wrong. Indeed, they both have A Lie Hidden In Their History. And they both make good page turning popcorn books.
Across the Universe has got two big strengths: an unforgettably awesome opening scene, and a clever use of dual narrators -- Elder, the young leader-in-training of the workers on the ship, conditioned to the ship-board society over the course of two dozen or so generations, is paired with Amy, the fish-out-of-water cryopassenger who has been thawed too early, and who has lost both the Earth she left and the new world she was meant to wake up on. As far as boy-meets-girl goes, that's a good set up.
In the end, I bounced off this book. A piece of that is something that is personal to me, and not useful to review: I kept picking apart the science. For instance (view spoiler)[ clones don't have identical fingerprints. If your engines stop in space, you don't slow down. There were other things (what about time dilation?) but those were the two big ones. (hide spoiler)] So I fell out of the narrative for this and other reasons and experienced it as flat. But then I'm a little stressed.
I would still recommend it for a YA spin on golden age science fiction -- one of the first, and trail blazing. ...more
Wow. This one is a perfectly recreated Victorian Gothic -- full of oddly pleasing terror -- but for, you know, kids. It's got everything: the amazing Wow. This one is a perfectly recreated Victorian Gothic -- full of oddly pleasing terror -- but for, you know, kids. It's got everything: the amazing setting, the slow-build reveals, the minor characters named things like Hester Kettle and Dr. Crouch .... Plus it's got beautiful prose with phrases I'd like to steal.
At least here in Canada, the Night Gardener comes covered in stickers -- there are four on mine -- and for good reason. It has the potential to be a new classic of Middle Grade creep. ...more
When you watched Buffy, was Xander your favorite? Yeah? Here you go ....
So funny that I kept reading bits of it to my long-suffering family, but far mWhen you watched Buffy, was Xander your favorite? Yeah? Here you go ....
So funny that I kept reading bits of it to my long-suffering family, but far more than a clever meta fic -- so much warmth and heart. A knock-out. ...more
What if the protagonist of your portal fantasy was so genre savvy that that she held an actual PhD with a dissertation focusing on the world she's jusWhat if the protagonist of your portal fantasy was so genre savvy that that she held an actual PhD with a dissertation focusing on the world she's just been dragged into? So, yeah, JM wrote that book. A love letter to, and a smart critique of, sword and sorcery. The ending surprised me and is PERFECT. ...more
Tempting to summarize this as fanfic (which is not a dis: I love fanfic. I am still looking for the perfect fic that fixes Avengers 2 -- anyone?): HamTempting to summarize this as fanfic (which is not a dis: I love fanfic. I am still looking for the perfect fic that fixes Avengers 2 -- anyone?): Hamlet modern boarding school AU, Ophelia-centric, with fairies (the scary doomed kind of fairies). If that sounds good to you -- if you've always wanted someone to tell Ophelia's story in a way that makes her seem smart and gives her her own agency -- well, here you go. This is that, and will not disappoint.
Bonus: Fun to spot the line-for-line lifts if you know the play.
Double bonus: many, many puns. Because what's a Shakespearean tragedy without puns? ...more
This book is off-the-wall fun. Sort of Battlestar Galactica meets Ten Things I Hate About You. Ezra and Kady are having the WORST day, like ALGEBRA TEThis book is off-the-wall fun. Sort of Battlestar Galactica meets Ten Things I Hate About You. Ezra and Kady are having the WORST day, like ALGEBRA TEST levels of bad: they just broke up, and now they have to be in class together. Then their planet is blown up. And from there things kind of get out of control.
And they just keep getting further and further out of control. The plot doesn't so much twist as escalate in a way that makes you shake your head in delighted amazing disbelief. There's an AI in charge of the Galactica Alexander, and it may or may not be insane and trying to kill people. There are refugees aboard the Olympic Carrier Copernicus who may or may not have been exposed to the space zombie Phobos virus. There is definitely a killer Star Destroyer still in pursuit.
The strength of the book is in the format: it's assembled as an intelligence dosier from a variety of found documents -- journals, text chats, PA announcements, medical reports, children's posters, data dumps from the AI's core. I've never seen anything quite like it -- it's wildly original, and sometimes could pass as concrete poetry. It plays with who knows what and when, cuts back and forth, and can always raise a laugh. It's possibly the funniest apocalyptic space opera I've ever read. Clever is the word, I think. It's caps lock levels of CLEVER. Delicate, soul-searching character study, no. Hilariously clever popcorn-movie-flavored page turner -- heck yes.
I admit to bias because of my deep personal love for the author, who helps me hide bodies, but -- GAH!!!!! Storytellers who save the world? Sign me UPI admit to bias because of my deep personal love for the author, who helps me hide bodies, but -- GAH!!!!! Storytellers who save the world? Sign me UP.
This is not a retelling of the famous stories of 1001 nights -- Ali Baba, Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin -- this is an exploration of the story behind the stories, the Scheherazade myth. Once upon a time king who has killed 300 brides takes one more. Why does he kill them? How does he choose them? Why is this allowed? And most important: What would it be like to be the 301st? Why might you volunteer? What would you do next? And how would you survive?
I like so many things about this book. I love the depth and breadth of the world Johnston has created: the realness of the women, the clothing, the desert, the funerary caves, the waterclocks, the meteors, the wadi, the goats. (GOATS!) It is a world you can practically smell. I love that.
I love the relationship between storyteller and listener, the almost magical exchange of power.
I love the sisters. Any book about sisters ... one day I will write one, except I think it would kill me.
I am in writer awe over the entire lack of names. HOW DID YOU DO THAT, KATE?
I had this in ARC and will certainly be buying the hardcover. If you like storyteller-characters as much as I do, you should too.
This is lined up to be Simon and Schuster's big Middle Grade title for the fall. GOOD CHOICE, S&S.
Set among the apothecaries -- and secret alchemistsThis is lined up to be Simon and Schuster's big Middle Grade title for the fall. GOOD CHOICE, S&S.
Set among the apothecaries -- and secret alchemists -- of London in 1665, this book is a perfect MG page-turner, with codes to crack and secret doors to open and vast conspiracies to foil, oh my. There is high adventure, some moving moments, and a truly satisfying number of explosions.
When I do bookstore events, I usually hang out in the kids and teens sections, trying to match readers with books. (Tip to other authors: this is better than sitting behind a table upfront while people try to avoid eye contact.) Blackthorn Key will be my new go-to for all those who loved Percy Jackson or Artemis Fowl. It's that kind of book, and just that good. ...more
Scholastic Canada sent me the ARC of this (they are co-publishing with Clarion in the US). I adored the writing in ABOVE, Bobet's first novel, and so Scholastic Canada sent me the ARC of this (they are co-publishing with Clarion in the US). I adored the writing in ABOVE, Bobet's first novel, and so was certainly willing to give this a shot, even though my reaction to the first handful of pages was: "Gee, gorgeous, but I don't know if I'm in the mood for a gritty contemporary set on a family farm that's -- OH WAIT." At that point the bird hit the window, and then caught fire.
If I had been paying attention to those first pages -- or the cover, or the jacket copy -- I would not have been surprised, but I'm rather glad that I wasn't, because the surprise was delicious. Bobet's world, set generations after the fall of the cities, bare months after the end of the small and strange war against "The Wicked God Southward," is so well-done that it feels completely real. Her people feel real. The damn hole in the middle of the air feels real. There's a hero who's not a hero, a villain who's not a villain, and a protagonist who just wants to get the barley malt made, and is clearly not going to get to. It's all so, so, so well done.
I cried and turned pages and wanted so so badly to have written this little masterpiece. Do read it.
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