This first book in a series centers a young woman as the protagonist, which in and of itself is refreshing in a genre, fantasy, that has historically This first book in a series centers a young woman as the protagonist, which in and of itself is refreshing in a genre, fantasy, that has historically offered only male heroes. It also gives readers something other than a Chosen One narrative, at least in this first outing, though there are indications that the series might eventually develop that way as the main character, Celaena Sardothien, discovers more about her past. But even then, it'll be a Chosen One narrative about a female, so readers still get something different....more
This mix of urban fantasy and mystery gradually builds suspense based on the fascinating appearance of phantom settlements, a.k.a., paper towns or copThis mix of urban fantasy and mystery gradually builds suspense based on the fascinating appearance of phantom settlements, a.k.a., paper towns or copyright traps, in cartography....more
Is the language perhaps a tad overwritten, maybe purple in places? Probably, yes. Does it have more invention on a single page than many novels manageIs the language perhaps a tad overwritten, maybe purple in places? Probably, yes. Does it have more invention on a single page than many novels manage in their entirety? Absolutely. Moore's talent for figurative language is turbocharged throughout, and if the plot is a bit one-thing-after-another--a book that should not exist in the real world but does functions only as a MacGuffin that tilts the protagonist into a series of adventures in a dangerous, parallel post-war London--the marvelous characters and set pieces more than compensate....more
I now understand why Stephen King calls this "The great time-travel story" and why Audrey Niffenegger, author of the wonderful Time Traveler's Wife, wI now understand why Stephen King calls this "The great time-travel story" and why Audrey Niffenegger, author of the wonderful Time Traveler's Wife, wrote the foreword: Finney's research into 1882 New York City is remarkable, but even more so is his ability to weave it seamlessly throughout his narrative, which is a love story wrapped in a mystery. And for those of us reading it now, there's the doubled pleasure of also experiencing early 1970s New York, the time period in which Finney wrote and published this novel and from which his protagonist, commercial artist Si Morley, travels back in time. ...more
A quiet novel about a woman who becomes inexplicably stuck in a day, November 18, and can't get out of it. Not nearly as dramatic as the movie, GroundA quiet novel about a woman who becomes inexplicably stuck in a day, November 18, and can't get out of it. Not nearly as dramatic as the movie, Groundhog Day, it nevertheless creates its own fascination in the ways the main character, Tara Selter, tries to understand her situation, exploring and mapping the odd logic and limits of this eddy of time in which she finds herself. The first volume of several....more
I can't overstate how much I loved this book. Wasson expertly weaves together the story of how this incredible film came together in American cinema'sI can't overstate how much I loved this book. Wasson expertly weaves together the story of how this incredible film came together in American cinema's annus mirabilis of 1974, its continuing resonance in our culture, and how it did, in fact, represent the last years of a kind of Hollywood that was obliterated the very next year as a result of forces that had been making inroads in the film industry during first years of the 1970s. Manson is briefly present, of course, as his crazed followers murder a pregnant Sharon Tate and confirm Roman Polanski's blighted vision of humanity, a vision that delivers the perfect, bleak ending of the film, and there is the screenwriter Robert Towne's memory of an older Los Angeles that, together with Jerry Goldsmith's score, provides an elegiac, valedictory tone underneath the crushing noir of the monstrous crimes at the heart of the story. And Wasson can write beautifully as well as clearly. I knew I was in good hands when, early, on page 22, he describes the incredible happiness Polanski felt with Tate as something that "kept coming. they couldn't stop it. It poured out of Los Angeles in great green waves of sage and sycamore." And, just like that, Wasson captures not only the mood of a couple, but of an entire city at a specific juncture....more
A solid YA blend of adventure, mystery, and romance, with a light overlay of magic and a solid grounding in the details of Argentina and Egypt of 1884A solid YA blend of adventure, mystery, and romance, with a light overlay of magic and a solid grounding in the details of Argentina and Egypt of 1884. Slightly marred when, near the end, at a pivotal moment, one of the major characters acts in a way that doesn't make sense and has devastating consequences....more
Every element I loved in the first Mertz novel--the snappy dialogue, the snarky interiority of the title character, the fascinating dive into the diffEvery element I loved in the first Mertz novel--the snappy dialogue, the snarky interiority of the title character, the fascinating dive into the difficult task of erasing or ameliorating someone's digital footprint, and the full-bore attack on toxic masculinity and "boys will be boys" attitudes--is present and accounted for in this sophomore effort in the series....more
For me, Kelly Link is to slipstream short fiction as Lorrie Moore is to realistic short fiction: one of a handful of writers who seem to be in a leagu
For me, Kelly Link is to slipstream short fiction as Lorrie Moore is to realistic short fiction: one of a handful of writers who seem to be in a league of their own, or at least a league where only a few other "teams" play. The way each uses language is enormously attractive to me, by turns fresh, beautiful, oblique, witty, heartbreaking, full of surprise. And now Link has brought her phenomenal gifts for language, plot, and story to the novel form, and the result is exactly as wonderful as one would expect.
Every writer of a world that involves magic must wrestle with how to represent that magic on the page, and here, also, Link excels. The magic that seeps into the fictional town of Lovesend, Massachusetts is strange, marvelous, terrible, both ordinary and fabulous, often attached to quotidian objects, and capable of working miracles:
The crappy guitar wasn't a guitar anymore. It became a coin, a cup, a knife. A key. None of them particularly impressive to behold but, oh, the way they felt, like the deepest note ringing from a bell the size of a room you'd never manage to walk out of again, not in a lifetime.
