This is a curious series. It’s set within an alternative history � Franklin D. Roosevelt was assassinated and then a flu pandemic wiped out the Vice PThis is a curious series. It’s set within an alternative history � Franklin D. Roosevelt was assassinated and then a flu pandemic wiped out the Vice President and large swathes of the population, leaving America vulnerable. Basically it was carved up � Canada took a large slice of the North. Some eastern states banded together and swore allegiance back to Britain. Mexico encroached as well. The traditionally southern states became Dixie. Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico banded together and Russia took California and Oregon. There’s also magic, primarily performed by Russian grigoris who are regarded with fear and suspicion in a lot of places.
The main character is Lizbeth Rose a “gunnie� � a guard of sorts, who works with a crew paid to protect their cargo, whether that cargo be goods or people. In the past, Lizbeth has helped with people who want to cross over the border to or from Mexico. In the last book she lost her crew and was the sole surviving member. In this book she’s working with a new crew, guarding a crate on a train. They are ambushed, the train is hijacked and the cargo is lost. Stuck in Dixie, which requires women to dress as ‘ladies� and act demure, Lizbeth is determined to find out who is responsible for the deaths in her new crew and also, retrieve the cargo. She runs into the Russian grigori Eli Savarov who hired her in the previous book. To comply with the regulations in this still segregated version of the south, they must pretend to be married as they investigate together, which helps keep Lizbeth safe (in terms of keeping with the customs of the area, not as in physically safe as there isn’t much that she can’t handle) but also brings about a new danger�..in terms of Eli himself and her growing feelings for him, which she doesn’t want to acknowledge.
I like the characters in this � Lizbeth is great. She’s confident and capable and willing to adapt to a lot of situations. She is also loyal and determined to ‘finish the job� they were hired to do, even when she’s the only one left who is physically capable of doing so. She’s also a stone cold killer basically and won’t hesitate to wipe someone out that she deems to be a threat. When she’s shoehorned into long skirts and dresses, pantyhose and shoes definitely not the boots she is used to, it’s quite amusing to hear her internal disgust. She misses her jeans�.however, as the story rolls on, she comes to almost like the skirt, especially how much cooler it is, in that sort of climate, which was quite funny. I also like Eli, although I feel that there’s still a lot about him that we don’t know (and that Lizbeth doesn’t know either) and even though he can be secretive and frustrating, I still like the way that they work together. Lizbeth has all of the physical skills but Eli is a relatively powerful magician (I think?) and they do complement each other in different ways.
But for me, the actual plot of this was a big ol� mess. It opens with a load of action on the train and then it just completely stalls when they’re in Louisiana, wandering around the city of Sally, going to cafes and restaurants and eating ice cream and trying to collect information. It just feels really slow and plodding and I was super bored for part of it. It got to the stage where I stopped caring what was in the trunk that Lizbeth had been guarding on the train and it felt like I was never going to find out anyway. And then it finally was revealed and…�.yeah. I don’t know. Harris is triggering the civil-rights movement in her new America, which relies an awful lot on white people to happen. I found it not executed terribly well and what should’ve been the most important part of the book actually felt more like it had the least care. I had endless descriptions of everything Lizbeth wears and eats and details of who she speaks to but this felt so�..glossed over.
And then there’s the ending. Which was quite disappointing for me. This is book 2, I felt like there should’ve been some progression in a matter or two, from book 1 but this doesn’t feel like there was any. And I know this is supposed to be a trilogy and there’s still a third book to come but a lot of this felt up in the air and will need serious resolution in book 3. And it just doesn’t feel like this series will do serious resolution. I’m not sure if I’m curious enough to see what finally happens when the 3rd book comes out. Maybe we’ll get to visit the Russian portion and find out about Eli. Hopefully, anyway.
***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for the purpose of an honest review***...more
Andrew McGahan has truly been a literary giant. He’s a winner of the Miles Franklin award and is the author of numerous critically acclaimed and belovAndrew McGahan has truly been a literary giant. He’s a winner of the Miles Franklin award and is the author of numerous critically acclaimed and beloved novels. Unfortunately, this is his final novel and he passed away before it was officially published, of pancreatic cancer. This novel has a little note from McGahan at the beginning, a sort of farewell to readers and almost a small plea for understanding about anything that might not be perfect within the pages. Although he considered it a finished piece, ready to send out into the world, the strength of his illness and his awareness of his time left on Earth meant that he felt some of the edits were a bit rushed, done quicker than he probably would have liked.
The first thing that struck me about this novel was that it was ambitious, even when an author is not battling a severe and debilitating illness. In The Rich Man’s House McGahan creates an alternative timeline, gifting the world a mysterious mountain between Tasmania and Antarctica that is almost three times the size of Everest. Named the Red Wheel, it has been conquered by one man alone, Walter Richman in the 1970s. Richman, an incredibly wealthy business entrepreneur who inherited billions in wealth from his father, funded an expedition to conquer the vast summit using all the technology that money could buy. It was supposed to be a triumph for the community with groups summiting after Richman himself but at the end of the day, only Richman made it to the top. And not much has ever been said about why.
Now, years later, Richman has returned to the southern waters to build is dream home from a viewpoint where he can see the mountain he alone conquered for the rest of his days. Having been used as a military, NASA and weather station, the solid rock is now leased by Richman to create the Observatory and no expense has been spared for that vast home within the rock. Now it is complete but it’s not without its controversy. Rita Gausse, the daughter of the architect that designed it finds herself invited to the celebration of its completion, given her father died during its construction. When Rita travels to the island she discovers that there is probably a special reason why Richman has invited her, one that has nothing to do with honouring her father.
