Dorian's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 01 May 2025 15:33:13 -0700 60 Dorian's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Borders of Infinity (Vorkosigan Saga, #5.3)]]> 5073782 [Publisher's Note: The Borders of Infinity was originally published as a stand-alone novella in the anthology Free Lancers in September 1987. It was then included in the novel Borders of Infinity (October 1989). For the novel, Ms. Bujold added a short "framing story" that tied the three novellas together by setting up each as a flashback that Miles experiences while recovering from bone-replacement surgery. Fictionwise is publishing these novellas separately, but we decided to leave in Ms. Bujold's short framing story for those who may also wish to read the other two novellas (he Mountains of Mourning and Labyrinth).]
Locus Poll Award Nominee]]> 84 Lois McMaster Bujold Dorian 3 4.25 The Borders of Infinity (Vorkosigan Saga, #5.3)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves:
review:

]]> Mansfield Park 45032 488 Jane Austen Dorian 2 3.86 1814 Mansfield Park
author: Jane Austen
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The New Chalet School (The Chalet School, #13)]]> 6473559 A United Chalet School. This edition is the complete original work. (The page count is taken from the *original* original, which had no ISBN.)

The friendly rivalry between the Chalet School and St Scholastika's is put to the test by unruly behaviour by the Balbini twins and their catapult. The incident leads to tragic consequences.]]> 272 Elinor M. Brent-Dyer 1847450660 Dorian 3 4.06 1938 The New Chalet School (The Chalet School, #13)
author: Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1938
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves:
review:

]]> Dracula Cha Cha Cha 23947618 516 Kim Newman 085768535X Dorian 2 library-books 3.95 1998 Dracula Cha Cha Cha
author: Kim Newman
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1998
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves: library-books
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The English Heiress (Heiress, #1)]]> 8803420 406 Roberta Gellis 1419920898 Dorian 3 other-ebooks
The hero and heroine are both a bit broken, the hero because his (now dead) wife was selfish, extravagant, unfeeling, and frigid; the heroine because she has been imprisoned, raped, and forced to prostitute herself, plus her mother and younger brother have died in their imprisonment. They meet when the hero comes to France seeking her father, who has unexpectedly inherited an Earldom, and finds the first thing he has to do is organise a jailbreak.

Things proceed more or less as you might expect, given this is 1791-93 in France. Lots of excitement and a fair few sticky situations alternate with the usual sorts of misunderstandings (or sometimes cause them!) to ensure that the course of true love does not run smooth until the end of the book.

The fixing of the characters' brokenness is achieved perhaps a bit too easily, but then, this is a light, fluffy romance story - a feel-good read, not an angst-fest.

Overall, a very enjoyable book for a sunny afternoon.]]> 3.72 1979 The English Heiress (Heiress, #1)
author: Roberta Gellis
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1979
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/29
date added: 2024/09/10
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
This is a historical romance set during the French Revolution - not a period I'm especially interested in, but I enjoyed the book.

The hero and heroine are both a bit broken, the hero because his (now dead) wife was selfish, extravagant, unfeeling, and frigid; the heroine because she has been imprisoned, raped, and forced to prostitute herself, plus her mother and younger brother have died in their imprisonment. They meet when the hero comes to France seeking her father, who has unexpectedly inherited an Earldom, and finds the first thing he has to do is organise a jailbreak.

Things proceed more or less as you might expect, given this is 1791-93 in France. Lots of excitement and a fair few sticky situations alternate with the usual sorts of misunderstandings (or sometimes cause them!) to ensure that the course of true love does not run smooth until the end of the book.

The fixing of the characters' brokenness is achieved perhaps a bit too easily, but then, this is a light, fluffy romance story - a feel-good read, not an angst-fest.

Overall, a very enjoyable book for a sunny afternoon.
]]> The Cathedral 10371871 470 Hugh Walpole 1178431401 Dorian 1 project-gutenberg
Trollope's writing style infuriates me. Walpole's is inoffensive.

Trollope's plot is predicated upon characters behaving stupidly. Walpole's, upon characters behaving peculiarly.

Trollope's story, in the end, is pleasant enough. Walpole's is nasty.

I disliked "The Warden" because the characters were stupid and the writer's style annoyed me. I found I disliked "The Cathedral" far more, because the writer's style was clean enough, the characters' behaviour drew me in (admittedly, somewhat in the manner of watching a train crash, but still...) - and the story turned out to be the chronicle of the destruction of a man, and it was not in any way a pleasing thing to witness. Almost all of the characters (including he who was destroyed) are smug, and narrow, and only semi-capable (at best) of considering that they may be wrong. This book left me, when I finished it, shuddering all over to shake the yuckiness off.]]> 3.77 1898 The Cathedral
author: Hugh Walpole
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1898
rating: 1
read at: 2009/05/13
date added: 2024/08/12
shelves: project-gutenberg
review:
I found this book odd. And unpleasant. It reminded me somewhat of Anthony Trollope's "The Warden", which I read last year and disliked. Both books are set in cathedral cities and involve a great deal of cathedral politics. About there, though, the similarity ends.

Trollope's writing style infuriates me. Walpole's is inoffensive.

Trollope's plot is predicated upon characters behaving stupidly. Walpole's, upon characters behaving peculiarly.

Trollope's story, in the end, is pleasant enough. Walpole's is nasty.

I disliked "The Warden" because the characters were stupid and the writer's style annoyed me. I found I disliked "The Cathedral" far more, because the writer's style was clean enough, the characters' behaviour drew me in (admittedly, somewhat in the manner of watching a train crash, but still...) - and the story turned out to be the chronicle of the destruction of a man, and it was not in any way a pleasing thing to witness. Almost all of the characters (including he who was destroyed) are smug, and narrow, and only semi-capable (at best) of considering that they may be wrong. This book left me, when I finished it, shuddering all over to shake the yuckiness off.
]]> <![CDATA[The Chalet School and the Lintons (The Chalet School, #10)]]> 11358717 The Chalet School and the Lintons, which was broken into two volumes in the paperback editions, the first retaining the original title, the second named A Rebel at the Chalet School.]]> Elinor M. Brent-Dyer Dorian 3 3.99 1934 The Chalet School and the Lintons (The Chalet School, #10)
author: Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1934
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> All Fired Up 11061410 256 Malcolm Castle 1409134377 Dorian 3 library-books
Overall it was a pleasant enough read, though 3 stars is perhaps a bit generous.]]> 3.79 2012 All Fired Up
author: Malcolm Castle
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2014/10/20
date added: 2023/11/11
shelves: library-books
review:
This is a book of reminiscences, of the author's first year or so as a fireman in Shrewsbury in the early 1980s. Some of the incidents are amusing - some are horrible. The work environment actually sounds pretty toxic in some ways; as newest man the author is given all the worst jobs, made to spend every spare moment cleaning or painting equipment, and comes in for a lot of heavy-duty slagging that's quite close to bullying. (Not to mention the way they all smoke like chimneys!) He accepts it all cheerfully, though, and in due course "proves" himself and gains his own nickname - a badge of acceptance.

Overall it was a pleasant enough read, though 3 stars is perhaps a bit generous.
]]> The Foundling 32111
Beginning with an incognito journey into the countryside to confront a blackmailer, he encounters a runaway school boy, a beautiful but airheaded orphan, one of literature's most appealing and well-spoken comic villains, and a series of alarming and even life threatening events from which he can extricate himself only with the help of his shy and lovely fiancé…]]> 406 Georgette Heyer 0373835493 Dorian 3 3.82 1948 The Foundling
author: Georgette Heyer
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1948
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/08/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Booked For Murder (Lindsay Gordon, #5)]]> 702273 230 Val McDermid 1932859101 Dorian 3 other-borrowed-books 3.51 1996 Booked For Murder (Lindsay Gordon, #5)
author: Val McDermid
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at: 2012/10/07
date added: 2023/07/27
shelves: other-borrowed-books
review:

]]> <![CDATA[As if by Magic (Jack Haldean Murder Mystery #3)]]> 5937399
“With vision and vigor, Gordon-Smith pulls off another Golden Age delight.”â€�Richmond Times-Dispatch

“A classic postwar country-house mystery with a Christie-like denouement.”â€�Kirkus Reviews

“Dorothy Sayers fans will be most rewarded.”â€�Publishers Weekly

Freezing and hungry, George Lassiter breaks into a stranger’s house where he witnesses a murder. But when the police find no evidence, they—and George’s friend Jack Haldean—believe George was delirious. Dangerous events soon prove everyone wrong.

Dolores Gordon-Smith is the author of two previous mysteries in the Jack Haldean series. She graduated from Surrey University in 1981.]]> 288 Dolores Gordon-Smith 1569475881 Dorian 3 library-books 3.80 2009 As if by Magic (Jack Haldean Murder Mystery #3)
author: Dolores Gordon-Smith
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/07/22
shelves: library-books
review:

]]> A Genius at the Chalet School 2899932 A Chalet School Fete.

Nina Rutherford's comfortable world comes to an abrupt end when her father is drowned. Her cousin, Sir Guy Rutherford, comes from England to collect the newly orphaned 15 year old, and is perplexed at what to do with his new charge. Nina has a talent for music that is touched by genius and is in other respects also a difficult child: she is missing her father badly, she has never known the company of other girls, she has never been to school ...]]> 284 Elinor M. Brent-Dyer 1847450245 Dorian 3 4.04 1956 A Genius at the Chalet School
author: Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1956
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/08/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Elizabeth: The Scandalous Life of the Duchess of Kingston]]> 3342227 302 Claire Gervat 0712614516 Dorian 3 library-books
There's a lot more to it than that. I was fascinated to find that the famous bigamy trial would never have happened, were it not that the Duke of Kingston left pretty much all he died possessed of to his beloved wife (and all he died possessed of was a fairly massive fortune), which pissed off his estranged nephew who'd been living on the expectation for years and was now screwed. Said nephew promptly challenged the will and decided that his challenge would have a better chance if it was proved that Elizabeth was a bigamist.

It seems only fair that when she finally died, her affairs were in such a tangle, partly due to the nephew's frantic attempts to get the Duke's money, that a large portion of what he finally inherited was debts and hassle.

This was another good, readable book about a Georgian woman who broke her society's rules and failed to die in disgrace and penury. Good for her!]]> 3.11 2003 Elizabeth: The Scandalous Life of the Duchess of Kingston
author: Claire Gervat
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.11
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 2012/02/09
date added: 2018/11/30
shelves: library-books
review:
When I started this book I was fairly familiar with the basics of Elizabeth Chudleigh's life: Maid of Honour to Augusta, Princess of Wales (mother of George III); married to Augustus Hervey (later Earl of Bristol); mistress and later wife to Evelyn Pierrepont, Duke of Kingston; tried for and convicted of bigamy (claimed peer's privilege and thus was not punished); died in exile.

There's a lot more to it than that. I was fascinated to find that the famous bigamy trial would never have happened, were it not that the Duke of Kingston left pretty much all he died possessed of to his beloved wife (and all he died possessed of was a fairly massive fortune), which pissed off his estranged nephew who'd been living on the expectation for years and was now screwed. Said nephew promptly challenged the will and decided that his challenge would have a better chance if it was proved that Elizabeth was a bigamist.

It seems only fair that when she finally died, her affairs were in such a tangle, partly due to the nephew's frantic attempts to get the Duke's money, that a large portion of what he finally inherited was debts and hassle.

This was another good, readable book about a Georgian woman who broke her society's rules and failed to die in disgrace and penury. Good for her!
]]> <![CDATA[Hope Benham. a Story for Girls]]> 11376412 118 Nora Perry 1152147463 Dorian 2 project-gutenberg 2.00 2010 Hope Benham. a Story for Girls
author: Nora Perry
name: Dorian
average rating: 2.00
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2016/09/13
shelves: project-gutenberg
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Among the Mad (Maisie Dobbs, #6)]]> 3902077
After being questioned and cleared by Detective Chief Superintendent Robert MacFarlane of Scotland Yard’s elite Special Branch, she is drawn into MacFarlane’s personal fiefdom as a special adviser on the case. Meanwhile, Billy Beale, Maisie’s trusted assistant, is once again facing tragedy as his wife, who has never recovered from the death of their young daughter, slips further into melancholia’s abyss.

Soon Maisie becomes involved in a race against time to find a man who proves he has the knowledge and will to inflict death and destruction on thousands of innocent people. And before this harrowing case is over, Maisie must navigate a darkness not encountered since she was a nurse in wards filled with shell-shocked men.]]> 303 Jacqueline Winspear 0805082166 Dorian 2 library-books
For all the period details, there was no real sense of time or place, and I've always felt that having the villain be crazy is sort of cheating.]]> 3.88 2009 Among the Mad (Maisie Dobbs, #6)
author: Jacqueline Winspear
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2009
rating: 2
read at: 2011/11/03
date added: 2016/05/26
shelves: library-books
review:
A whodunnit set between the wars. Despite mad weapons researchers, horrific "treatments" in psychiatric hospitals, a feisty heroine and what looks like a reasonably accurate historical setting, this didn't really work for me.

For all the period details, there was no real sense of time or place, and I've always felt that having the villain be crazy is sort of cheating.
]]> <![CDATA[Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing]]> 16225525
Holy Sh*t also explains the advancement of civility and corresponding censorship of language in the 18th century, considers the rise of racial slurs after World War II, examines the physiological effects of swearing and answers a question that preoccupies the FCC, the US Senate, and anyone who has recently overheard little kids at a playground: are we swearing more now than people did in the past?

A gem of lexicography and cultural history, Holy Sh*t is a serious exploration of obscenity.]]> 316 Melissa Mohr 0199742677 Dorian 3 3.86 2013 Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing
author: Melissa Mohr
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2015/01/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Eleanor & Park 17322949 "So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.
"I'm not kidding," he says.
"You should be," she says, "we're 16."
"What about Romeo and Juliet?"
"Shallow, confused, then dead."
"I love you," Park says.
"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers.
"I'm not kidding," he says.
"You should be."

Set over one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is the story of two star-crossed misfits—smart enough to know first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.]]> 325 Rainbow Rowell 1409120546 Dorian 3 library-books
I'm not entirely sure why the author chose to make it a historical novel (a novel set in 1986 is historical? I feel old). The text is peppered with references to 80s music (much of it the stuff I loathed at the time) and comics, but I never had any real feeling that this was 1986, and it didn't seem to have any bearing on the story. It could quite as well have been 2006, for all the difference it made.