She sets these people and objects in motion, and part of the fascination here is tracking all these instruments of plot as they appear, vanish, and reappear in the story, always with some surprising result. It's also remarkable how, even when events are going horribly wrong, Link still manages to be funny in a way that does not detract or distract from the horror. That's not easy to do, and she does it over and over, as here, where two of the teen protagonists, Mo and Susannah, are desperately trying to find a way out of a bad situation that involves the novel's antagonist, one of the most terrifying, because capriciously powerful and narcissistic, characters I've encountered:
"Let's get you some clothes first," Mo said.
"Why?" Susannah said.
"Because yours are all wet? And kind of filthy?"
"Why is everyone obsessed with my personal hygiene?" Susannah said. "Did Frodo and Sam stop and do laundry on the way to Mordor?"
"No," Mo said. "But they did take a bath in Bree. Plus, they didn't just hand the ring over to Sauron."
Bodie Kane, the film-studies and podcasting academic who serves as the main character, addresses her former music teacher at the boarding school she aBodie Kane, the film-studies and podcasting academic who serves as the main character, addresses her former music teacher at the boarding school she attended in the 1990s as she and her podcasting students dig into the death of Thalia Keith, a classmate of Kane's who died--was murdered--during their senior year of high school. What emerges is a brilliant dissection of race, class, memory, and friendship, and of how small details can lie unnoticed for years before coming to light and forcing a radical realignment of what was previously imagined to be settled history. ...more
A strong follow-up to Ninth House, Bardugo's language is as fresh as ever and she continues to make inventive use of the architecture and lore of YaleA strong follow-up to Ninth House, Bardugo's language is as fresh as ever and she continues to make inventive use of the architecture and lore of Yale and New Haven, weaving them into new configurations of magic....more
Bancroft's steampunk city of Berbiton, his fresh approach to magic, his eminently likeable protagonists--the married, magical detective couple of IsolBancroft's steampunk city of Berbiton, his fresh approach to magic, his eminently likeable protagonists--the married, magical detective couple of Isolde and Warren Wilby--and his impressive writing chops--a barroom mirror is "more crack than glass," for example, while a former midwife is "mummified in strands of cigarette smoke"--made this a delight to read. I'll eagerly look for the next in the series, which is something I rarely say these days....more
With the concept of the "art monster" recently in the news--at least, in --Wilson's 2011 noWith the concept of the "art monster" recently in the news--at least, in --Wilson's 2011 novel is presciently of-the-moment. The family Fang--the parents, in particular, and specifically the father--are hilarious and infuriating and capable of stunning twists in pursuit of their chaotic performance art, especially as the end approaches. All along the way, Wilson delivers sentences packed with fresh, original language. He had me early in the book, when "Child B"--Buster, the son--is in a bitterly cold Nebraska cornfield trying to write a freelance story about Iraq War vets struggling to reintegrate into civilian life, and toward that end finds himself in a William Tell scenario, with souped-up potato guns and empty beer cans replacing arrows and apples:
Buster closed his eyes, held his breath, and, before he realized that the gun had been fired, a gust of heat and wind passed over him and deconstructed the beer can atop his head, the sound of something irrevocably giving up its shape and becoming, in an instant, something new.
Coriolanus Snow is among the most unsympathetic narrators in fiction, so to read this you need to have a high tolerance for narcissistic rationalizatiCoriolanus Snow is among the most unsympathetic narrators in fiction, so to read this you need to have a high tolerance for narcissistic rationalization. As in any good exercise in dramatic irony, Snow unknowingly reveals much more about himself than he realizes: while he clearly feels justified in his every action, the reader sees him clearly for the nascent monster he is, capable of making any situation about himself, with a talent for comparing his trivial obstacles to those of the poor children from the districts who have been hoovered up by the Capitol and made to fight to the death for the amusement of Panem....more
Another fantasy novel that breaks free of the standard fantasy plot--hero's journey, chosen one, ultimate evil threatening the world, prophecy, et cetAnother fantasy novel that breaks free of the standard fantasy plot--hero's journey, chosen one, ultimate evil threatening the world, prophecy, et cetera--choosing instead to explore common ground with the detective, horror, and social-novel sub-genres, and I couldn't be happier. Bardugo's language is fresh and she has an original approach to magic, rooting it in Yale's infamous secret societies....more
Puck is on the outs with Oberon and, looking for a story that will get him back in the good graces of the Seelie Court, decides, in the year 1814, to Puck is on the outs with Oberon and, looking for a story that will get him back in the good graces of the Seelie Court, decides, in the year 1814, to invisibly hang around a certain Miss Maelys Mitchelmore when she inadvertently suffers a curse from Sulis Minerva, tutelary deity of the waters at Bath. And with that premise, the mysterious Alexis Hall is off to the races, and his lucky readers get to enjoy his fabulous prose once again....more
A massive exercise in brilliant world-building: Mieville's New Crobuzon city has history, grit, steam-driven science, alchemy, and magic, garbage and A massive exercise in brilliant world-building: Mieville's New Crobuzon city has history, grit, steam-driven science, alchemy, and magic, garbage and crime by the ton, body horror, fabulous religions and fantastic species with alien cultural practices, brutal, conniving municipal bureaucracies of punishment and control, and multiple, interweaving plot threads. And whatever you do, don't look at the moths! Even though the book runs to just over 700 pages, it's amazing that all of this fits inside!...more
My first encounter with DeWitt, and not my last. In this story of Lucien "Lucy" Minor--the undermajordomo of the title--he mixes the fairy tale, the gMy first encounter with DeWitt, and not my last. In this story of Lucien "Lucy" Minor--the undermajordomo of the title--he mixes the fairy tale, the gothic yarn, and the bildungsroman, plus several other subgenres, and filters the resulting concoction through a wry sensibility, producing deadpan hilarious dialogue leavened with grace notes of quiet humanity. However, be warned: if you like neat resolutions, this is not the novel for you....more
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