This book has amazing atmosphere from the first page. It alternates between Rita’s farewell of her father and subsequent journey and experience at the Observatory with pieces from the alternate history that McGahan has created. The discovery of this vast mountain, its naming, various explorers experiences with it and finally, Richman’s conquering of it and the mysterious circumstances that surround it. It is at times, difficult to imagine the scope of the Red Wheel as well as Richman’s house. McGahan probably had a very vivid picture of it but trying to imagine something 2.5x the size of Everest in the middle of the ocean is a daunting task. McGahan makes excellent use of the isolated location and its volatile weather (some of which is created and enhanced by the mountain itself) to build an eeriness. And then, the incidents start.
I read this when I was down at Phillip Island, during a day which ended up pretty bleak weather wise, it was dark with black clouds and heavy rain. I read from the afternoon well into the night and at one stage I had to stop because the claustrophobic atmosphere of the book, with these people trapped in Walter Richman’s mountain rock house with no means of escape and being placed under threat, was giving me anxiety. Even though I couldn’t always picture what everything was supposed to look like, in some ways it felt like I was there. The weather is so well described, the isolation, the way in which they slowly realise what is happening. At first it is only Rita, and it is not something she acknowledges about herself anymore these days after ‘the incident�. There’s a creeping menace in the vast monstrosity of a house and I was like Rita at times, agog at the expense and wastage of such an indulgence. Richman is the embodiment of his arrogant name, a typical wealthy man who only needs to speak the word and people snap to do his bidding. What he wants he gets and he throws money at problems until they go away. This is not something he can throw money at and I am not sure this is a situation he understands being in. And in some ways, I can sympathise with that even if I cannot sympathise with Richman himself. Because what he’s experiencing cannot really be explained by logic as we know it. However his actions show such little regard for human life that I couldn’t help but want him to face the consequences of his past.
I didn’t expect the more paranormal aspects of the story going in but I found that they evolved quite naturally once I was immersed in the story. There’s so much going on here, it’s not just about a rich man who builds a house, despite the simplicity of the title. It’s an exploration of much more than that, of the world around us and our impact on it. And the way in which humans do tend to want to dominate a landscape, simply because it is there.
I thought this was incredibly engaging and masterfully done, given the scope.
***A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review***...more
I picked this up on a whim from a display at my local library when I was in picking up books I’d requested. I have only read one series by Charlaine HI picked this up on a whim from a display at my local library when I was in picking up books I’d requested. I have only read one series by Charlaine Harris and I didn’t finish it � the Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse books. I loved it for the first 10 or so books. I remember I bought the first 6 or 8 in a box set and binged them over 4-5 days. And I enjoyed the first few seasons of True Blood, the HBO adaptation. But around book 11 or so, I think the series started to fall apart for me and I still am yet to read the last 2 books, although I do own them. But I know how the series ends and the ending wasn’t my preferred ending and I really don’t feel the need to bother right now. Maybe one day in the future I’ll pick those last 2 books up. But considering Charlaine Harris assassinated the character of my favourite person in the books steadily over the last few volumes, I doubt it.
So this is a new series, set in a fractured America after the assassination of Franklin D. Roosevelt and a vicious strain of influenza wiped out not only the Vice President but also a good deal of the population. That left their armed forces weak and a bunch of other countries swept in and took great chunks of America for themselves. Canada took a bite out of the north. A few eastern states banded together and randomly swore allegiance back to Britain. The southern states became Dixie. Mexico encroached from the south. And for some reason, a Russian Tsar came along and took a part of the west coast.
Lisbeth Rose, a 19yo woman lives in the part of America now called Texoma, an amalgamation of parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico. She makes her living as a ‘gunnie�, running with a crew who take people from Texoma across the border to a more prosperous Mexico where jobs and food are easier to come by. It’s her job to pick off bandits before they attack but when her entire crew is lost on a disastrous run, that leaves Lisbeth at a loss. So she accepts a job from two Russians magicians referred to as Grigori. The Russians are often viewed with suspicion in other parts of this fractured America � Harris rewrites history to save the Russian Tsar and evacuate him and his entire family to the western coast of old America, which they take over and establish as the HRE � Holy Russian Empire. The two Russians, a woman named Paulina and a man named Eli, are searching for a particular man and his brother who can help their Tsar.
The biggest problem I had with this book is that it’s really slow. They’re travelling in a car for the most part, Lisbeth and the 2 Russians, but everything has to be examined � what Lisbeth wears, what guns she has, when she cleans them, what they eat, what every hotel room looks like, what every person looks like that tries to kill them, even what most people they just talk to in passing are like. It feels a very clinical telling, like Lisbeth honestly doesn’t have much of a personality other than being a stone cold killer. I don’t really detect any hints of affection from her to anyone in her life � not her lost lover, not the mother that raised her in difficult circumstances, not her stepfather, not the man she falls into bed with on this trip. She’s great with weapons, she’s super aware of her surroundings but that doesn’t stop her nearly dying every five pages. I also felt like the history was dolled out in really random spurts, like it would’ve been a bit better to get a clearer idea of what had happened. Lisbeth’s mother is a teacher, she’s educated and she gives the bare basics but not�..why. Why did Canada decide to help itself to a large portion of the north? It’s not like they have a reputation for that sort of thing or there had been border wars or whatever. Why did the eastern states return to British rule? Why did they pick the old California as the new Holy Russian Empire? It’s about as different from the Motherland as you can get. It’s this kind of vague thing in the background that isn’t explored enough for me.