Eleanor and Park themselves are attractive characters, but the other characters - their family members, the other kids in school - seem sketchily drawn. I suspect this is deliberate, as the story is told in tight 3rd-person POV alternating between Eleanor and Park, and Eleanor especially seems to not actually see much outside herself and Park.

I gather a lot of people think this book is the best thing in YA romance since Judy Blume, and it's certainly a very engaging story, and even made me a little teary at the end, but I don't think it's Utterly Brilliant and Perfect. Just a good read.]]> 3.94 2012 Eleanor & Park
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2015/01/27
date added: 2015/01/27
shelves: library-books
review:
Eleanor is fat and red-haired and dresses weirdly and has just moved to a grotty Omaha suburb to live with her mother, abusive stepfather, and siblings. She is the new kid in the 10th grade and she gets picked on. Park is half-Korean and nerdy and his family (the non-Korean half) has lived in this grotty Omaha suburb forever, which means he mostly doesn't get picked on, except when there's no-one better around. Gradually, Eleanor and Park become friends, and then fall in love (or perhaps in teenage infatuation), and it's very sweet.

I'm not entirely sure why the author chose to make it a historical novel (a novel set in 1986 is historical? I feel old). The text is peppered with references to 80s music (much of it the stuff I loathed at the time) and comics, but I never had any real feeling that this was 1986, and it didn't seem to have any bearing on the story. It could quite as well have been 2006, for all the difference it made.

Eleanor and Park themselves are attractive characters, but the other characters - their family members, the other kids in school - seem sketchily drawn. I suspect this is deliberate, as the story is told in tight 3rd-person POV alternating between Eleanor and Park, and Eleanor especially seems to not actually see much outside herself and Park.

I gather a lot of people think this book is the best thing in YA romance since Judy Blume, and it's certainly a very engaging story, and even made me a little teary at the end, but I don't think it's Utterly Brilliant and Perfect. Just a good read.
]]> From Bauhaus to Our House 41001 128 Tom Wolfe 055338063X Dorian 2 library-books
Alas, the title is distinctly misleading; the book is not at all about domestic architecture. It is about modern architecture in general, from the Bauhaus onwards, with particular attention to America. And, since the author dislikes modern architecture and has no patience for the theories behind it, it is also a fairly scathing critique of those things.

I have to admit to having little fondness for the concrete box style of modern architecture myself, nor much patience with pomposity, so I did find the book quite amusing. But it's not actually what I was wanting to read.]]> 3.78 1981 From Bauhaus to Our House
author: Tom Wolfe
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1981
rating: 2
read at: 2015/01/16
date added: 2015/01/16
shelves: library-books
review:
Somebody mentioned this on Facebook recently, and I (having some interest in domestic architecture) thought "ooh, sounds interesting" and headed for the library.

Alas, the title is distinctly misleading; the book is not at all about domestic architecture. It is about modern architecture in general, from the Bauhaus onwards, with particular attention to America. And, since the author dislikes modern architecture and has no patience for the theories behind it, it is also a fairly scathing critique of those things.

I have to admit to having little fondness for the concrete box style of modern architecture myself, nor much patience with pomposity, so I did find the book quite amusing. But it's not actually what I was wanting to read.
]]> <![CDATA[Dark of the Moon (Kencyrath, #2)]]> 12422043
Nothing ever goes easily for Jame, least of all this journey. As hints of the past she has forgotten—of dark and horrid years in the house of Gerridon, betrayer of her people, the Kencyrath, and her god—come to the surface, she encounters changers from the house of Gerridon, wanting to bring her back into that dark place. Arrin-ken, catlike creatures who are nevertheless a part of her own people, find and judge her. Bandits, brigands and strange remnants from the past of her people—which suggest a dim future for them, their god and their hope of defeating the great enemy, Perimal Darkling—arise to haunt her. But her determination to find her brother and to avoid falling into eternal darkness only grows stronger.

Meanwhile Tori, who is Highlord of the Kencyrath, leads the wayward lords of the Kencyrath with uneasy grace. He is a compromise for them, a way of avoiding endless battle between them. But he can bind them together only so long as he can tread a narrow way between their varied needs and desires. When a vast and unexpected danger threatens, he must call up the host—the troops that each lord must muster—but in so doing he threatens his own position and his sanity, for he cannot avoid the attention this calls to him, attention that seems to bring changers who want to kill him, and odd nightmares that seem to suggest a future he does not want and the reappearance of a sister he both loves and fears.

Cover by P.C. Hodgell.]]> P.C. Hodgell 9780689311 Dorian 3 other-ebooks
The viewpoint flips back and forth between these two characters, something that can be very annoying if one is not interested in one of them, but in this case it worked for me as I was equally interested in both. Well, nearly. Jame and the havoc she wreaks apparently just by existing are actually more interesting to me than Tori and his war and politics - but I do still like Tori's sections too. (Also, Jame has the cat...)

Overall, a good read, and now I shall have to go and buy the rest of the series; I really want to see what happens now that Jame and Tori are together.]]> 3.83 1985 Dark of the Moon (Kencyrath, #2)
author: P.C. Hodgell
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1985
rating: 3
read at: 2015/01/08
date added: 2015/01/08
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
This book is a bit different from its predecessor. Instead of being confined to a city in setting, it's more open, as Jame (along with her friend Marc and big cat Jorin) sets off into the world to find her long-lost brother. Meanwhile, Torisen (the long-lost brother) is Highlord of their people, but having some political difficulties, not to mention the problem of an upcoming battle in which his forces are outnumbered about sixty to one.

The viewpoint flips back and forth between these two characters, something that can be very annoying if one is not interested in one of them, but in this case it worked for me as I was equally interested in both. Well, nearly. Jame and the havoc she wreaks apparently just by existing are actually more interesting to me than Tori and his war and politics - but I do still like Tori's sections too. (Also, Jame has the cat...)

Overall, a good read, and now I shall have to go and buy the rest of the series; I really want to see what happens now that Jame and Tori are together.
]]> <![CDATA[Closer to Home (The Herald Spy #1)]]> 23448396 370 Mercedes Lackey 1783292776 Dorian 4
Following the events of "Bastion", Mags is now a full Herald, settled in his relationship with Amily, and home in Haven to take up his work as the King's...information gatherer. Midwinter is coming and the Kingdom's aristocracy is arriving in the capital to hunt spouses for their offspring...among them, two minor but feuding families. Mags finds himself told off to ride herd on the son of one of these families, while Amily is assigned to keep an eye on the daughters of the other. But soon a nice little Romeo-and-Juliet scenario seems to be shaping up...

This book has lots of nice setting detail amongst Valdemar's minor aristocracy, which we haven't seen much of previously. I liked the Court functions and the parties, and Mags' herding of the young men off to find some relatively safe trouble to get into.

Amily still seems a little too good to be true, but her life becomes very interesting in this book, and in very unexpected ways. Mags' various personae are fun, and though I was a bit sorry not to have Bear in this book, I didn't miss Lena at all.

The plot has several twists that I didn't at all expect, and the dénoument was a definite shock.

Overall, I feel the author has definitely hit her stride again, after a period of several rather mediocre books. Long may it continue!]]> 4.18 2014 Closer to Home (The Herald Spy #1)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2015/01/05
date added: 2015/01/06
shelves:
review:
This is the first book in a new series, following on immediately after "The Collegium Chronicles" left off. And I liked it much better than any of the preceding series which, though pleasant, was two books too long. This is an extremely promising start to the new series.

Following the events of "Bastion", Mags is now a full Herald, settled in his relationship with Amily, and home in Haven to take up his work as the King's...information gatherer. Midwinter is coming and the Kingdom's aristocracy is arriving in the capital to hunt spouses for their offspring...among them, two minor but feuding families. Mags finds himself told off to ride herd on the son of one of these families, while Amily is assigned to keep an eye on the daughters of the other. But soon a nice little Romeo-and-Juliet scenario seems to be shaping up...

This book has lots of nice setting detail amongst Valdemar's minor aristocracy, which we haven't seen much of previously. I liked the Court functions and the parties, and Mags' herding of the young men off to find some relatively safe trouble to get into.

Amily still seems a little too good to be true, but her life becomes very interesting in this book, and in very unexpected ways. Mags' various personae are fun, and though I was a bit sorry not to have Bear in this book, I didn't miss Lena at all.

The plot has several twists that I didn't at all expect, and the dénoument was a definite shock.

Overall, I feel the author has definitely hit her stride again, after a period of several rather mediocre books. Long may it continue!
]]> God Stalk (Kencyrath #1) 12421982
Jame knows this as she stumbles out of the hilly, barren Haunted Lands into the city of Tai-tastigon. But she knows little else. She does not remember where she has been or what she has done for the last ten years of her life. Her memory goes back only a week or two—to finding her home destroyed and all her family dead.

In Tai-tastigon Jame begins a new life that seems to be at odds with all that the Kencyrs stand for. Kencyrs are honest and just, but Jame becomes an apprentice to the most renowned thief in the powerful Thieves' Guild. Kencyrs are confirmed monotheists, yet Jame explores the rituals and activities of the thousands of gods, templed and untempled, in this religious center; she even kills a god and then resurrects him. And at the inn, the Res aB'tyrr, where she lives, she finds herself using the most sacred dances of her people, dances she does not even remember learning, for the entertainment and sometimes the destruction of the inn's patrons.

Within herself Jame finds power she does not want and doubts she defies her heredity to harbor. She moves through the rich and bloody stew of Tai-tastigon like a hot spice. Her probings, to find herself and to discover what her powers mean to her and her people, combined with influences already at work, very nearly destroy the city. And yet, they bring her face to face with a destiny she must accept.

Cover Art by P.C. Hodgell.]]> P.C. Hodgell Dorian 3 other-ebooks
Jame, injured and pursued by boggles, comes running out of the badlands and into the distinctly weird city of Tai-tastigon. There she finds friends, and a job as an apprentice thief, and another job as a dancer, and takes up theological research to fill up her spare time. She causes assorted kinds of havoc, generally without meaning to, and rather a lot of her friends and acquaintances die.

There's an awful lot in this book that doesn't really hold together when you stop to think about it. The city of Tai-tastigon appears to be run by the Thieves' Guild, which doesn't really make much sense, and there's barely any mention of anyone engaging in any honest work (apart from a few innkeepers and market traders (and where are the market traders getting their produce? The city seems to be in the middle of wilderness, not farmland), which makes me wonder who the thieves are stealing from, and how they're disposing of their ill-gotten gains. Then there's the Temple Quarter, which seems to be another sink for money and goods. I know practically nothing about economics, but even I can tell that this city cannot possibly work.

The plot, to be honest, is a bit shaky as well. Jame comes out of the badlands with a large hole in her memories, but startling skills at dancing, fighting, and (in due course) pick-pocketing. She tends to do things not only without much thought for consequences, but often without much thought for what she wants the consequences to be. And then the book just ends, without her really having resolved anything. (Luckily the ebook I bought is an omnibus of the first two volumes in the series.)

Having said all that, though, there's an awful lot to like in this book too. Despite its impracticality, Tai-tastigon caught my fancy, with its mazes and its temples and its monsters (human and otherwise).

As a character, Jame is not particularly likeable, but she is compelling. I definitely wanted to read more about her, know more about her, see what she'd do next. Most of her friends, by contrast, are likeable, and often interestingly quirky too. And her enemies are interesting, and variously horrible.

And the gods. I really liked the bits with the gods. Especially Gorgo, whose part of the story was fascinating. And of course Jame's own god, who is distinctly worrying.

I'm really looking forward to book two now, to see how the revelations at the end of this book play out...and what havoc Jame creates next!]]> 3.70 1982 God Stalk (Kencyrath #1)
author: P.C. Hodgell
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at: 2015/01/05
date added: 2015/01/06
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
I've been vaguely aware of this book, and that it's generally considered a Good Thing, for some time now, so when it impinged upon my consciousness again lately, I popped over to the Kobo shop and bought it (hooray for the magic of ebooks!). And I found it...hm...I'm not sure I think it as brilliant as some people I know seem to, but I did enjoy it.

Jame, injured and pursued by boggles, comes running out of the badlands and into the distinctly weird city of Tai-tastigon. There she finds friends, and a job as an apprentice thief, and another job as a dancer, and takes up theological research to fill up her spare time. She causes assorted kinds of havoc, generally without meaning to, and rather a lot of her friends and acquaintances die.

There's an awful lot in this book that doesn't really hold together when you stop to think about it. The city of Tai-tastigon appears to be run by the Thieves' Guild, which doesn't really make much sense, and there's barely any mention of anyone engaging in any honest work (apart from a few innkeepers and market traders (and where are the market traders getting their produce? The city seems to be in the middle of wilderness, not farmland), which makes me wonder who the thieves are stealing from, and how they're disposing of their ill-gotten gains. Then there's the Temple Quarter, which seems to be another sink for money and goods. I know practically nothing about economics, but even I can tell that this city cannot possibly work.

The plot, to be honest, is a bit shaky as well. Jame comes out of the badlands with a large hole in her memories, but startling skills at dancing, fighting, and (in due course) pick-pocketing. She tends to do things not only without much thought for consequences, but often without much thought for what she wants the consequences to be. And then the book just ends, without her really having resolved anything. (Luckily the ebook I bought is an omnibus of the first two volumes in the series.)

Having said all that, though, there's an awful lot to like in this book too. Despite its impracticality, Tai-tastigon caught my fancy, with its mazes and its temples and its monsters (human and otherwise).

As a character, Jame is not particularly likeable, but she is compelling. I definitely wanted to read more about her, know more about her, see what she'd do next. Most of her friends, by contrast, are likeable, and often interestingly quirky too. And her enemies are interesting, and variously horrible.

And the gods. I really liked the bits with the gods. Especially Gorgo, whose part of the story was fascinating. And of course Jame's own god, who is distinctly worrying.

I'm really looking forward to book two now, to see how the revelations at the end of this book play out...and what havoc Jame creates next!
]]> The Petticoat Men 22491362
But one fateful night Fanny and Stella are arrested, and Mattie and her family are dragged into a shocking court trial, described in newspapers all over England as 'The Scandal of the Century'.