The story felt a bit circular, like we were just repeating the same scenario over and over again � travelling to a new town, securing accomodation without raising too much suspicion, someone trying to kill them, searching for new information, leaving for a new town, repeat. This isn’t a long book � just over 300p but honestly, it took me almost 3 days to read it. I just felt like I wasn’t really getting anywhere a lot of the time, kept putting it down. One of those days I was actually out all day but it was the sort of book where I’d read 20-50p and then be like ok, that’s enough. Finally I sat down on Tuesday and was like, I just have to finish this book so I can move on. Find another book. And to be honest, the story never really picked up for me. It was the same flat level of storytelling the entire way through, which kept me disconnected from it. I was never really invested in Lisbeth and especially not invested in her and Eli, which is so random and felt really awkward, the way it was inserted into the plot.
Lisbeth doesn’t have the charm or likability that Sookie had, nor do any of the supporting characters have the easy mix of the Southern Vampire Mysteries. It’s hard not to compare an author’s series� books but I do know that the first book in the Sookie series hooked me immediately, so much so that I read a bunch of them in a very small amount of time. This one? Did not. If I had a bunch of other books in this series, I probably wouldn’t even bother to read them. I can’t really see where it’s going to be honest and it doesn’t excite me. The world could’ve been more interesting I think, but I just didn’t really find it that well done. Like these things happened but meh, that’s all we are going to mention. I haven’t really read many Westerns or gunslinger type novels and perhaps there’s a reason for that � just not my thing I guess. ...more
In an alternate history, the year is 2059 and since Victoria, there hasn’t been a monarch in England. London is under the control of a group known as In an alternate history, the year is 2059 and since Victoria, there hasn’t been a monarch in England. London is under the control of a group known as Scion who work to eradicate anyone with clairvoyance from the city. ‘Voyants� are seen as unnatural and most if not all crimes are blamed upon them. There are many people with different gifts who are able to access the æther, a spirit realm. Some can call and control spirits and use them. Paige works for a group known as the Seven Seals, an underground group who all do different work with their gifts. Paige is a dreamwalker � she is able to enter the dreamscape of others. Her gift is very rare but it doesn’t matter to the Scion. Anyone caught using their gift is executed for treason.
When Paige is arrested, she believes that execution will be her fate. Instead she is taken to Oxford, a former city that has been wiped off the map by the Scion. To them, it doesn’t exist. In Oxford, a community of other beings known as the Rephaim collect and use clairvoyants for their own purposes. They submit them to tests � those that pass move up the ranks and become soldiers in their army. Those that fail are branded cowards and banished to live on the outskirts, forced to perform for the Rephaim and entertain them.
Each ‘voyant� that is taken during ‘The Bone Season� harvest is chosen by a keeper. Paige is chosen by one known as the Warden, the blood-consort to the blood sovereign, who has never chosen a human to mentor and train before. Some of the trainers are cruel but Paige is surprised to find that Warden is not. He allows her the freedom to speak and roam and he does not beat her. He pushes her to access her gift, to hone and develop it but Paige knows that the blood sovereign intends to kill her and bind her spirit. It’s what she does � that way she has access to all of the gifts. She has wanted someone with Paige’s gift for a long time and when she feels that Paige has reached her true potential, that’s when she will kill her.
In order to survive, Paige will have to place her faith in someone she has tried so hard to hate: Warden. Can she trust him and the reason he says that he’s developing her gift, pushing her to access her potential? Or will he betray her and send her and her friends to death.
The Bone Season is the first in a seven-arc series by young British author Samantha Shannon. She has been called the next JK Rowling, a big wrap and this book has had a steady buzz going now for some months. I can’t make any comparisons to JK Rowling because I’ve never read her famous Harry Potter series but I can attest to Samantha Shannon’s development of a clever and richly built world populated with interesting characters who possess unique gifts.
The world we know deviates about 200 years before this novel starts, in about 1859. Crimes such as Jack the Ripper are blamed on those who possess clairvoyant abilities and the rise of the Scion has been stamping them out ever since. The Scion use people who are clairvoyant themselves, forcing them to work in tracking down those of their kind by sensing their auras and abilities. Paige, the novel’s main character was born in Ireland, a place that only recently fell to the Scion. She moved to London and went to school, keeping her head down and her abilities secret on the advice of a mysterious man named Nick. When her paths cross with Nick again, Paige is taken into the arms of the Seven Seals ruled with an iron fist by Jaxon Hall who has built up a tightknit group of cleverly gifted voyants for his own use. Paige is his Pale Dreamer, his mollisher and she’s safe and secure in her position serving him, until the day she is arrested and her world changes.
I loved Paige and her absolute refusal to accept her new fate. She wasn’t prepared to be treated a certain way and she was appalled at others being treated that way � those who had failed the tests, or who weren’t voyants but were taken in order to be servants for the Rephaim. She stands up for people, often to her own disadvantage and she is always looking for a way out, not just for herself but for others as well. Even though she wants to hate Warden she cannot ignore when he returns to his residence and is obviously injured. The more she gets to know Warden the more she begins to question his motives. He is the consort to the sovereign, the one who wants to kill Paige so he should not be trusted under any circumstances. But he doesn’t treat her the way others in her position are treated and his training, although dangerous, encourages her to do things she’s never been able to do before.
I have to admit, I am a sucker for characters like Warden, those dark mysterious characters where you can never been too sure of their motives most of the time. He forces Paige to think outside of the box � she is in danger of becoming similar to the Scion in thinking that all Rephaim are bad just the way the Scion think all of those with gifts are bad. When Paige learns of a failed rebellion in the past against the Rephaim she begins to wonder if this time, there can be one that succeeds.
Although the slang can be exhausting at times, The Bone Season is a great start to a series. I became invested in Paige and Warden as well as some of the Seven Seals and the people Paige met at Oxford. I wanted to learn more about the various abilities and how they connect to the æther. I can’t wait for the second installment to see what happens next because all of the world building and groundwork have been laid so wonderfully. There’s so much potential for where this story can go....more
In a world where there are no longer any trees and oxygen is in short supply, a state lottery has decided who will get to live inside a specially desiIn a world where there are no longer any trees and oxygen is in short supply, a state lottery has decided who will get to live inside a specially designed pod where enough oxygen will be pumped in. Everyone else will be left outside to slowly suffocate.
Two generations later, the society is divided into Premiums, who can afford to buy the oxygen they need for a normal life that involves moving freely, sport, etc and Auxiliaries who have to limit their physical activity to lower their oxygen level requirements.
Bea is an Auxiliary striving for something better in her future. She and her Premium friend Quinn have been studying together for a while for an exam which could lead to Bea being recruited by the powers that run the Pod. Their final test is a debate where they will be watched closely. While Bea’s mother hopes that Bea will marry Quinn and be elevated in society that way, Bea has other plans as well. She doesn’t want to be an Auxiliary her whole life. But then Quinn meets rebel Alina and everything about their lives changes.
Alina is part of the resistance. She knows her life is in danger, they are onto her and she needs to escape. She is helped out of the Pod by Premium boy Quinn and Alina expects that to be the last contact she has with him. However Quinn and Bea end up along for the ride as Alina seeks the Resistance headquarters outside the Pod. They only have 2 days worth of air so they can’t afford to muck around. What Quinn and Bea learn at the Resistance headquarters utterly stuns them. Nothing is as they thought it was in the Pod and they realise just how much they are being controlled and that Quinn’s own father is up to his neck in it.
Now they just need to alert everyone else to what is happening and begin the rebellion.
Breathe is the first in a new series from English author Sarah Crossan. It’s set in a futuristic world where humans have systematically destroyed the planet’s ecosystem, leaving behind a bare world stripped of oxygen. There are ‘Pods� around the world: huge domed cities where the talented and fortunate were lucky enough to be granted residence. Now years later the Pod in which this story is set is a class system, comprising of Premiums, who get the luxurious residences, all the air that they need and countless opportunities to succeed. At the other end of the scale are the Auxiliaries, the lower dregs of society who are forced to limit the oxygen they consume because they are not rationed enough to live an active, ‘normal� life.
Quinn is a Premium and Bea an Auxiliary but despite this they have managed to build a strong friendship � although for Bea she wishes for more, even as she knows inside that it’s probably never going to happen. Quinn is the son of an important man and it doesn’t seem likely he’d ever marry an Auxiliary such as herself. Bea is even more discouraged when Quinn meets Alina, a pretty and mysterious rebel working with the Resistance forces. Everything Quinn, Bea and the rest of the population in the Pod have been fed about the Resistance suddenly seems questionable now and Quinn and Bea have to make a swift decision on who trust.
Breathe is a novel that quickly pulls a reader into the story, opening with Alina and a fellow-resistance member attempting an operation to steal some cuttings from a biosphere in the Pod. Trees are basically extinct except for those grown under strict conditions and the Resistance are attempting to establish their own collection in their bunker. Alina is prickly, the sort of person who doesn’t want or need any help, especially from a Premium but she’s forced to accept it and then later on, forced to accept her company. This doesn’t change her attitude though and she’s abrupt and often almost rude with Quinn and Bea, especially Bea.
At the beginning of the novel we have Bea clearly interested in Quinn but Quinn is then taken by Alina and I was really hoping that this book didn’t turn out to be a love triangle. Thankfully, this is resolved relatively quickly and it never takes over the real story about the Resistance movement and the lies that the Pod population have been fed as well as just how much they’ve been manipulated concerning oxygen levels. I found that part of the story the most interesting, the fact that a population could be controlled by one of the most simple ways � a necessary life force.
This is a promising start to what looks to be quite an interesting series. There are several moments that require the reader to take a bigger-than-usual leap of faith but it isn’t hard if you’re invested in the story. Probably the one thing that didn’t particularly work for me was having the story told in first person, but from three different points of view in a revolving style. I flick pages fast when I’m in a story and sometimes I forget to pay attention to headings that tell me who is narrating the chapter and I would be interested in one person’s situation and then be abruptly pulled out of it by being dumped into the new chapter and one of the other characters. But I am rarely ever a fan of multiple first person narratives, I think they’re very difficult to get right and have the reader be able to identify with the multiple separate identities. Despite my tendency not to enjoy this, I did really like Breathe and am very keen to find out what happens next with this series. There’s some great ideas here and also some very well done character growth. There’s a lot of room for this series to grow and I can’t wait to find out where Crossan goes....more
Dawn has always lived a sheltered life. Her father is the President of the vampires in a world where vampires have ‘come out of the coffin� and are prDawn has always lived a sheltered life. Her father is the President of the vampires in a world where vampires have ‘come out of the coffin� and are present and accepted in mainstream society. However not all vampires follow the mainstream way and Dawn receives her first mission outside the ‘Scarlet House� to travel to a small town and revamp 4 unlikely vampires to be the guardians of the town, keeping them safe from rebel vampire groups.