Outraged, Mattie is determined to save her family from ruin, and her friends from shame and penury. She embarks on a brave journey to expose the establishment's hypocrisy - including the involvement of Mr Gladstone the Prime Minister, and the Prince of Wales. For Fanny and Stella are dangerous ladies, and these are dangerous times...]]> 400 Barbara Ewing 1781859825 Dorian 4 library-books
This historical novel is based on the real-life trial of Ernest Boulton and Frederick Park for cross-dressing and homosexuality. Mattie and her family are characters invented by the author, but most of the rest of the cast are real historical figures, from Ernest and Freddie to William Gladstone and the Prince of Wales.

The story is well written, utilising several voices - Mattie, her mother, and her brother all narrate sections, and some parts, covering things they could not know, are presented in omniscient 3rd person. This device works well; with the different characters concentrating on different aspects of the story it all builds up into a rich, layered whole. The story itself, of Ernest and Freddie, of the trial, of the effects the trial had on so many people of different kinds, is fascinating. And without departing from the historical record, the author succeeds in forming a tale with a beginning, a middle, and a (for Mattie and family, happy) end - a feat that this type of historical novel does not always manage.

I enjoyed the book very much, and found it well worth the reading.]]> 3.48 2014 The Petticoat Men
author: Barbara Ewing
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2014/12/23
date added: 2014/12/23
shelves: library-books
review:
Mattie Stacey helps her mother run a lodging house in Kings Cross, London, in the latter half of the 19th century. It is a respectable house, but when two of their lodgers, two young men who often dress as women, for performance or just fur fun, are arrested, scandal taints it, much to Mattie's fury, and she tries what she can to set things right...

This historical novel is based on the real-life trial of Ernest Boulton and Frederick Park for cross-dressing and homosexuality. Mattie and her family are characters invented by the author, but most of the rest of the cast are real historical figures, from Ernest and Freddie to William Gladstone and the Prince of Wales.

The story is well written, utilising several voices - Mattie, her mother, and her brother all narrate sections, and some parts, covering things they could not know, are presented in omniscient 3rd person. This device works well; with the different characters concentrating on different aspects of the story it all builds up into a rich, layered whole. The story itself, of Ernest and Freddie, of the trial, of the effects the trial had on so many people of different kinds, is fascinating. And without departing from the historical record, the author succeeds in forming a tale with a beginning, a middle, and a (for Mattie and family, happy) end - a feat that this type of historical novel does not always manage.

I enjoyed the book very much, and found it well worth the reading.
]]> How to Eat Fried Worms 322351
Good news for Billy—once he gets going, he finds himself actually getting hooked on those juicy worms.

Bad news for Billy—Alan is busy cooking up schemes to make Billy worm out of the bet. Will Billy keep up his wormy work for fifteen days?

No cheating! Keep eating! Worm by worm by worm...
--back cover]]> 118 Thomas Rockwell 0440421853 Dorian 3
I loved this book as a child, and it stands up pretty well to an adult re-read. Alan and Billy, and their friends Joe and Tom, are lightly-drawn but believeable 10-ish-year-olds. Their parents' reactions to their antics are likewise convincing. The premise has the ick factor that appeals to children of that age, but the ramifications of the bet are well thought out and depicted. The whole thing is an awful lot of fun, and I love the little kicker in the Epilogue. (Also, for a book written in the early 1970s, it's hardly dated at all.)]]> 3.76 1973 How to Eat Fried Worms
author: Thomas Rockwell
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1973
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/12/21
shelves:
review:
Alan bets Billy $50 that he can't eat 15 worms in 15 days. Billy fancies that $50 so he can buy a friend's old minibike...and off we go. At first Billy has the problems, choking down those awful worms, but after a while he gets used to them, and then the problem is Alan's, as he realises he might just lose this bet...

I loved this book as a child, and it stands up pretty well to an adult re-read. Alan and Billy, and their friends Joe and Tom, are lightly-drawn but believeable 10-ish-year-olds. Their parents' reactions to their antics are likewise convincing. The premise has the ick factor that appeals to children of that age, but the ramifications of the bet are well thought out and depicted. The whole thing is an awful lot of fun, and I love the little kicker in the Epilogue. (Also, for a book written in the early 1970s, it's hardly dated at all.)
]]> The Old Powder Line 17404230 Richard Parker Dorian 4
Brian is out trainspotting one day when a railway employee he hasn't seen before tells him there'll be a steam train soon at Platform 4. The only trouble is, there is no Platform 4 at this station. Except, as it turns out, there is...sometimes. And when Brian finds Platform 4 and gets on the steam train, it takes him into the past. And that's where the trouble starts. As Brian tries to understand what's happening, he ropes in Wendy, his sister's friend, and Arnold Mincing, a much older, wheelchair-bound friend. And eventually, rescues are necessary.

In fact, despite the characters' attempts to understand, the author never does explain the time-travelling train, or why it appeared, or why it (as is implied at the end) disappears. Or how or why it works. It doesn't really matter, though, as the story is really about the unreliability of memory. And a little bit a teen romance. And there's just something kind of charming about it.

(Not sure why Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ thinks there was only a hardback edition. Here's a pic of the cover of my Puffin paperback:
[image error] )]]> 4.17 1971 The Old Powder Line
author: Richard Parker
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at: 2012/11/29
date added: 2014/12/03
shelves:
review:
I've had this book since I was a child; it's one of the few that survived my teenage "I'm grown up and don't read children's books any more" cull of my bookshelves (a cull that I lived to regret, but that's another story).

Brian is out trainspotting one day when a railway employee he hasn't seen before tells him there'll be a steam train soon at Platform 4. The only trouble is, there is no Platform 4 at this station. Except, as it turns out, there is...sometimes. And when Brian finds Platform 4 and gets on the steam train, it takes him into the past. And that's where the trouble starts. As Brian tries to understand what's happening, he ropes in Wendy, his sister's friend, and Arnold Mincing, a much older, wheelchair-bound friend. And eventually, rescues are necessary.

In fact, despite the characters' attempts to understand, the author never does explain the time-travelling train, or why it appeared, or why it (as is implied at the end) disappears. Or how or why it works. It doesn't really matter, though, as the story is really about the unreliability of memory. And a little bit a teen romance. And there's just something kind of charming about it.

(Not sure why Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ thinks there was only a hardback edition. Here's a pic of the cover of my Puffin paperback:
[image error] )
]]> Memory and Dream 2374745


Now twenty years later, Isabelle must come to terms with the shattering memories she has long denied and unlock the slumbering power of her brush. And, in a dark reckoning with her old master, she must find the courage to live out her dreams and bring the magic back to life.



"The [Newford] books have all been written in such a way that you should be able to pick up any one and get a full and complete story. However, characters do reoccur, off center stage as it were, and their stories do follow a sequence."

]]> 688 Charles de Lint 0330339591 Dorian 3 1973. Izzy is a naive art student when she meets Vincent Rushkin, one of the greatest living painters of her age, and he takes her on as an apprentice...but Rushkin is controlling, and abusive, and while what he has to teach is more than just art, the price is high...

This is a complex book which moves back and forth between past and present, to some extent leaving the reader to figure out for herself how the past events shaped the present character. And to gradually realise that if not exactly a narrator, Isabelle is a distinctly unreliable POV character.

Parts of it I find hard to read; the depictions of Izzy's relationship with Rushkin are uncompromising and I find her behaviour very hard to take (even though I know it's probably an accurate depiction). Things get easier in that respect after about the middle of the book.

Still...I loved this book when I first read it, about 20 years ago. Now, it seems to have lost a lot of its magic. It's still, especially in the second half, a good read, but it's no longer the brilliant book it used to be.]]> 4.27 1994 Memory and Dream
author: Charles de Lint
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1994
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/11/28
shelves:
review:
1992. Isabelle is a successful and respected artist when her slightly reclusive life is interrupted, first by the arrival of a letter from her dearest friend, dead these five years, and then by another friend, wanting her to illustrate an anthology of the dead friend's short stories.
1973. Izzy is a naive art student when she meets Vincent Rushkin, one of the greatest living painters of her age, and he takes her on as an apprentice...but Rushkin is controlling, and abusive, and while what he has to teach is more than just art, the price is high...

This is a complex book which moves back and forth between past and present, to some extent leaving the reader to figure out for herself how the past events shaped the present character. And to gradually realise that if not exactly a narrator, Isabelle is a distinctly unreliable POV character.

Parts of it I find hard to read; the depictions of Izzy's relationship with Rushkin are uncompromising and I find her behaviour very hard to take (even though I know it's probably an accurate depiction). Things get easier in that respect after about the middle of the book.

Still...I loved this book when I first read it, about 20 years ago. Now, it seems to have lost a lot of its magic. It's still, especially in the second half, a good read, but it's no longer the brilliant book it used to be.
]]> <![CDATA[Thirteen Orphans (Breaking the Wall, #1)]]> 6608852
As far as college freshman Brenda Morris knows, there is only one Earth and magic exists only in fairy tales.

Brenda is wrong.

A father-daughter weekend turns into a nightmare when Brendas father is magically attacked before her eyes. Brenda soon learns that her ancestors once lived in world of smoke and shadows, of magic and secrets.

When that worlds Emperor was overthrown, the Thirteen Orphans fled to our earth and hid their magic system in the game of mah-jong. Each Orphan represents an animal from the Chinese Zodiac. Brendas father is the Rat. And her polished, former child-star aunt, Pearl—that eminent lady is the Tiger.

Only a handful of Orphans remain to stand against their enemies. The Tiger, the Rooster, the Dog, the Rabbit . . . and Brenda Morris. Not quite the Rat, but not quite human either.]]> 502 Jane Lindskold 076535621X Dorian 3
This book fits loosely into the urban fantasy genre, in that it's set in the modern world, but with magic. Unlike most urban fantasy, though, the magic is based on the Chinese zodiac and the game of mah-jongg, and there is another world involved...one might almost say, invading.

The author handles the Chinese aspect well, demonstrating the magic and its related background matter-of-fact-ly, without exoticising it. The use of the mah-jongg set to make magical talismans is inspired.

The plot-line, involving exiles, hunters, betrayals, and politics, is interesting without getting overwhelming.

But really, I think I mostly like this book for the characters. Brenda, the cheerful, practical, college kid; Pearl, ex-movie star; flamboyant Des; lost Foster; silly, over-reaching Honey Dream; ex-soldier Riprap... They're all very real, and I enjoy spending time with them.

(And in the diversity stakes, all of the main characters are at least partly ethnically Chinese, one of them is gay, and several are either middle-aged or old. All of which is pretty damn cool too.)]]> 3.42 2008 Thirteen Orphans (Breaking the Wall, #1)
author: Jane Lindskold
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/11/23
shelves:
review:
Brenda's dad wants to introduce her to an old friend of his...but when they get to Albert's place, there's no sign of him, and it looks like there's been an intruder. Even worse, when they finally do catch up with him, even Brenda can tell that Albert is, in the words of the Beatles song, not half the man he used to be. And worse again, pretty soon the same thing happens to Brenda's dad. And now what are Brenda and the allies she's just barely met to do?

This book fits loosely into the urban fantasy genre, in that it's set in the modern world, but with magic. Unlike most urban fantasy, though, the magic is based on the Chinese zodiac and the game of mah-jongg, and there is another world involved...one might almost say, invading.

The author handles the Chinese aspect well, demonstrating the magic and its related background matter-of-fact-ly, without exoticising it. The use of the mah-jongg set to make magical talismans is inspired.

The plot-line, involving exiles, hunters, betrayals, and politics, is interesting without getting overwhelming.

But really, I think I mostly like this book for the characters. Brenda, the cheerful, practical, college kid; Pearl, ex-movie star; flamboyant Des; lost Foster; silly, over-reaching Honey Dream; ex-soldier Riprap... They're all very real, and I enjoy spending time with them.

(And in the diversity stakes, all of the main characters are at least partly ethnically Chinese, one of them is gay, and several are either middle-aged or old. All of which is pretty damn cool too.)
]]> <![CDATA[Queuing for Beginners: The Story of Daily Life from Breakfast to Bedtime]]> 1069515 276 Joe Moran 1861978367 Dorian 2 library-books 3.58 2007 Queuing for Beginners: The Story of Daily Life from Breakfast to Bedtime
author: Joe Moran
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 2014/11/17
date added: 2014/11/17
shelves: library-books
review:
This is a history of various everyday things, not only queuing, but also breakfast cereals, pedestrian crossings, business meetings, weather forecasts, and more. It ought to be very interesting. Unfortunately, the author's pedestrian writing style not only renders it rather dull, but also somehow manages to hide the information he's trying to impart, so that I put it down feeling that he'd spent 200 pages saying nothing very much. Most disappointing.
]]> <![CDATA[All Gong and No Dinner: Home Truths and Domestic Sayings]]> 2411181 672 Nigel Rees 0007249357 Dorian 3 library-books
Still, many of the phrases covered made me laugh out loud and resolve to start using them myself, which causes me to bump it up from two to three stars. (I'm not sure when I'm likely to get a chance to exclaim "Eleven o'clock and not a whore in the house washed nor a po emptied, and the street full of Spanish soldiers!", but be sure that when I do, I will! The book almost deserves its three stars for that alone.)]]> 3.33 2007 All Gong and No Dinner: Home Truths and Domestic Sayings
author: Nigel Rees
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2014/11/12
date added: 2014/11/12
shelves: library-books
review:
A pleasing, but slightly frustrating book: it can't seem to decide whether its mission is to search out the origins of the phrases, or merely to record them. So it does both - some phrases will get a page or more of variants, citations, and possible origins, while others get only two lines of the order of "this exists".

Still, many of the phrases covered made me laugh out loud and resolve to start using them myself, which causes me to bump it up from two to three stars. (I'm not sure when I'm likely to get a chance to exclaim "Eleven o'clock and not a whore in the house washed nor a po emptied, and the street full of Spanish soldiers!", but be sure that when I do, I will! The book almost deserves its three stars for that alone.)
]]> <![CDATA[The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, #1)]]> 8140709
In the year 1870, a horrible plague of vampires swept over the northern regions of the world. It is now 2020 and a bloody reckoning is coming. Princess Adele is heir to the Empire of Equatoria, a remnant of the old tropical British Empire. When she becomes the target of a merciless vampire clan, her only protector is the Greyfriar, a mysterious hero who fights the vampires from deep within their territory. Their dangerous relationship plays out against an approaching war to the death between humankind and the vampire clans.

The first book in a trilogy of high adventure and alternate history. Combining rousing pulp action with steampunk style, the Vampire Empire series brings epic political themes to life within a story of heartbreaking romance, sacrifice, and heroism.]]> 303 Clay Griffith 1616142472 Dorian 0 to-read 3.82 2010 The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, #1)
author: Clay Griffith
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/11/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Haunted Bookshop 947000
A charming ode to the art of bookselling wrapped inside a thrilling suspense story, The Haunted Bookshop is a must-read for bibliophiles and mystery lovers alike.]]> 289 Christopher Morley Dorian 2 project-gutenberg
Roger Mifflin runs a secondhand bookshop in just-post-WW1 Brooklyn, and expounds at great and rather tedious length on his philosophy of bookselling. Aubrey Gilbert works for an advertising agency and falls in love with Roger's "apprentice", the beautiful daughter of the advertising agency's biggest client. A copy of Carlyle's "Cromwell" keeps vanishing from and reappearing on the bookshop's shelves.

The basic story is a slightly silly, but perfectly serviceable, thriller involving Aubrey, the bookshop, and German spies. It also contains much to interest the dabbler in social history, with the descriptions of lodging houses, cheap restaurants, and other details of life in New York a hundred years ago. Unfortunately, the author couldn't resist letting Roger babble on about books, bookselling, and reading, at quite appalling and utterly irrelevant length, leaving the story hanging at often inopportune moments. And his thoughts, alas, are repetitive and not really very interesting.

The author would have done better to have saved the philosophising for an essay and left the story uninterrupted.]]> 3.54 1919 The Haunted Bookshop
author: Christopher Morley
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.54
book published: 1919
rating: 2
read at: 2014/10/31
date added: 2014/10/31
shelves: project-gutenberg
review:
Many - most? - of the books available on Project Gutenberg are otherwise forgotten. Some of them quite deservedly so. And this is one of those.

Roger Mifflin runs a secondhand bookshop in just-post-WW1 Brooklyn, and expounds at great and rather tedious length on his philosophy of bookselling. Aubrey Gilbert works for an advertising agency and falls in love with Roger's "apprentice", the beautiful daughter of the advertising agency's biggest client. A copy of Carlyle's "Cromwell" keeps vanishing from and reappearing on the bookshop's shelves.

The basic story is a slightly silly, but perfectly serviceable, thriller involving Aubrey, the bookshop, and German spies. It also contains much to interest the dabbler in social history, with the descriptions of lodging houses, cheap restaurants, and other details of life in New York a hundred years ago. Unfortunately, the author couldn't resist letting Roger babble on about books, bookselling, and reading, at quite appalling and utterly irrelevant length, leaving the story hanging at often inopportune moments. And his thoughts, alas, are repetitive and not really very interesting.

The author would have done better to have saved the philosophising for an essay and left the story uninterrupted.
]]> <![CDATA[Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin, #2)]]> 9943270
The convent has returned Sybella to a life that nearly drove her mad. Her father's rage and brutality are terrifying, and her brother's love is equally monstrous. When she discovers an unexpected ally imprisoned in the dungeons, will a daughter of Death find something other than vengeance to live for?]]> 387 Robin LaFevers 0547628382 Dorian 0 to-read 4.13 2013 Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin, #2)
author: Robin LaFevers
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/10/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin, #1)]]> 9565548 Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?]]> 549 Robin LaFevers 054762834X Dorian 0 to-read 3.89 2012 Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin, #1)
author: Robin LaFevers
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/10/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Thyme Out 527839 380 katie-fforde 0099280248 Dorian 2 library-books
Perdita and Lucas were married, briefly and disastrously, some 10 years before the story opens. Now they are divorced, and she has, with the help of grandmother-substitute Kitty, picked herself up and built a market gardening business that supplies local restaurants and hotels. Suddenly, the head chef in the biggest local hotel leaves, to be replaced by...Lucas (last seen, incidentally, as a stockbroker). Cue angst, annoyance, and "oh god suppose he thinks I'm still pining for him!" on Perdita's part.

The story proceeds fairly predictably from there: it is, alas, about how how Perdita and Lucas get back together. I say "alas", because Lucas is an arrogant, obnoxious, bullying twit, and what Perdita sees in him I cannot imagine. Especially when he decides their marriage breakdown was partly her fault because she didn't tell him to stop when he cheated on her. WTF?

Mind you, Perdita seems to have no life beyond her market gardening, and not much more personality than her parsley (except when she's trading insults with Lucas, which she does a lot. This is apparently a sign of affection), so what Lucas sees in her is also unclear. I did like the character of Kitty, though; she's the sort of disgraceful old lady that I want to be when I grow up. And her sub-plot, though sad, was good. (Apart from the Roger part, which was too obvious, and badly worked out.)

Overall, I was thoroughly unimpressed with this book, and I doubt I'll be reading anything else by this author.]]> 3.60 1999 Thyme Out
author: katie-fforde
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.60
book published: 1999
rating: 2
read at: 2014/10/21
date added: 2014/10/22
shelves: library-books
review:
I picked this book up somewhat at random in the library, and I'm very glad I didn't spend any money on it. It was a most disappointing piece of work.

Perdita and Lucas were married, briefly and disastrously, some 10 years before the story opens. Now they are divorced, and she has, with the help of grandmother-substitute Kitty, picked herself up and built a market gardening business that supplies local restaurants and hotels. Suddenly, the head chef in the biggest local hotel leaves, to be replaced by...Lucas (last seen, incidentally, as a stockbroker). Cue angst, annoyance, and "oh god suppose he thinks I'm still pining for him!" on Perdita's part.

The story proceeds fairly predictably from there: it is, alas, about how how Perdita and Lucas get back together. I say "alas", because Lucas is an arrogant, obnoxious, bullying twit, and what Perdita sees in him I cannot imagine. Especially when he decides their marriage breakdown was partly her fault because she didn't tell him to stop when he cheated on her. WTF?

Mind you, Perdita seems to have no life beyond her market gardening, and not much more personality than her parsley (except when she's trading insults with Lucas, which she does a lot. This is apparently a sign of affection), so what Lucas sees in her is also unclear. I did like the character of Kitty, though; she's the sort of disgraceful old lady that I want to be when I grow up. And her sub-plot, though sad, was good. (Apart from the Roger part, which was too obvious, and badly worked out.)

Overall, I was thoroughly unimpressed with this book, and I doubt I'll be reading anything else by this author.
]]> The Testament of Mariam 22325238
When this news reaches Mariam, living in exile in the province of Gaul, memories of her girlhood in faraway Palestine are painfully awakened. For years she has blocked them from her mind, but as illness and old age overtake her, she begins to relive the time when she defied all propriety and convention and followed her charismatic brother Yeshûa and her betrothed Yehûdâ in their daring but perilous adventure.

'We were young. We were going to change the world.'

Mariam shared the excitement, the fear and the mystery of the mission, but cannot forget the horror of its ending. With powerful resonances for today, The Testament of Mariam takes us into the turbulent world of rebellious Galilee under Roman occupation, and the courageous lives that altered the course of history.]]> 314 Ann Swinfen 099282284X Dorian 0 to-read 3.97 2009 The Testament of Mariam
author: Ann Swinfen
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/10/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder Most Unladylike (Murder Most Unladylike, #1)]]> 18070753 The first gripping, Agatha Christie-style mystery starring a brilliant new double act: feisty, funny schoolgirl detectives, Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong.

When Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong set up their very own deadly secret detective agency at Deepdean School for Girls, they struggle to find any truly exciting mysteries to investigate. (Unless you count the case of Lavinia's missing tie. Which they don't, really.)

But then Hazel discovers the Science Mistress, Miss Bell, lying dead in the Gym. She thinks it must all have been a terrible accident -- but when she and Daisy return five minutes later, the body has disappeared. Now the girls know a murder must have taken place... and there's more than one person at Deepdean with a motive.

Now Hazel and Daisy not only have a murder to solve: they have to prove a murder happened in the first place. Determined to get to the bottom of the crime before the killer strikes again (and before the police can get there first, naturally), Hazel and Daisy must hunt for evidence, spy on their suspects and use all the cunning, scheming and intuition they can muster. But will they succeed? And can their friendship stand the test?]]> 350 Robin Stevens 0552570729 Dorian 0 to-read 4.06 2014 Murder Most Unladylike (Murder Most Unladylike, #1)
author: Robin Stevens
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/10/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Glass Bird Girl (Knight's Haddon, #1)]]> 18681065
Orphan Edie is sent by her artdealer uncle to Knight’s Haddon School, to investigate the disappearance of a precious glass bird belonging to his secretive client’s daughter, Anastasia, an unhappy Russian princess. But what Edie uncovers instead is a dangerous mystery that only the girls themselves can solve.]]> 304 Esme Kerr 1908435992 Dorian 0 to-read 3.66 2014 The Glass Bird Girl (Knight's Haddon, #1)
author: Esme Kerr
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/10/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Castle Behind Thorns 18365279
When Sand wakes up alone in a long-abandoned castle, he has no idea how he got there. The stories all said the place was ruined by an earthquake, and Sand did not expect to find everything inside torn in half or slashed to bits. Nothing lives here and nothing grows, except the vicious, thorny bramble that prevents Sand from leaving. Why wasn’t this in the stories?

To survive, Sand does what he knows best—he fires up the castle’s forge to mend what he needs. But the things he fixes work somehow better than they ought to. Is there magic in the mending? Or have the saints who once guarded this place returned?

When Sand finds the castle’s lost heir, Perrotte, they begin to untwine the dark secrets that caused the destruction. Putting together the pieces—of stone and iron, and of a broken life—is harder than Sand ever imagined, but it’s the only way to regain their freedom.

With gorgeous language and breathtaking magic, Merrie Haskell’s The Castle Behind Thorns tells of the power of memory, story, forgiveness, and the true gifts of craft and imagination.
]]> 332 Merrie Haskell 0062008196 Dorian 0 to-read 3.93 2014 The Castle Behind Thorns
author: Merrie Haskell
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/10/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pennyroyal Academy (Pennyroyal Academy, #1)]]> 20821011 Pennyroyal Academy: Seeking bold, courageous youths to become tomorrow's princesses and knights�.Come one, come all!

A girl from the forest arrives in a bustling kingdom with no name and no idea why she is there, only to find herself at the center of a world at war.Ěý She enlists at Pennyroyal Academy, where princesses and knights are trained to battle the two great menaces of the day: witches and dragons. There, given the name “Evie,â€� she must endure a harsh training regimen under the steel glare of her Fairy Drillsergeant, while also navigating an entirely new world of friends and enemies. As Evie learns what it truly means to be a princess, she realizes surprising things about herself and her family, about human compassion and inhuman cruelty. And with the witch forces moving nearer, she discovers that the war between princesses and witches is much more personal than she could ever have imagined.

Set in Grimm’s fairytale world, M.A. Larson’s Pennyroyal Academy masterfully combines adventure, humor, and magical mischief.
]]> 320 M.A. Larson 0399163247 Dorian 0 to-read 3.78 2014 Pennyroyal Academy (Pennyroyal Academy, #1)
author: M.A. Larson
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/10/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Take a Thief (Valdemar #25) 28733 435 Mercedes Lackey 0756400589 Dorian 3
Having said that, though, I have to admit that nonetheless, I am still very fond of it. One of the author's major strengths is setting detail and showing the minutiae of her characters' lives, which is something I love to read about. So the entire first section pleases me because it's basically one long "here's how life is for these characters, and here's how their world works". And lots of the middle section involves more of the same, as Skif adjusts to the Collegium (and it to him!). And, of course, Skif is a hugely engaging character - and once he gets Chosen, there's also a lot of Alberich, who is one of my very favourite Valdemaran characters.

So really, I don't care about the flaws. This book pleases me.]]> 4.14 2001 Take a Thief (Valdemar #25)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/10/06
shelves:
review:
Structurally, this book is, IMO, rather unsound. The major conflict doesn't appear until nearly halfway through - the entire first part of the book is introducing Skif, showing his crappy life and how he becomes a thief, and basically setting up for the big disaster. After the disaster, there's a longish chunk of him flailing about looking for information, in the course of which he gets Chosen to be a Herald, and then the resolution comes rather wham-bam-thankyou-ma'am in the final two chapters.

Having said that, though, I have to admit that nonetheless, I am still very fond of it. One of the author's major strengths is setting detail and showing the minutiae of her characters' lives, which is something I love to read about. So the entire first section pleases me because it's basically one long "here's how life is for these characters, and here's how their world works". And lots of the middle section involves more of the same, as Skif adjusts to the Collegium (and it to him!). And, of course, Skif is a hugely engaging character - and once he gets Chosen, there's also a lot of Alberich, who is one of my very favourite Valdemaran characters.

So really, I don't care about the flaws. This book pleases me.
]]> <![CDATA[The Golem and the Djinni (The Golem and the Djinni #1)]]> 17624060
Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic and dies at sea on the voyage from Poland. Chava is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899.

Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert, trapped in an old copper flask, and released in New York City, though still not entirely free.

Ahmad and Chava become unlikely friends and soul mates with a mystical connection. Marvelous and compulsively readable, Helene Wecker's debut novel The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and magical fable, into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale.]]> 484 Helene Wecker 0007480164 Dorian 4 library-books
This is also a book about the immigrant communities in turn-of-the-20th-century New York, their hardships and happinesses, successes and failures: the Golem finds work in a Jewish bakery, the Djinni with a Syrian tinsmith, and both observe and to an extent become part of these small communities.

And it's about love (though not precisely the kind of romance you might think), and loss, and bindings, and freedom.

And it's the kind of book that you turn the last page, and close the book, and surface feeling slightly dazed as your head is still largely in the book-world, which is why this review is a bit disjointed. I loved this book, and I'm still slightly lost in it.]]> 4.15 2013 The Golem and the Djinni (The Golem and the Djinni #1)
author: Helene Wecker
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2014/09/18
date added: 2014/10/05
shelves: library-books
review:
This is a book about a Golem, an automaton created from clay and animated by rabbinical magic, and a Djinni, a fiery desert spirit, in turn-of-the-20th-century New York. The Golem's master has died on the way to New York. The Djinni is newly freed from a 1000-year confinement in a copper bottle. Both have to learn to live in an alien, crowded, frightening world. In due course they meet, which makes life both more and less complicated for both of them.