Dawn is desperate to prove herself and gain some approval from her distant father. She’s trained her whole life for this moment and she’s sure she can whip these four vampires into shape and create a strong guardianship for the town. However when she actually arrives in Angel Creek, she realises that she may have bitten off a bit more than she can chew: for starters, the four vampires are not the trained athletes she’s used to and they’re belligerent at best at the new roles that have been thrust upon them.
Things are further complicated when one of the human residents of the town is kidnapped by a group of rogue vampires. There’s a lot more going on here than she first realised and it all traces back to two men that have come into her life since she arrived: the human Ethan and the vampire Sebastian. Dawn is going to need both their help to rescue the human and deal with the ghosts from her past.
Earlier this year the author of ReVamped sent out four copies of her self-published book to four corners of the world where they were received by ‘team leaders� who put together a sort of mini-blog tour in each location to spread the word about the book. I was asked by the Australian team leader if I wanted to take part so I signed up. I thought it was a fun way for an author to get their name out there. When I received the copy I was impressed with the look � the cover is stunning and matches the description of our main character Dawn perfectly. We also received some signed bookmarks and bookplates to keep.
In the world Adams has created, vampires are out loud and proud in society and have been an accepted part for some time now. Dawn’s father is the American vampire president in a role that basically mirrors the human president. Dawn is a Born vampire, not a made one and her father is fiercely protective of her but also quite distant from her emotionally. When he finally agrees to send Dawn on her first mission outside of training little vamps within the walls of their ‘Scarlet House�, she is beyond thrilled. Dawn’s hopes are slightly dashed when she realises the merry band of misfits she has to train to be protectors are a motley bunch and probably going to be difficult but her head is also filled with thoughts of Ethan, who works behind the bar in the local diner and the mysterious Sebastian, a vampire but one who wants absolutely no part of being part of the team to guard the town.
ReVamped isn’t an overly long read but it’s an enjoyable story that introduces us to the character of Dawn and establishes her for the reader before her past comes up to shock her. I really came to enjoy the team of 4 she was training � they all seemed a bit of a chore in the beginning but I think by the end they were blending together really well but without losing the four distinctly unique and different personalities that they had. There were a few things I didn’t expect and although I questioned the science of one particular aspect of the story I was willing to let it go in the name of just enjoying....more
In the second novel of the Weather Warden series, Joanne is now a Djinn, created by her boyfriend David after the huge showdown at the end of Ill WindIn the second novel of the Weather Warden series, Joanne is now a Djinn, created by her boyfriend David after the huge showdown at the end of Ill Wind claimed her human life. David wasn’t able to bring her back to life as a human, he could only make her in his image. Becoming a Djinn presents a whole new set of challenges for Joanne. Firstly, she insists on attending her own funeral, a very strange experience. But seeing how people are grieving for her are the least of her problems.
Secondly, she’s learning how to function as a Djinn, taking human form, summoning clothes -and without giving whoever is in the room an eyeful of what’s underneath. She has to learn how to draw on her power to do what she wants to do and it’s not quite as easy as it looks when she sees other Djinn do it. David is helping her but when they are summoned to see a mysterious Jonathan, Joanne learns the horrible truth about just what her boyfriend sacrificed to reincarnate her. Separated from him, sent to see if she can survive this way, Joanne discovers something else � something horrible.
Up in the aetheric, Joanne discovers strange little sparkly lights that it seems she is one of a few that can see. She doesn’t know what they are, but they are multiplying and no one seems to think they can be anything good. Although Joanne knows that she must avoid being claimed by a human, she may have to submit in order to investigate what this intrusion into the aetheric is and how to get rid of it. This is complicated when Joanne is betrayed by someone who was supposed to be helping her and forced to submit to someone who has no idea what they are capable of. If Joanne is to investigate what is happening in the aetheric and attempt to fix it before it starts destroying, she’s going to have to outsmart not only her new ‘Master� but some old foe as well. And free her boyfriend from the grip of a madwoman.
Heat Stroke is the second novel in the Weather Warden series and I have to admit, I had a few reservations about Joanne being reborn into Djinnhood. I was a bit skeptical at the end of the previous novel, but I was still very intrigued so I dived into this one and was immediately sucked into the story. Caine spends quite a time having Joanne attempt to adjust to her new form and the patience and time spent on this won me over. The added complication of what David sacrificed in order to reincarnate Joanne and also what the far-reaching repercussions were really lifted this novel to another level.
As before, Joanne is as likable and kick-ass as ever, even when she’s muddling her way through being a Djinn. She is such a straightforward and enjoyable character that I could read about her doing pretty much anything, although saving the world seems to be her action of choice. Her and David step it up a notch in the beginning of the novel, but it isn’t long before they are separated and then further complications stall their relationship in a classic series twist. I didn’t mind it so much here but if it continues in every book I will start to get mighty frustrated. I really enjoy the character of Lewis and although there isn’t a classic triangle going on here, there are times when I stop reading and think to myself ‘How much do I really like David? I mean Lewis is pretty good too..� and then David does something and I immediately swing back that way. I’m not sure if that’s just me though!
I’m amazed by just how much detail Rachel Caine again puts into the weather here. As I mentioned previously in my review of Ill Wind a lot of it does go over my head! But the descriptions surrounding the brewing storms, the raging fires etc are really first rate and there’s a wealth of information in there. A lot has gone into describing the aetheric too as well as the levels that it is possible to travel up through.