This is also a book about the immigrant communities in turn-of-the-20th-century New York, their hardships and happinesses, successes and failures: the Golem finds work in a Jewish bakery, the Djinni with a Syrian tinsmith, and both observe and to an extent become part of these small communities.

And it's about love (though not precisely the kind of romance you might think), and loss, and bindings, and freedom.

And it's the kind of book that you turn the last page, and close the book, and surface feeling slightly dazed as your head is still largely in the book-world, which is why this review is a bit disjointed. I loved this book, and I'm still slightly lost in it.
]]> <![CDATA[World's End (Age of Misrule #1)]]> 1436393 557 Mark Chadbourn 1857989805 Dorian 3 other-ebooks
This is a story about what happens when magic, and magical beings, return to our technology-driven world. (It's not very pretty.) Church and Ruth find themselves on a quest to fight back the approaching darkness and, as is traditional in quest fantasies, spend much of the book chasing around Britain searching for McGuffins and accumulating Quest Companions. They even have a Wise Old Mentor (though he is not quite like the traditional white-bearded wizard).

It's a pretty dark book. The opposition is very horrible, and has no objection to mass murder and wholesale destruction, as well as more individualised nastinesses such as kidnapping and torture. Still, Our Heroes find moments of joy and beauty along the way too (and indulge in some very realistic, if occasionally tiresome bickering); it isn't all doom and gloom.

The author has mined myth, legend and folklore pretty thoroughly for his magic setting. I must admit to being rather annoyed by his appropriation of Irish myth for the major antagonists, allies, and McGuffins, given the entire story takes place in Great Britain, and the five Heroes are all English. Even the Wise Old Mentor is Scottish. It's not, after all, as if that island hasn't got plenty of myth of its own - which he does use, but in a more subordinate capacity.

Also, the thing with the broomstick riding is entirely gratuitous.

Still, overall I liked it, and I've ordered the rest of the trilogy from the library.]]> 3.83 1999 World's End (Age of Misrule #1)
author: Mark Chadbourn
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at: 2014/09/25
date added: 2014/09/25
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
Jack Churchill and Ruth Gallagher meet when they both happen to witness a strange attack - a minor civil servant is murdered by a monstrous being which neither of them can describe clearly. The police say "mugging", but Church and Ruth are reluctantly convinced that something else is going on. As they try to find out what, things get ever stranger.

This is a story about what happens when magic, and magical beings, return to our technology-driven world. (It's not very pretty.) Church and Ruth find themselves on a quest to fight back the approaching darkness and, as is traditional in quest fantasies, spend much of the book chasing around Britain searching for McGuffins and accumulating Quest Companions. They even have a Wise Old Mentor (though he is not quite like the traditional white-bearded wizard).

It's a pretty dark book. The opposition is very horrible, and has no objection to mass murder and wholesale destruction, as well as more individualised nastinesses such as kidnapping and torture. Still, Our Heroes find moments of joy and beauty along the way too (and indulge in some very realistic, if occasionally tiresome bickering); it isn't all doom and gloom.

The author has mined myth, legend and folklore pretty thoroughly for his magic setting. I must admit to being rather annoyed by his appropriation of Irish myth for the major antagonists, allies, and McGuffins, given the entire story takes place in Great Britain, and the five Heroes are all English. Even the Wise Old Mentor is Scottish. It's not, after all, as if that island hasn't got plenty of myth of its own - which he does use, but in a more subordinate capacity.

Also, the thing with the broomstick riding is entirely gratuitous.

Still, overall I liked it, and I've ordered the rest of the trilogy from the library.
]]> The Drawing of the Dark 952466 The Drawing of the Dark (first published in 1979) is indeed worthy of the imprint. It was his third novel and first foray into the fantasy genre.

It is the year 1529 and Brian Duffy, a soldier of fortune, finds himself in Venice. A late-night confrontation with three brothers over a matter of honor convinces Brian to find greener pastures. After a chance meeting with an old monk named Aurelainus, Brian finds himself hired on to be the bouncer at the famous Herzwesten brewery and inn (formerly a monastery) located in Vienna. During Brian's voyage from Venice to Vienna, he crosses the Dolomite Mountains, only to meet assassins who attack him. Dwarves and creatures Brian knew only from mythology assist him in vanquishing his attackers.

The mythical Fisher King is a central character in The Drawing of the Dark, and cameos by the Roman god Bacchus, the Lady of the Lake, reincarnations of King Arthur and Sigmund from Norse mythology, Merlin, and hosts of soldiers, including Vikings and Swiss mercenaries, add to the otherworldly feel. The legendary heroes are allied against legions of soldiers from the Turkish Ottoman Empire under Suleiman and his wizard Ibrahim, who try to repeat the successes of their 1521 and 1526 invasions of eastern Europe by laying siege to Vienna. But just what is their objective? The city or the beer?

Tim Powers does a great job of tying the historical invasion of eastern Europe by the Turks to a rollicking, fun-filled fantasy, which offers its own reasons for the invasion and a wonderful cast of heroes that ultimately repel the invaders. This is a must-read for Tim Powers fans and for readers who have yet to delve into his rich, wonderful worlds. --Robert Gately

]]> 328 Tim Powers 0583133193 Dorian 3
...and it's stood up reasonably well under the passing years.

Brian Duffy is a middle-aged mercenary in 16th-century central Europe. As the book opens, he takes a job as bouncer in an inn in Vienna. This may prove to be a bad move, as the Turkish army is advancing on the city (never mind Duffy's personal issues), but as a bunch of aging Vikings, a sorceror, reincarnation, and various attempts at blackmail and bribery come into play, things become very complicated for Duffy indeed.

Brian is a well-drawn character, though neither heroic nor especially nice (but then, would you expect a 16th-century mercenary to be nice?). His refusal to accept what's really going on does get a bit tiresome after a while, though. The other characters are more lightly sketched in, and the only female character gets a thoroughly raw deal, which is annoying.

The plotline is based on the idea that there is magical stuff going on underneath the real, historical events of 1529 in Vienna, and the author weaves his fantastical bits well into the history, and does a good job of portraying a thoroughly unromantic view of mercenary soldiers of the time (without making them utterly unsympathetic).

The prose is at times clunky (he seems to have taken to heart the writing "rule" about not naming your character too often, and epithets such as "the Irishman", "the magician", "the hunchback", "the captain", etc. abound), but mostly serviceable if nothing more.

Overall, despite the testosterone-heavy feel, it's still a good read.]]> 4.18 1979 The Drawing of the Dark
author: Tim Powers
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1979
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/09/21
shelves:
review:
This was my introduction to Tim Powers' work, way back in about 1990 or thereabouts. I don't recall now what attracted me to it (it can't have been the bloody awful cover art) - perhaps the notion of a fantasy hero working as a bouncer; back then, the notion of the fantasy hero not being a Big Shiny Hero was new and exciting to me. Anyway, I've just been rereading it for the first time in some years...

...and it's stood up reasonably well under the passing years.

Brian Duffy is a middle-aged mercenary in 16th-century central Europe. As the book opens, he takes a job as bouncer in an inn in Vienna. This may prove to be a bad move, as the Turkish army is advancing on the city (never mind Duffy's personal issues), but as a bunch of aging Vikings, a sorceror, reincarnation, and various attempts at blackmail and bribery come into play, things become very complicated for Duffy indeed.

Brian is a well-drawn character, though neither heroic nor especially nice (but then, would you expect a 16th-century mercenary to be nice?). His refusal to accept what's really going on does get a bit tiresome after a while, though. The other characters are more lightly sketched in, and the only female character gets a thoroughly raw deal, which is annoying.

The plotline is based on the idea that there is magical stuff going on underneath the real, historical events of 1529 in Vienna, and the author weaves his fantastical bits well into the history, and does a good job of portraying a thoroughly unromantic view of mercenary soldiers of the time (without making them utterly unsympathetic).

The prose is at times clunky (he seems to have taken to heart the writing "rule" about not naming your character too often, and epithets such as "the Irishman", "the magician", "the hunchback", "the captain", etc. abound), but mostly serviceable if nothing more.

Overall, despite the testosterone-heavy feel, it's still a good read.
]]> <![CDATA[Dragon Slayer of Trondheim (The Story of Owen, #1)]]> 16068956 312 E.K. Johnston 1467710660 Dorian 0 to-read 3.74 2014 Dragon Slayer of Trondheim (The Story of Owen, #1)
author: E.K. Johnston
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/09/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Princess of the Silver Woods (The Princesses of Westfalin Trilogy, #3)]]> 12873027 The stories of Red Riding Hood and Robin Hood get a twist as Petunia and her many sisters take on bandits, grannies, and the new King Under Stone to end their family curse once and for all. ]]> 326 Jessica Day George 1599906465 Dorian 3 other-ebooks 4.06 2012 Princess of the Silver Woods (The Princesses of Westfalin Trilogy, #3)
author: Jessica Day George
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/09/05
shelves: other-ebooks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lady of Devices (Magnificent Devices, #1)]]> 11500552 259 Shelley Adina 1939087104 Dorian 2 other-ebooks
Although I liked Claire, and enjoyed her story, I was ultimately disappointed because this isn't a book. It's half of one. All along, events seem to be leading up to...well, something - Claire's triumph as a businesswoman, her entry into university, her saving the world, I don't know. But then it just stops, well short of any such dénoument. I felt cheated.]]> 3.81 2011 Lady of Devices (Magnificent Devices, #1)
author: Shelley Adina
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2014/09/01
date added: 2014/09/01
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
A very entertaining, if highly unrealistic, piece of fluff. Claire's mother is determined that Claire will become a properly accomplished young lady, prior to making a good marriage. Claire is more interesting in chemistry and scholarship. Then the family loses all its money, and Claire's life becomes a lot more complicated.

Although I liked Claire, and enjoyed her story, I was ultimately disappointed because this isn't a book. It's half of one. All along, events seem to be leading up to...well, something - Claire's triumph as a businesswoman, her entry into university, her saving the world, I don't know. But then it just stops, well short of any such dénoument. I felt cheated.
]]> <![CDATA[Blameless (Parasol Protectorate, #3)]]> 7719355 Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season in the third book of the NYT bestselling Parasol Protectorate series.

Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.
BLAMELESS is the third book of the Parasol Protectorate series: a comedy of manners set in Victorian London, full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.


The Parasol Protectorate
Soulless
Changeless
Blameless
Heartless
Timeless


For more from Gail Carriger, check out:

The Custard Protocol
Prudence
Imprudence
Competence
Reticence

Finishing School (YA)
Etiquette & Espionage
Curtsies & Conspiracies
Waistcoats & Weaponry
Manners & Mutiny]]> 355 Gail Carriger 0316074152 Dorian 3
Following Lord Maccon's utterly obnoxious behaviour at the end of book two, Alexia returns to the bosom of her family. Unfortunately, her sisters are still bitches, her mother is still a bully, and it rapidly transpires that someone is trying to kill her (again). For these, and other, reasons, she sets off for the Continent with her faithful manservant, Floote, and the lesbian inventor/hat-maker, Madame Lefoux. Meanwhile, Professor Lyall is left to cope with Lord Maccon, whose method of dealing with the situation is to get drunk on formaldehyde.

I liked seeing more of Madame Lefoux and of Floote (though he's still a tight-lipped sod) - and of Professor Lyall, who is definitely my favourite of the werewolves. There are lots of laugh-out-loud funny bits (many, but not all, involving formaldehyde), and a truly lovely, soppy bit with Lord Akeldama and Biffy. There's not very much of Lord Maccon, which IMO is a good thing, as I still don't like him. There are Knights Templar, embroidering. And a nasty little German scientist who keeps calling Alexia Female Specimen. There is pesto. And Ivy being surprisingly astute on the difference between silliness and foolishness. And assorted weird and wonderful mechanical contrivances. And it's all rocking good fun.]]> 3.99 2010 Blameless (Parasol Protectorate, #3)
author: Gail Carriger
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2014/08/29
date added: 2014/08/30
shelves:
review:
Book three, and this is my favourite of the series so far.

Following Lord Maccon's utterly obnoxious behaviour at the end of book two, Alexia returns to the bosom of her family. Unfortunately, her sisters are still bitches, her mother is still a bully, and it rapidly transpires that someone is trying to kill her (again). For these, and other, reasons, she sets off for the Continent with her faithful manservant, Floote, and the lesbian inventor/hat-maker, Madame Lefoux. Meanwhile, Professor Lyall is left to cope with Lord Maccon, whose method of dealing with the situation is to get drunk on formaldehyde.

I liked seeing more of Madame Lefoux and of Floote (though he's still a tight-lipped sod) - and of Professor Lyall, who is definitely my favourite of the werewolves. There are lots of laugh-out-loud funny bits (many, but not all, involving formaldehyde), and a truly lovely, soppy bit with Lord Akeldama and Biffy. There's not very much of Lord Maccon, which IMO is a good thing, as I still don't like him. There are Knights Templar, embroidering. And a nasty little German scientist who keeps calling Alexia Female Specimen. There is pesto. And Ivy being surprisingly astute on the difference between silliness and foolishness. And assorted weird and wonderful mechanical contrivances. And it's all rocking good fun.
]]> Switched (Trylle, #1) 12133821 What if your entire world was built on a lie?

Wendy Everly knew she was different the day her mother tried to kill her and accused her of having been switched at birth. Although certain she’s not the monster her mother claims she is � she does feel that she doesn’t quite fit in...

She’s bored and frustrated by her small town life � and then there’s the secret that she can’t tell anyone. Her mysterious ability � she can influence people’s decisions, without knowing how, or why...

When the intense and darkly handsome newcomer Finn suddenly turns up at her bedroom window one night � her world is turned upside down. He holds the key to her past, the answers to her strange powers and is the doorway to a place she never imagined could exist. Förening, the home of the Trylle.

Finally everything makes sense. Among the Trylle, Wendy is not just different, but special. But what marks her out as chosen for greatness in this world also places her in grave danger. With everything around her changing, Finn is the only person she can trust. But dark forces are conspiring � not only to separate them, but to see the downfall everything that Wendy cares about.

The fate of Förening rests in Wendy’s hands, and the decisions she and Finn make could change all their lives forever...]]> 328 Amanda Hocking 1447205693 Dorian 2 3.63 2010 Switched (Trylle, #1)
author: Amanda Hocking
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at: 2012/07/03
date added: 2014/08/29
shelves:
review:

]]> The Sensational Mr Danby 22790162
The cause of it all was one painting: â€The Opening of the Sixth Sealâ€� by the Irish artist Francis Danby. It was being displayed at the Royal Academy and was so popular that it had to be hung in a separate room because of the crowds queuing to see it. Everyone wanted a glance of this infamous painting.

The focus of the furore was the minute figure of a slave in the vast painting. It ignited fire into the issue of anti-slavery, which was dividing London society. It brought the debate on slavery in the British Empire to the forefront of social consciousness.

This work of historical fiction takes these real events and follows four people whose lives become caught up in the drama caused by Francis Danby and his painting. We witness the artist and the events through the very different perspectives of these characters.

There is HANNAH: the illiterate country maid who becomes Francis� wife and endures a tumultuous relationship with her husband.

There is ELLEN: the educated mistress of Francis, whose love for him makes her agree to live with his family as governess to his children.

Then there is EDWARD: the ageing upper-class academic who becomes fascinated by the scandal and embarks on writing a book about it.

Finally there is THOMAS: a young working-class Londoner whose involvement in the anti-slavery movement is becomes embroiled with Danby’s painting.

The painting is now on permanent display at the National Gallery of Ireland.]]> 181 S.R. Montague Dorian 0 to-read 5.00 2014 The Sensational Mr Danby
author: S.R. Montague
name: Dorian
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/08/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation]]> 18693773 The author of Reading the OED presents a look at language “mistakes� and how they came to be accepted as correct—or not.

English is a glorious mess of a language, cobbled together from a wide variety of sources and syntaxes, and changing over time with popular usage. Many of the words and usages we embrace as standard and correct today were at first considered slang, impolite, or just plain wrong. Filled with historic and contemporary examples, the book chronicles the long and entertaining history of language mistakes, and features some of our most common words and phrases. This is a book that will settle arguments among word lovers—and it’s sure to start a few, too.]]> 272 Ammon Shea 0399165576 Dorian 0 to-read 3.64 2014 Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation
author: Ammon Shea
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/08/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Stranger (The Change, #1) 16034526
Teenage prospector Ross Juarez’s best find ever � an ancient book he doesn’t know how to read � nearly costs him his life when a bounty hunter is set on him to kill him and steal the book. Ross barely makes it to Las Anclas, bringing with him a precious artifact, a power no one has ever had before, and a whole lot of trouble.]]> 400 Rachel Manija Brown 1101615397 Dorian 0 to-read 3.86 2014 Stranger (The Change, #1)
author: Rachel Manija Brown
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/08/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Changeless (Parasol Protectorate, #2)]]> 6933876
But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. So even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can. She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.

CHANGELESS is the second book of the Parasol Protectorate series: a comedy of manners set in Victorian London, full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.]]> 374 Gail Carriger 0316074144 Dorian 3
I liked this book better than the first, I think. The author has mostly got over her vocabulary issues (or her publisher has hired a copy-editor), so there wasn't that irritation. The Scottish shenanigans were greatly entertaining, and the solution to the mystery properly satisfying.

The characters were once again excellent, and I particularly liked a couple of the new characters introduced: Madame Lefoux, a lesbian scientist and hat-maker; and Lady Kingair, the not-a-werewolf-(or-a-male)-but-de-facto-alpha of the Scottish pack. I must admit I still don't like Lord Maccon, and fail to understand what Alexia sees in him, though. And his behaviour at the end of the book is utterly stupid and obnoxious.]]> 3.99 2010 Changeless (Parasol Protectorate, #2)
author: Gail Carriger
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2014/08/20
date added: 2014/08/24
shelves:
review:
Book two of the series. Alexia is now married to her alpha werewolf, and everything in the garden is lovely. Naturally, that doesn't last. First some weird something causes every supernatural type in its vicinity (a vicinity of some miles' radius) to become a normal mortal again. Alexia is more annoyed by the unexpected arrival of an army regiment and its determination to set up camp on her front lawn (her husband being an earl as well as an alpha werewolf, the front lawn is...extensive). And then he heads off to Scotland, without telling her what he's up to, but it seems the de-supernaturalising thingy is heading that direction too, so she heads off after him...

I liked this book better than the first, I think. The author has mostly got over her vocabulary issues (or her publisher has hired a copy-editor), so there wasn't that irritation. The Scottish shenanigans were greatly entertaining, and the solution to the mystery properly satisfying.

The characters were once again excellent, and I particularly liked a couple of the new characters introduced: Madame Lefoux, a lesbian scientist and hat-maker; and Lady Kingair, the not-a-werewolf-(or-a-male)-but-de-facto-alpha of the Scottish pack. I must admit I still don't like Lord Maccon, and fail to understand what Alexia sees in him, though. And his behaviour at the end of the book is utterly stupid and obnoxious.
]]> <![CDATA[Soulless (Parasol Protectorate, #1)]]> 6381205 Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations.

First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire--and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?]]> 357 Gail Carriger 0316056634 Dorian 3
In an alternate 19th-century London, where there are vampires and werewolves (and ghosts, we're told, though we don't meet any) alongside the steam engines and dirigibles, Alexia Tarabotti is a 25-year-old spinster - and a preternatural, one who can nullify a supernatural's abilities. As the story opens, she's at a ball - or rather, she's lurking in the library so she won't have to pretend she didn't want to dance anyway - when a vampire appears and, without warning, attacks her. (This, it appears, is a massive social gaffe.) Subsequently, Alexia gets involved in the investigations of this incident, alongside the local werewolf Alpha (who is, of course, the love interest).

The story is fast-paced and full of action as well as romance. The tone is humourous, and often very snarky (though I do think the cover blurb, comparing it to Jane Austen and P. G. Wodehouse, is going a bit far). I loved the character of Alexia, bookish, scientific-minded, and witty. Lord Maccon is a bit too Alpha for my tastes, but there are lots of wonderful secondary characters, like the outrageously camp vampire and the best friend with the awful taste in hats.

Unfortunately, the book could really have done with a decent copy-editor. There are some fairly obnoxious misues of words, such as "reticent" for "reluctant" (a mistake I'm seeing a lot, lately), or Alexia "mollifying her tone". Were it not for that, I might have given the book four stars.

Still, overall it was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.]]> 3.90 2009 Soulless (Parasol Protectorate, #1)
author: Gail Carriger
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2014/08/17
date added: 2014/08/18
shelves:
review:
I found this a most amusing steampunk/paranormal romance crossover.

In an alternate 19th-century London, where there are vampires and werewolves (and ghosts, we're told, though we don't meet any) alongside the steam engines and dirigibles, Alexia Tarabotti is a 25-year-old spinster - and a preternatural, one who can nullify a supernatural's abilities. As the story opens, she's at a ball - or rather, she's lurking in the library so she won't have to pretend she didn't want to dance anyway - when a vampire appears and, without warning, attacks her. (This, it appears, is a massive social gaffe.) Subsequently, Alexia gets involved in the investigations of this incident, alongside the local werewolf Alpha (who is, of course, the love interest).

The story is fast-paced and full of action as well as romance. The tone is humourous, and often very snarky (though I do think the cover blurb, comparing it to Jane Austen and P. G. Wodehouse, is going a bit far). I loved the character of Alexia, bookish, scientific-minded, and witty. Lord Maccon is a bit too Alpha for my tastes, but there are lots of wonderful secondary characters, like the outrageously camp vampire and the best friend with the awful taste in hats.

Unfortunately, the book could really have done with a decent copy-editor. There are some fairly obnoxious misues of words, such as "reticent" for "reluctant" (a mistake I'm seeing a lot, lately), or Alexia "mollifying her tone". Were it not for that, I might have given the book four stars.

Still, overall it was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.
]]> The Islands of Chaldea 18107099
Aileen comes from a long line of magic makers, and her aunt Beck is the most powerful magician on Skarr. But Aileen's magic has yet to reveal itself, even though she is old enough and it should have by now. When Aileen is sent over the sea on a mission for the King, she worries that she'll be useless and in the way. A powerful talking cat changes all of that—and with every obstacle Aileen faces, she becomes stronger and more confident, until her magic blooms.]]> 277 Diana Wynne Jones 0007542232 Dorian 4
A prophecy says that if a Wise Woman journeys from Skarr, through Bernica and Gallis, and enters Logra with a man from each island, the curse can be lifted and the Crown Prince rescued. So off they go. The narrator (apprentice Wise Woman and dismally convinced she's no good at it), her aunt (the actual wise Woman), the Crown Prince's little brother (self-centred and arrogant), and the brother's servant (a clod-hopping foreigner). And this being DWJ, none of this is quite what it seems, and the story does not go in obvious way.

I really, really liked this. It has something of he feel of "Power of Three", and something of the feel of "The Time of the Ghost", and quite often a feel of Irish fairy-tales (which naturally I find pleasing!). There is a most excellent cat, and plots and intrigues, and a hot air balloon. And I am looking forward to reading it again and trying to find the clue that Ursula Jones says (in the Afterword) that she built the ending off.]]> 3.83 2014 The Islands of Chaldea
author: Diana Wynne Jones
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2014/08/12
date added: 2014/08/12
shelves:
review:
This is Diana Wynne Jones' very last book; left unfinished at her death, it was completed by her sister, to the delight of DWJ fans everywhere.

A prophecy says that if a Wise Woman journeys from Skarr, through Bernica and Gallis, and enters Logra with a man from each island, the curse can be lifted and the Crown Prince rescued. So off they go. The narrator (apprentice Wise Woman and dismally convinced she's no good at it), her aunt (the actual wise Woman), the Crown Prince's little brother (self-centred and arrogant), and the brother's servant (a clod-hopping foreigner). And this being DWJ, none of this is quite what it seems, and the story does not go in obvious way.

I really, really liked this. It has something of he feel of "Power of Three", and something of the feel of "The Time of the Ghost", and quite often a feel of Irish fairy-tales (which naturally I find pleasing!). There is a most excellent cat, and plots and intrigues, and a hot air balloon. And I am looking forward to reading it again and trying to find the clue that Ursula Jones says (in the Afterword) that she built the ending off.
]]> Steadfast 18812355
Lionel Hawkins was a professional magician who had a permanent job at the Palace Music Hall in Brighton. His shows never failed to enchant the ever-changing crowds, for his magic was more than just tricks. Lionel was an Air Magician, and he wasn't the only one at the Palace who had magical abilities. Jack Prescott, the Palace doorman who had lost a leg in the Boer Wars, had preternatural awareness of all flame, which had saved the Palace from burning on more than one occasion.

When Katie answered the Palace's call for a new assistant with stage experience, it seemed like all her problems were solved. But it soon became clear that Katie was a Fire Magician like Jack and that something had blocked Katie's acccess to her own abilities � a dangerous situation for everyone around her. Fire, the most volatile of all the elements, was a power that could easily turn deadly when fueled by strong emotion. And Lionel and Jack could tell that Katie was hiding something. Something that frightened her. Something that could set their whole world ablaze if they couldn't help her master her Element in time.]]> 378 Mercedes Lackey 0756409462 Dorian 3
Like Reserved for the Cat, it involves a dancer-type at a music hall in a seaside resort. I'm inclined to suspect the author did some research for the earlier book, and liked it enough to reuse it.

I was a bit disappointed that the circumstances of the heroine's parents' death were not actually a plot point; they were presented in such a way that they could have been. And the ending was rather rushed and a bit deus ex machina. But overall it was a nice, light read.]]> 4.03 2013 Steadfast
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2014/08/08
date added: 2014/08/08
shelves:
review:
A pleasant but unremarkable installment in the Elemental Masters series.

Like Reserved for the Cat, it involves a dancer-type at a music hall in a seaside resort. I'm inclined to suspect the author did some research for the earlier book, and liked it enough to reuse it.

I was a bit disappointed that the circumstances of the heroine's parents' death were not actually a plot point; they were presented in such a way that they could have been. And the ending was rather rushed and a bit deus ex machina. But overall it was a nice, light read.
]]> The Professional Aunt 17174097 126 Mary C.E. Wemyss 3849168441 Dorian 2
The book describes, somewhat episodically, a period of probably about a year in this woman's life, starting with a devastating critique of sister-in-law Zerlina, and ending with her (the narrator's) engagement. There isn't an awful lot of causal progression; things simply happen, largely randomly, and contrary to current literary fashion, are more often "told" than "shown".

I'm not sure I'll ever bother reading it again, to be honest, but I'll keep the book because it's a very beautiful early edition, with a colour illustration on the front cover and half a dozen or so internal illustrations in black-and-white. Not to mention a gift inscription on the flyleaf and a bookplate glued inside the front cover.]]> 2.00 1910 The Professional Aunt
author: Mary C.E. Wemyss
name: Dorian
average rating: 2.00
book published: 1910
rating: 2
read at: 2014/07/27
date added: 2014/07/27
shelves:
review:
An odd little book without much story. The narrator is a "professional Aunt", that is, a single woman with several nieces and nephews, whom the parents of said nieces and nephews are accustomed to exploit in such matters as babysitting, present-buying, etc. She is, however, goodnatured and mostly fond of her nieces and nephews; though she allows her sisters-in-law to exploit her thus, she knows what they're doing and describes them with sometimes merciless lucidity.

The book describes, somewhat episodically, a period of probably about a year in this woman's life, starting with a devastating critique of sister-in-law Zerlina, and ending with her (the narrator's) engagement. There isn't an awful lot of causal progression; things simply happen, largely randomly, and contrary to current literary fashion, are more often "told" than "shown".