There’s plenty of action -perhaps even more so than in the first one. Such a unique urban fantasy series has been created here with painstakingly elaborate world-building. The second book has lost nothing on its predecessor and also ends with quite a bang, which I’m guessing is going to become the norm. Good thing I have many more lined up here to read because although I’m trying to space them out a bit and make them last, I’m glad that I still have quite a few before I need to be hunting down titles and waiting for them to arrive on my doorstep.
In an alternate reality, Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden, someone who can control an element. In her case it’s Air, so she can, with a flick of herIn an alternate reality, Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden, someone who can control an element. In her case it’s Air, so she can, with a flick of her wrist, dispel the most violent of storms, disrupt tornadoes etc. The Weather Wardens are a complex group made up of local, state, country and even world levels of people charged with protecting the Earth’s population from the violent whims of Mother Nature.
Joanne works the east coast of America, most recently Florida. But she’s in a little bit of trouble right now and technically, she’s on the run. Wanted for murdering a state Weather Warden, Joanne knows if she’s caught, that’ll be the end of her Warden powers. Her appointment was a borderline thing and if the powers that be find her, they won’t stop and listen to what she has to say, listen to what really happened. They’ll neuter her, removing her abilities � and that’s a best case scenario. That procedure often fails and the result is death. And that’s without them knowing about what is happening to her really, what she has had happen to her.
Her only hope is Lewis, a very powerful Warden with the ability to control Fire, Air and Earth. His ability is unusual and makes him one of the most, if not the most, powerful Warden’s in the world, which also makes the people in charge very nervous. Unfortunately for Joanne, Lewis is on the run as well, having escaped from where he was being held and stealing three Djinn in their bottles to take with him on the way out. Although Joanna knows where she might be able to find him, he isn’t there and all she can do is put the word out that she’s looking for him and hope that he will make his whereabouts known or come and find her. At the moment, he’s the only chance she has of surviving.
A storm is chasing Joanne as she heads west across America to where she thinks Lewis might be. It’s a personal storm, one full of vengeance and she’s had several narrow escapes with lightning, thanks to her beloved Mustang. Along the way she picks up a hitchhiker who isn’t all that he seems as she works hard to dodge the Weather Warden ‘police� who are determined to catch her. She heads for her friend’s place, a former Fire Warden who only barely survived a terrible fire.
Joanne’s time is running out to find Lewis and get the help from him that she so desperately needs � although if the Wardens catch her first, it won’t matter either way.
After reading Working Stiff recently and loving it I made a resolution to read more books by Rachel Caine. I knew I had one that Marg had loaned me a while ago sitting on my TBR shelf and I’d heard good things about this series. I finished it in a day and immediately bought the next 5 books in the series! In fact by the time I sat down to write this review, I’d already read the second book in the series as well.
When the book opens, our protagonist Joanne is in some serious trouble. She’s wanted by the Wardens in charge for the suspected murder of the Florida Wind Warden, who she was supposed to be working with. Joanne didn’t kill him but she doesn’t have time to stop and explain that to anyone right now as the now-dead Warden has left her with a little parting gift that urgently needs her attention. Because she knows that Lewis has stolen 3 Djinn (sort of like genies in that they can be bound to a Warden’s service and live in bottles when not in use, who Wardens get to help them use their powers in dispelling/controlling the weather after a certain amount of time in the job) and a Djinn is what she needs, she’s desperate to find him. She’s undertaking a dangerous cross-country road trip � dangerous because not only are the Wardens on her tail but she’s also being chased by a rather nasty storm.
This book was so much fun. A lot of the very detailed weather pattern descriptions went right over my head to be honest but the story line is fast paced, action packed and one heck of a ride as we’re with Joanne and the cute and mysterious hitchhiker David that she picks up. There’s a lovely chemistry between Joanne and David that simmers long before anything happens. I’m becoming a big fan of the way Rachel Caine incorporates her romance into novels � more occurs here than in the other book of hers I’ve read, but it’s not really a total headlong jump into it and it doesn’t take over the paranormal/alternative aspect of the story line either.
For a book where a lot of the time is spent in a car outrunning things (be they storm or Wardens) and with a lot going on, somehow it still didn’t feel overly rushed or like I couldn’t keep up. I really liked Joanne as a character, she was a bit of a rebel, didn’t always want to conform to the restrictions placed upon her and didn’t want to go down quietly. She had skills but she wasn’t over the top with them, in that she didn’t require help at times.
Great start to a series, if they are all as good as this one I’ll be happy!...more
In an alternate history 1985, Thursday Next is a detective with SO-27 � Special Ops 27 which deals with crimes against literature. Literature is takenIn an alternate history 1985, Thursday Next is a detective with SO-27 � Special Ops 27 which deals with crimes against literature. Literature is taken very seriously in this world, with original manuscripts being prided and kept on display. When a villain by the name of Acheron Hades steals the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit by Dickens, Thursday is recruited by SO-5 to assist in helping to capture the thief. Hades was once her lecturer some 16 or so years ago and it seems that Thursday is one of the few people who can resist doing his bidding. Possessed of some extraordinary powers, Hades was able to steal the manuscript without breaking its glass case surrounding it or being captured on the video cameras. He has convinced men to turn their guns upon themselves. His name can never be spoken aloud in full, as he can hear it and know people are watching him. Hades kills a minor character from the manuscript, which leads to that character disappearing from all copies of the work. Hades decides that killing very unimportant characters was just a practice run.
Thursday’s uncle has invented a machine that actually allows people to enter literary works so when his Chuzzlewit experiment goes slightly awry, Hades looks to another literary work�. that of Jane Eyre. He decides it might be more amusing to actually kidnap literary characters and use them to extort money from the government for their safe return to the manuscripts. He chooses Jane herself, from Jane Eyre. As Thursday is one of the only people not compelled to do as he says (and she’s also nearly the only person who chooses to believe that Hades is even still alive) it’s almost entirely up to her to stop him and return Jane safely to the narrative before the entire novel is altered forever.
I haven’t read Jane Eyre so I have absolutely no idea if what is described as the plot in the book is even remotely accurate. I suspect liberties have been taken in order for the plot to be changed by Thursday in her attempts to catch Hades but until I read it I can’t really be sure. It’s been on my TBR list for some time, I just haven’t actually got around to reading it yet. I’m really going to have to do that! Despite not having read Jane Eyre it didn’t detract at all from the amusement and enjoyment I found in this book.
There are some novels where, upon reading them, you just wonder to yourself exactly where the author came up with the idea and how. This is one of those novels. The setting, of an alternate 1985 is quite intriguing � time travel and alteration is normal and Thursday’s own father is a time traveler. He spends most of his time in ‘other times� and when he comes to visit her she knows he is coming because everything stops � ‘My father had a face that could stop a clock�. In this, it is actually meant literally. Everything around her stops � people pause mid-word and movement, clocks stop and only Thursday is aware that anything has actually happened. Cloning is very popular, particularly in the sort of pets people have. Thursday herself has a dodo, of a certain clone ‘vintage� that is quite admired. The Crimean War is also still going on and there’s a sort of side plot that involves a corporation who makes and supplies ammunition (among other things) also wanting to get their hands on Thursday’s uncles invention so that they can alter an original manuscript to make something that doesn’t work, actually work.
I think this is the sort of novel that people will either ‘get� or they don’t. The humour is often clever but it’s also often quite cheesy (a great example are the names, such as Jack Schitt, Landen Park-Laine, Millon De Floss, etc) which won’t appeal to all but I really enjoyed it. I found it very clever and amusing and enjoyed the little jokes. I might’ve even really got a lot more out of it, had I already read Jane Eyre. I think these (as this is the first in a series) are the type of novels where the more you read them (and the more widely read you are) the more you’ll get out of them. I’ve already requested the next one from the library....more
This novel is definitely unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic future and the main character, Anaximander is undertakiThis novel is definitely unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic future and the main character, Anaximander is undertaking an oral examination to enter a prestigious unit known only as The Academy. The entire novel consists only of the interview between The Examiners and Anaximander as she answers questions and states her opinions on her chosen topic, the life and actions of Adam Forde, a soldier of a time gone by who is long dead. His story is taught in schools and Anaximander has chosen to make it her study, working with a tutor for The Academy, Pericles. The Academy are advisors to those who make the rules and Anaximander knows that they take only students who perform at the highest level. Everything she says in this interview will be analysed, questioned, criticised and judged.
Through this interview and the questions The Examiners put to her, Anaximander takes us back in time to the history of how her world came to be the place that it is today: a time of war in the world as we know it now leading to plague, leading to isolation, barriers formed around the islands with soldiers posted along all the coastlines with orders to shoot to kill if any boats or humans make their way to the fences. Adam Forde was one of these such soldiers but the choices he made were significantly different from those he had been trained to.
Exploring a world with incredibly advanced technology and it’s interactions with humans, Genesis deals with Anaximander’s shocking discovery of the real history of her Republic, as well as the startling realisation of what her fascination with Adam Forde really means to those who are questioning her.
This book is not particularly easy to review for me. There’s so much I could say but that would be giving away the most important part of the book and I really hate doing that. It’s a short novel, only 150-odd pages, and there’s not a word wasted. From the very beginning we’re straight into the story with Anaximander going into her 4hr oral examination. The Examiner’s questions skilfully draw out an explanation of the background of the Republic where Anaximander lives, giving us a rich and colourful history that gives us understanding of what has gone before and shaped the way things are now. Anaximander, through her chosen study of Adam Forde hopes to join The Academy and work in the top echelon of the Republic, advising those who make the decisions, those who create the rules. She has to think carefully on everything she says and we are also privy to her thoughts as she processes the questions from the Examiner’s and seeks to shape her answers in the best way.
What you get is a novel that’s philosophical, ripe with ideas that are familiar � Plato, Socrates, Pericles and also the idea of rational thought. Are humans the only beings capable of reasoning? Capable of innovation? Capable of structuring an argument and adjusting under different situations? Or are machines, technologically advanced machines, just as able to perform the same as a human would. It’s an interesting, thought-provoking and often frustrating attempt to attribute the same qualities humans have to a robot-type machine and all throughout those scenes I went back and forth on my position of whether or not a soul could be attributed to a machine.
This novel amazed me with how much Beckett managed to put into the 150 pages. It’s a smart novel, it will challenge your views on things you think you know and raise questions that might not have occurred to you before. Although it’s categorised as YA it’s much more than that. It’s also one of those books where all of a sudden you reach the end and you’re left utterly stunned and sort of gasping for air, wondering if you really just read what you thought you did. I had to go back and read the last couple of pages another 2-3 times just to make sure and the impact was not lessened each time at all.