I'm not sure I'll ever bother reading it again, to be honest, but I'll keep the book because it's a very beautiful early edition, with a colour illustration on the front cover and half a dozen or so internal illustrations in black-and-white. Not to mention a gift inscription on the flyleaf and a bookplate glued inside the front cover.
]]> <![CDATA[Magistrates of Hell (James Asher, #4)]]> 13227027
October, 1912. James Asher, his wife Lydia, and the old occultist and vampire-hunter Dr Solomon Karlebach have journeyed to the new-born Republic of China to investigate the rumour that the mindless Undead � the Others that even the vampires fear � have begun to multiply in the caverns of the hills west of Peking. Alongside his old vampire partner, Don Simon Ysidro, Asher embarks on a sinister hunt, while somewhere in the city’s cold gray labyrinth lurk the Peking vampires, known as the Magistrates of Hell � with an agenda of their own . . .]]> 244 Barbara Hambly 0727881582 Dorian 4 3.90 2012 Magistrates of Hell (James Asher, #4)
author: Barbara Hambly
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/07/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Clubbed to Death (Robert Amiss, #4)]]> 1765432 Why are there so few members? How are they financed? Will Amiss keep his job - and his cover - despite the enmity of the ferocious, snuff-covered Colonel Flagg? The answers lie in this ingenious, uproarious mystery that will keep you guessing - and laughing - until the very end.]]> 190 Ruth Dudley Edwards 0312081634 Dorian 3 3.83 1992 Clubbed to Death (Robert Amiss, #4)
author: Ruth Dudley Edwards
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/07/15
shelves:
review:

]]> Every Woman For Herself 20724479
Upvale Parsonage, the family home to which Charlie has retreated, is presided over by her sister Em. Em’s hobbies are composing inspirational verses, dabbling in the Ancient Black Arts, and fighting off the incursions of Father’s latest mistress. When the current mistress actually moves in, family loyalties are sorely tried. Still, Charlie is determined to bounce back from disaster and strike a blow for deserted older wives everywhere. But when she meets brooding actor Mace North, she realizes that when it comes to dating for the over-forty crowd, female solidarity be damned—it’s every woman for herself!

Sure to delight both Bronte fans and readers who like a good laugh with their romance, Trisha Ashley’s first book to be published in the United States is a welcome treat.
]]> 400 Trisha Ashley 1847562825 Dorian 5 library-books
Charlie's husband tells her out of the blue one morning that he's started divorce proceedings. Shortly thereafter, his obnoxious best friend tries to feel her up, and she accidentally kills him. This does not, I grant, sound like a promising opening. But the author manages to make it brilliantly funny. Charlie goes back to her family home in Yorkshire, currently inhabited by her father (a literary biographer who specialises in "proving" that women's writings were really done by the men in their lives), her father's mistress (plus awful offspring), her sister Emily (domesticated, outspoken, and a witch), her sister Anne (a war correspondent, home temporarily after cancer treatment), her brother Branwell (an academic of excessive eccentricity), and the Loyal Family Retainers, Gloria and Walter.

And then there are various people falling in love, and such diversions as melon-bashing, searches for shallow graves, paternity testing, magazine production, and witchcraft. And a collective happy ending.

The characters are all lovely (except the ones who aren't meant to be, obviously, but even they have life and personality), Charlie (who is also the narrator) has a most engaging voice, the various story strands braid beautifully together, and the whole thing is laugh-out-loud funny (I think I scared some people on the bus, giggling at it).

And how can you not love a heroine who guesses that her now ex-husband's promises of generosity in maintenance are likely "to dwindle away, like in Sense and Sensibility [...] where the widow and her daughters were going to be looked after by the son who inherited everything, only the allowance sort of dwindled away to the present of the odd duck". ("The odd duck" subsequently becomes a catchphrase throughout the book, and made me giggle every time.)
]]> 3.62 2002 Every Woman For Herself
author: Trisha Ashley
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2014/07/09
date added: 2014/07/10
shelves: library-books
review:
I picked this up on a friend's recommendation and I'm very glad I did; it was really quite excellent.

Charlie's husband tells her out of the blue one morning that he's started divorce proceedings. Shortly thereafter, his obnoxious best friend tries to feel her up, and she accidentally kills him. This does not, I grant, sound like a promising opening. But the author manages to make it brilliantly funny. Charlie goes back to her family home in Yorkshire, currently inhabited by her father (a literary biographer who specialises in "proving" that women's writings were really done by the men in their lives), her father's mistress (plus awful offspring), her sister Emily (domesticated, outspoken, and a witch), her sister Anne (a war correspondent, home temporarily after cancer treatment), her brother Branwell (an academic of excessive eccentricity), and the Loyal Family Retainers, Gloria and Walter.

And then there are various people falling in love, and such diversions as melon-bashing, searches for shallow graves, paternity testing, magazine production, and witchcraft. And a collective happy ending.

The characters are all lovely (except the ones who aren't meant to be, obviously, but even they have life and personality), Charlie (who is also the narrator) has a most engaging voice, the various story strands braid beautifully together, and the whole thing is laugh-out-loud funny (I think I scared some people on the bus, giggling at it).

And how can you not love a heroine who guesses that her now ex-husband's promises of generosity in maintenance are likely "to dwindle away, like in Sense and Sensibility [...] where the widow and her daughters were going to be looked after by the son who inherited everything, only the allowance sort of dwindled away to the present of the odd duck". ("The odd duck" subsequently becomes a catchphrase throughout the book, and made me giggle every time.)

]]> Un Lun Dun 2021006 521 China Miéville 0330453475 Dorian 3 library-books disliked the same author's "Perdido Street Station". But I thought I'd give it a go, in the hope that his writing for children would be better than his writing for adults. And because I am very fond of alternate-world versions of real places as story settings. And, as it turned out, I was pleasantly surprised.

After some slightly odd experiences, Zanna and Deeba travel semi-accidentally to UnLondon, where they discover, first, that it is under attack by the Smog, and second, that Zanna is the Chosen One destined to save it. Unfortunately, things don't go just according to plan, and pretty soon it's Deeba who's taking on the fight. (I can't help wondering if it was actually the Smog that Chose Zanna, as she's a bit wet and not the type anyone would choose who actually wanted her to win. Almost from the start, Deeba is the one who does all the protagging.)

UnLondon doesn't really bear much resemblance to its progenitor, as far as I can see (though I'm not at all familiar with the city), but the author clearly had a lot of fun making up the various districts, edifices, and denizens. I liked Roofdom especially, and of course the Wordhoard Pit.

The characters are an engaging bunch, especially the little utterlings, and I loved Curdle the pet milk carton. The plot is maybe a bit predictable, but the characters and setting are so much fun that that's not really important.

Overall, a surprisingly good read.]]> 3.76 2007 Un Lun Dun
author: China Miéville
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/30
date added: 2014/06/30
shelves: library-books
review:
I wasn't really expecting to like this, having greatly disliked the same author's "Perdido Street Station". But I thought I'd give it a go, in the hope that his writing for children would be better than his writing for adults. And because I am very fond of alternate-world versions of real places as story settings. And, as it turned out, I was pleasantly surprised.

After some slightly odd experiences, Zanna and Deeba travel semi-accidentally to UnLondon, where they discover, first, that it is under attack by the Smog, and second, that Zanna is the Chosen One destined to save it. Unfortunately, things don't go just according to plan, and pretty soon it's Deeba who's taking on the fight. (I can't help wondering if it was actually the Smog that Chose Zanna, as she's a bit wet and not the type anyone would choose who actually wanted her to win. Almost from the start, Deeba is the one who does all the protagging.)

UnLondon doesn't really bear much resemblance to its progenitor, as far as I can see (though I'm not at all familiar with the city), but the author clearly had a lot of fun making up the various districts, edifices, and denizens. I liked Roofdom especially, and of course the Wordhoard Pit.

The characters are an engaging bunch, especially the little utterlings, and I loved Curdle the pet milk carton. The plot is maybe a bit predictable, but the characters and setting are so much fun that that's not really important.

Overall, a surprisingly good read.
]]> <![CDATA[Princess of Glass (The Princesses of Westfalin Trilogy, #2)]]> 7199667 Hoping to escape the troubles in her kingdom, Princess Poppy reluctantly agrees to take part in a royal exchange program, whereby young princes and princesses travel to each other's countries in the name of better political alliances--and potential marriages. It's got the makings of a fairy tale--until a hapless servant named Eleanor is tricked by a vengeful fairy godmother into competing with Poppy for the eligible prince. Ballgowns, cinders, and enchanted glass slippers fly in this romantic and action-packed happily-ever-after quest from an author with a flair for embroidering tales in her own delightful way.
]]> 266 Jessica Day George 1599904780 Dorian 3 other-ebooks
This time the base fairy tale is "Cinderella", but the author has put a rather dark twist on it, which I liked, because I've never liked the original tale; Cinders is so very wet. The Cinders character in this isn't very bright, but she isn't wet, at least. She also isn't the heroine; Poppy, one of the twelve dancing princesses from the earlier book, is, and she has to save her handsome prince from the machinations of Cinderella's fairy godmother.

Once again, knitting plays a large part, and there are patterns at the end (I want to make the stole). The magic was quite clever - and in the godmother's case, very creepy. The characters were likeable, the story was fun, and I was going to give it four stars, but then I got to the end, and...well, the dénoument doesn't work for me. There's this big build-up, will they be able to save themselves, how will they get out of this, and then bang! It's over, they're all okay, and there's no visible reason for it. There was no fight, no struggle, just "oh look, we won, hooray". It was a distinct let-down. But right up until then I was loving it.]]> 4.06 2010 Princess of Glass (The Princesses of Westfalin Trilogy, #2)
author: Jessica Day George
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/27
date added: 2014/06/27
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
Overall, I liked this better than the first book in the series. There was something just slightly flat about "Princess of the Midnight Ball", but this one was livelier.

This time the base fairy tale is "Cinderella", but the author has put a rather dark twist on it, which I liked, because I've never liked the original tale; Cinders is so very wet. The Cinders character in this isn't very bright, but she isn't wet, at least. She also isn't the heroine; Poppy, one of the twelve dancing princesses from the earlier book, is, and she has to save her handsome prince from the machinations of Cinderella's fairy godmother.

Once again, knitting plays a large part, and there are patterns at the end (I want to make the stole). The magic was quite clever - and in the godmother's case, very creepy. The characters were likeable, the story was fun, and I was going to give it four stars, but then I got to the end, and...well, the dénoument doesn't work for me. There's this big build-up, will they be able to save themselves, how will they get out of this, and then bang! It's over, they're all okay, and there's no visible reason for it. There was no fight, no struggle, just "oh look, we won, hooray". It was a distinct let-down. But right up until then I was loving it.
]]> <![CDATA[Blood Maidens (James Asher, #3)]]> 8388595 The new â€James Asherâ€� vampire novel from the best-selling author - It’s 1911. War is coming, and according to one of the vampires of St. Petersburg, the Kaiser is trying to recruit vampires. James Asher, Oxford don and formerly on His Majesty’s Secret Service, is forced to team up again with his vampire partner Don Simon Ysidro for a journey to the subarctic Russian capital. Are they on the trail of a rogue vampire with a plan to achieve the power to walk in daylight? Asher wonders. Or is Ysidro’s real agenda to seek the woman he once loved?

]]> 256 Barbara Hambly 0727869477 Dorian 3 other-ebooks
It felt a bit derivative to begin with, as James and Ysidro set out to track down a vampire that may or may not be able to walk in the sun (an issue in book one of the series), and may or may not be being recruited by a human government (a major issue in book two). However, this time the trail takes them to St Petersburg, and despite the superficial similarities, the plot is sufficiently different from the previous books' that my misgivings were soon allayed.

This book featured more moral qualms and soul-searching on James' part than the previous ones - and also more trouble leading from his previous life as a government agent. But there was also plenty of what I love about this series - James exercising spycraft, Lydia researching and gossiping, Ysidro being snooty, the interactions between all three, the excellently-drawn historical setting...

I think "Travelling with the Dead" is still my favourite book in this series, but this one is also very good. (And I got a mention in the Acknowledgements, which is very exciting!)]]> 3.78 2010 Blood Maidens (James Asher, #3)
author: Barbara Hambly
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/24
date added: 2014/06/26
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
I'm a long-time fan of Barbara Hambly, and especially of her Asher&Ysidro series, so I was delighted to finally get my hands on this third installment in it (hooray for ebooks! I never saw it in the bookshops).

It felt a bit derivative to begin with, as James and Ysidro set out to track down a vampire that may or may not be able to walk in the sun (an issue in book one of the series), and may or may not be being recruited by a human government (a major issue in book two). However, this time the trail takes them to St Petersburg, and despite the superficial similarities, the plot is sufficiently different from the previous books' that my misgivings were soon allayed.

This book featured more moral qualms and soul-searching on James' part than the previous ones - and also more trouble leading from his previous life as a government agent. But there was also plenty of what I love about this series - James exercising spycraft, Lydia researching and gossiping, Ysidro being snooty, the interactions between all three, the excellently-drawn historical setting...

I think "Travelling with the Dead" is still my favourite book in this series, but this one is also very good. (And I got a mention in the Acknowledgements, which is very exciting!)
]]> <![CDATA[Tuesdays at the Castle (Castle Glower, #1)]]> 10508431 225 Jessica Day George 1599906449 Dorian 4 other-ebooks
And this partnership of Celie and the Castle becomes crucial when the King, Queen and eldest son are set upon by bandits and the Crown Prince finds himself surrounded by a Council that doesn't seem to quite have his - or the Kingdom's - best interests at heart.

A lively story with engaging characters; I'm so glad it's the first of a series!]]> 4.10 2011 Tuesdays at the Castle (Castle Glower, #1)
author: Jessica Day George
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2014/06/23
date added: 2014/06/26
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
I love books with sentient buildings, and Castle Glower is a wonderful example. It adds, removes, and changes rooms, sometimes at a whim, other times for very good reasons - like imprisoning enemy spies, or making it obvious who it wants to be the next king. The Castle's preferences are why it's the King's second son that's the Crown Prince (the eldest is training to be a wizard instead). But its favourite is the youngest of the King's children, Princess Celie - who loves it in return, and knows the ways around it better than anyone else.

And this partnership of Celie and the Castle becomes crucial when the King, Queen and eldest son are set upon by bandits and the Crown Prince finds himself surrounded by a Council that doesn't seem to quite have his - or the Kingdom's - best interests at heart.

A lively story with engaging characters; I'm so glad it's the first of a series!
]]> <![CDATA[Princess of the Midnight Ball (The Princesses of Westfalin Trilogy, #1)]]> 3697927 A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn�

Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above.

Captivating from start to finish, Jessica Day George’s take on the Grimms� tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses demonstrates yet again her mastery at spinning something entirely fresh out of a story you thought you knew.]]> 280 Jessica Day George 1599903229 Dorian 3 other-ebooks
There is, of course, more to this version than those basic elements. The reasons for the dancing are fleshed out; the old soldier is a knitter, and his knitting skills turn out to be crucial to the final solution (I really liked that!); the entire affair has repercussions in the everyday world.