So yes, this is another review that tells you basically nothing, just to go and read the book all the way through and let the story unfold for you as you encounter each new aspect. It’s an incredible book, unique to the post-apocalyptic and dystopian genre’s and really needs a category all of it’s own....more
**spoiler alert** Gemma is 16 and at Bangkok airport getting herself a coffee when she is befriended by a good-looking young man. His accent is hard t**spoiler alert** Gemma is 16 and at Bangkok airport getting herself a coffee when she is befriended by a good-looking young man. His accent is hard to define but he offers to pay for her coffee when she has the incorrect currency and makes shy conversation with her. It isn’t long before Gemma doesn’t start to feel very well � her head is fuzzy, she can barely walk and she’s slurring her words. The young man steers her carefully away from people and redresses her, then she’s on a plane. And it’s not the one that she should be on, with her parents.
Several days later after being drugged and taken to their destination in the boot (trunk) of a car, Gemma awakes in a log cabin in literally, the middle of no where. She’s in the Australian outback and there’s nothing but red dust and sand dunes for miles and miles. Her captor, named Ty, claims that if she just gives it a chance, she will learn to love where she is. She will learn to love this harsh land because as he puts it, it needs to be loved.
Ty has obviously been planning this for some time � he built the wooden cabin himself from scratch, well located near a desert oasis from which he pipes water into the cabin. He has enough in the way of supplies to last a very, very long time and there’s no need to make the very long trek to the nearest town � a town that might be days away for all Gemma knows. She’s from London and her knowledge of the Australian outback isn’t exactly substantial. She knows that it’s hot, dry, dusty and depressing and she wants to get the hell out. However she can’t and her one desperate escape attempt proves to her that she needs Ty. She can’t survive out there alone, she just doesn’t have the knowledge or the skill to do so. The only way she’s ever leaving this cabin is if he chooses to take her.
This review is going to contain ***SPOILERS***
There were parts of this novel that I thought were excellently done � for example, Gemma’s reaction to being kidnapped. I found her hysteria, her abuse of Ty, her attempt at bargaining with him and her desperate attempt at flight all very believable and real. I thought that the isolation Gemma felt, her utter hopelessness at her situation and the bleakness of the landscape, was done perfectly. I live in Australia and I couldn’t imagine being held in the outback like that. I’m well aware what it’s like out there in the centre, the monotonous landscape, the heat, the dusty dryness, the huge sand dunes. For a girl coming from London, it would’ve been incomprehensible. Even the up and down relationship between Gemma and Ty I thought was excellent. Gemma went through a myriad of emotions towards him and the character of Ty himself seemed more complex and layered than just a thug who had kidnapped a pretty girl, or a predator. He never laid a finger on Gemma, but he did constantly hope that she could come to care for him of her own volition. He was obviously a very lonely and disturbed person but this was written almost sympathetically so that you (or I) never quite hated him although I came close. There was always something a bit pathetic about him and the power Gemma had to hurt him that kind of prevented that.
But there are gaping holes in this book! Firstly, how on Earth does Ty get her onto an international flight from Bangkok to� I don’t know? Darwin? Perth? It’s never quite clear where they are, it could be anywhere in remote WA, NT or QLD or maybe even far northern SA. There’s mention of a mine that’s within reasonable driving distance, but apart from that, I don’t actually know where they are. But it remains that Ty had a fake passport for her and got her, borderline comatose, through check in, customs, onto the flight, off the flight, through customs again, etc. I’ve seen Australian passports and while I’m sure there are plenty of fake ones about, surely they’re not easy, or cheap, to come by. It’s never explained how Ty secured a false passport for Gemma (he doesn’t use hers, he states that he has one in a false name to throw off police/media/etc when her parents discover her missing) and he has presumably purchased airline tickets in this same false name.
Secondly, the narrative is very, very vague about money. Ty is Australian, grew up in the outback but then went into foster care and after that spent some time in London. He comes back to Australia and presumably spends quite some time putting his plan into action � building the cabin, acquiring the huge amount of supplies he will need to live in the cabin for the distant future. Gemma does ask him how he came to have the funds to do this, especially after it’s revealed he was in London for some time and although he does give some answers, it wasn’t really enough to satisfy me. There’s also a question of how he came to know the area they were in � he did grow up in the outback but his father had a farm and the area in which he has chosen is not able to be farmed so it’s not as if that’s where he is from. It all just felt a little too convenient � Ty had little education and didn’t seem to have ever held a proper job but he had both the money and knowledge to carry out this plan.
Gemma’s sort of Stockholm Sydrome also seemed to show up at a very odd time (when she was actually given a chance to leave) which seemed nothing more than at attempt to draw out the novel a little bit and make a bit of drama at the end for would Gemma testify against Ty or would she refuse to say she’d been taken and claim she was there of her own free will. For almost the entire book she loathed him and couldn’t wait to leave, begged him desperately to let her go, nearly killed herself attempting to escape him and then when it came that she absolutely had to leave and that he would take her and run, she refused to let him go, wanting him with her. It just struck me as inconsistent � I know that Stockholm Syndrome is very real but the timing of this just didn’t seem to gel. It was a bit like Ty and Gemma’s history itself � far too convenient.
For me this novel had a lot to like � the way the outback was portrayed and I enjoyed the dynamic between Ty and Gemma and their complicated interactions until the end. It was far easy to believe and be connected to Gemma when she was fighting Ty but I found the swing to sympathy for him, and perhaps something else, unbelievable. And while I never hated Ty, I never liked him either. His tragic past was not enough to be okay with what he did to Gemma. The cynic in me found a few things to nitpick and this did ruin the overall power of the story. Things not explained correctly when they seemed very important, coincidences ahoy and a bit of a sloppy ending lower the rating on this one.
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