Overall, a very pleasing addition to the ranks of fairy-tale retellings.]]> 3.95 2009 Princess of the Midnight Ball (The Princesses of Westfalin Trilogy, #1)
author: Jessica Day George
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/21
date added: 2014/06/26
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
This is a retelling of the fairy-tale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses". The author keeps all of the traditional elements - the twelve princesses, their dancing shoes worn out every night, the offer of his choice of princess and eventual kingship to the man who can solve the mystery, the princes who all fail in the task, and the old soldier who - having helped an old lady on the road - is given the tools to succeed.

There is, of course, more to this version than those basic elements. The reasons for the dancing are fleshed out; the old soldier is a knitter, and his knitting skills turn out to be crucial to the final solution (I really liked that!); the entire affair has repercussions in the everyday world.

Overall, a very pleasing addition to the ranks of fairy-tale retellings.
]]> The Coldest Girl in Coldtown 12813630
One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.]]> 419 Holly Black 0316213101 Dorian 3 library-books
Tana is the sort of heroine I usually hate. Her early decision to get the hell out of the house full of dead people and vampires is fairly much the last sensible decision she makes. Mostly she makes stupid and/or suicidal decisions (though this is slightly mitigated by the fact that she recognises this tendency in herself). Also, despite recognising that Aidan is a jerk and his suggestions are usually really idiotic, she keeps hanging out with him, getting back together with him, and doing things he suggests. Having said all that, though, there's something kind of endearing about her, and I mostly didn't find myself wanting to slap some sense into her, which was unexpected.

I did want to slap Aidan, a lot, but I have to admit he's a well-drawn example of a certain type of obnoxious teenage boy. The other characters, too, were convincing. The vampire wannabes were kind of tragic. Lucien, the "king" vampire, is properly monstrous. I really liked Valentina, and Gavriel (the chained-up vampire from the start) manages to be simultaneously charming, monstrous, and batshit insane.

Although Tana is the POV character and protagonist, the story isn't really about her; it's really about Lucien and Gavriel, but Tana is the wild card in their tale, making things come out very differently from what either of them planned

I'm not a great fan of this author, but I found this a surprisingly enjoyable book. I'll be interested to see if she writes a sequel.]]> 3.84 2013 The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
author: Holly Black
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/25
date added: 2014/06/26
shelves: library-books
review:
Tana wakes up after a party in the bath. Upon emerging, she discovers that everyone else at the party is dead, murdered by vampires. Time to get out of here, she decides, and goes to get her boots and jacket. Unfortunately, in the room where people left their boots and jackets, she also finds the windows covered with black rubbish sacks, her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Aidan, tied to the bed, and a vampire chained up on the floor. And then it turns out the vampires responsible for all this are still in the house... Pretty soon Tana is heading for Coldtown (a walled-off city that serves as a prison for vampires, those infected by them, and idiots who want to serve them/become them) with Aidan, the chained-up vampire, and a pair of vampire wannabes they meet along the way. Of course, when they get to Coldtown, their problems are only beginning.

Tana is the sort of heroine I usually hate. Her early decision to get the hell out of the house full of dead people and vampires is fairly much the last sensible decision she makes. Mostly she makes stupid and/or suicidal decisions (though this is slightly mitigated by the fact that she recognises this tendency in herself). Also, despite recognising that Aidan is a jerk and his suggestions are usually really idiotic, she keeps hanging out with him, getting back together with him, and doing things he suggests. Having said all that, though, there's something kind of endearing about her, and I mostly didn't find myself wanting to slap some sense into her, which was unexpected.

I did want to slap Aidan, a lot, but I have to admit he's a well-drawn example of a certain type of obnoxious teenage boy. The other characters, too, were convincing. The vampire wannabes were kind of tragic. Lucien, the "king" vampire, is properly monstrous. I really liked Valentina, and Gavriel (the chained-up vampire from the start) manages to be simultaneously charming, monstrous, and batshit insane.

Although Tana is the POV character and protagonist, the story isn't really about her; it's really about Lucien and Gavriel, but Tana is the wild card in their tale, making things come out very differently from what either of them planned

I'm not a great fan of this author, but I found this a surprisingly enjoyable book. I'll be interested to see if she writes a sequel.
]]> <![CDATA[The Mirror Empire (Worldbreaker Saga, #1)]]> 20697501
On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past . . . while a world goes to war with itself.Ěý

In the frozen kingdom of Saiduan, invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, leaving behind nothing but ash and ruin. At the heart of this war lie the pacifistic Dhai people, once enslaved by the Saiduan and now courted by their former masters to provide aid against the encroaching enemy.
Ěý
As the dark star of the cataclysm rises, an illegitimate ruler is tasked with holding together a country fractured by civil war; a precocious young fighter is asked to betray his family to save his skin; and a half-Dhai general must choose between the eradication of her father's people or loyalty to her alien Empress. Through tense alliances and devastating betrayal, the Dhai and their allies attempt to hold against a seemingly unstoppable force as enemy nations prepare for a coming together of worlds as old as the universe itself.ĚýIn the end, one world will rise—and many will perish.

Stretching from desolate tundras to steamy, semi-tropical climes seething with sentient plant life, this is an epic tale of blood mages and mercenaries, emperors and priestly assassins, who must unite to save a world on the brink of ruin.

File Under : Fantasy [ Orphaned Child | World at War | Blood Magic | The Fluidity of Gender]]]> 538 Kameron Hurley 0857665561 Dorian 0 to-read 3.62 2014 The Mirror Empire (Worldbreaker Saga, #1)
author: Kameron Hurley
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/06/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas #1)]]> 20359361 There's a pawnshop (where someone lives in the basement and runs the store during the night). There's a diner (although those folk who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there's new resident: Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he's found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his own).

If you stop at the one traffic light in town, then everything looks normal. But if you stay a while, you might learn the truth...

]]> 305 Charlaine Harris 057509284X Dorian 4 library-books
Manfred, a professional psychic, moves in to the tiny town (in fact, calling it a village would probably be overstating the case) of Midnight, Texas. It's an odd little place; most of the shops have closed down years ago and it's not clear how the remaining inhabitants manage to make any kind of living from their (mostly rather specialist) businesses. It's also a place where, though people are friendly and look out for one another, prying into other people's business - or their pasts - is Not Done. However, it does become clear that most of Manfred's new neighbours are supernatural types of one kind or another (though it's not always stated explicitly).

This is, however, despite the supernatural aspect, a whodunnit, complete with corpse, multiple suspects, and unexpected solution. And it's a pretty good one. Between the setting, the characters, and the mystery, I had a lot of fun with this book. I'm only sorry it's billed as the first of a trilogy, as I'd like to read more books than that with these characters/this setting.]]> 3.52 2014 Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas #1)
author: Charlaine Harris
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2014/06/18
date added: 2014/06/19
shelves: library-books
review:
I found this a lot more similar to the author's early, non-supernatural, mystery stories than to the Sookie Stackhouse books. The Sookie stories, possibly because Sookie herself is such an outsider, don't have that close-knit small town, everyone-looking-out-for-everyone-else, feel that I got from the Lily Bard and Aurora Teagarden books. And this book has that feel to it too. (Also, at least one character from each of those series has migrated to this one.)

Manfred, a professional psychic, moves in to the tiny town (in fact, calling it a village would probably be overstating the case) of Midnight, Texas. It's an odd little place; most of the shops have closed down years ago and it's not clear how the remaining inhabitants manage to make any kind of living from their (mostly rather specialist) businesses. It's also a place where, though people are friendly and look out for one another, prying into other people's business - or their pasts - is Not Done. However, it does become clear that most of Manfred's new neighbours are supernatural types of one kind or another (though it's not always stated explicitly).

This is, however, despite the supernatural aspect, a whodunnit, complete with corpse, multiple suspects, and unexpected solution. And it's a pretty good one. Between the setting, the characters, and the mystery, I had a lot of fun with this book. I'm only sorry it's billed as the first of a trilogy, as I'd like to read more books than that with these characters/this setting.
]]> <![CDATA[Thief's Magic (Millennium’s Rule, #1)]]> 17302559
Elsewhere, in an land ruled by the priests, Rielle the dyer's daughter has been taught that to use magic is to steal from the Angels. Yet she knows she has a talent for it, and that there is a corrupter in the city willing to teach her how to use it -- should she dare to risk the Angels' wrath.

But not everything is as Tyen and Rielle have been raised to believe. Not the nature of magic, nor the laws of their lands... and not even the people they trust.
]]> 553 Trudi Canavan 0316209279 Dorian 3 library-books
Meanwhile, in a desert land, Rielle can sense magic, but its use is proscribed so she must conceal her ability. Her illicit love affair is of more immediate importance to her, anyway...at least to begin with.

I liked both the main characters in this book, which is a good thing as it's one of those where you get a section on one character's story, then a section on the other, and so on back and forth - and that can get very tiresome if you dislike one of the characters. I didn't have that problem, though. Likewise, I liked the world-building in both and the different attitudes to and uses of magic.

What I didn't like was [spoilers removed] Still. Annoying.

Having said that, it's a relatively minor niggle, and overall I liked the book well enough that I'll probably buy my own copy, not to mention the following book(s) in the series.]]> 3.84 2014 Thief's Magic (Millennium’s Rule, #1)
author: Trudi Canavan
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/17
date added: 2014/06/17
shelves: library-books
review:
In a steampunk-ish world, where such things as aircarts and railsleds are powered by magic, Tyen is a student of archaeology and sorcery (though frankly, archaeology here is merely a term used to dignify grave-robbing). As the story opens, he finds a book that turns out to be sentient, holding the mind of a several-thousand-year-old sorceress named Vella. Tyen chooses to hide Vella from the Academy authorities (to whom he is supposed to turn over all treasure found on a dig), but soon enough they find out about her, and soon after that he's on the run.

Meanwhile, in a desert land, Rielle can sense magic, but its use is proscribed so she must conceal her ability. Her illicit love affair is of more immediate importance to her, anyway...at least to begin with.

I liked both the main characters in this book, which is a good thing as it's one of those where you get a section on one character's story, then a section on the other, and so on back and forth - and that can get very tiresome if you dislike one of the characters. I didn't have that problem, though. Likewise, I liked the world-building in both and the different attitudes to and uses of magic.

What I didn't like was [spoilers removed] Still. Annoying.

Having said that, it's a relatively minor niggle, and overall I liked the book well enough that I'll probably buy my own copy, not to mention the following book(s) in the series.
]]> <![CDATA[The River Kings' Road (Ithelas, #1)]]> 7143298 400 Liane Merciel 1439159114 Dorian 4 other-ebooks
But, in fact, the lone survivor is no noble hero, but a cynical ex-mercenary who saves the child for reasons of his own. The dead prince was not as much loss to his kingdom as might be thought. The author of the massacre has compounded with powers that he really, really shouldn't have - powers that have their own agenda.

And then there are the holy knight and his companion, who face off against the dodgy powers, and the single mother who gets roped in to act as wet-nurse to the rescued baby.

And there is magic and religion and war and politics and some fairly gruesome deaths, and really, I don't know why I didn't hear about this book before, because it's pretty damn' good. I just hope the next book is available on Kindle, because the Kobo shop doesn't have it, grr snarl.]]> 3.49 2010 The River Kings' Road (Ithelas, #1)
author: Liane Merciel
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2014/06/13
date added: 2014/06/13
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
This book starts with a not unfamiliar scenario: a prince murdered, his family with him in a bloody massacre; a lone knight survives to hide the prince's baby son away, that the child may live, and grow up to avenge his father's death and retake his rightful throne...

But, in fact, the lone survivor is no noble hero, but a cynical ex-mercenary who saves the child for reasons of his own. The dead prince was not as much loss to his kingdom as might be thought. The author of the massacre has compounded with powers that he really, really shouldn't have - powers that have their own agenda.

And then there are the holy knight and his companion, who face off against the dodgy powers, and the single mother who gets roped in to act as wet-nurse to the rescued baby.

And there is magic and religion and war and politics and some fairly gruesome deaths, and really, I don't know why I didn't hear about this book before, because it's pretty damn' good. I just hope the next book is available on Kindle, because the Kobo shop doesn't have it, grr snarl.
]]> <![CDATA[The Girls of Friendly Terrace; or Peggy Raymond's Success (Peggy Raymond, #1)]]> 17367152 347 Harriet Lummis Smith Dorian 3 project-gutenberg
Peggy Raymond is an excellent example of the type, and has advantages over some others of her ilk in that her author has created an engaging set of characters, and her book actually contains a plot.]]> 4.22 1912 The Girls of Friendly Terrace; or Peggy Raymond's Success (Peggy Raymond, #1)
author: Harriet Lummis Smith
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1912
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/12
date added: 2014/06/12
shelves: project-gutenberg
review:
This book is of a type that might be loosely described as "lovely girl books", a subgenre of girls' literature that seems to have been popular in early 20th century America. The heroine is always a lovely girl - good to look at at the very least, if not downright pretty - and possessed of a startling catalogue of virtues; she is sweet and kind and good-natured and cheerful and patient and uncomplaining and vastly popular. She derives enormous fun from the simplest of entertainments and has no patience with snobbery. She spends most of her book having simple fun and sorting out the various scrapes and misunderstandings into which her friends, her relations, and assorted hangers-on, acquaintances, and even random strangers fall.

Peggy Raymond is an excellent example of the type, and has advantages over some others of her ilk in that her author has created an engaging set of characters, and her book actually contains a plot.
]]> Other People's Business 15103069
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.]]> 436 Harriet Lummis Smith 8132014669 Dorian 3 project-gutenberg
The story, such as it is, is somewhat meandering and a bit disjointed, but the charm of this book lies in its gossipy small-town feel. In that way, it's a lot like the work of L. M. Montgomery, though she usually has more story underlying the gossip.

Not as good as the same author's "Agatha's Aunt", but a pleasing read all the same.]]> 3.50 1916 Other People's Business
author: Harriet Lummis Smith
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1916
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/11
date added: 2014/06/12
shelves: project-gutenberg
review:
Persis Dale is a spinster, a small-town dressmaker, and an inveterate meddler in other people's business - though unlike other such meddlers, she at least doesn't usually interfere without being asked, and she does usually leave things better than she found them.

The story, such as it is, is somewhat meandering and a bit disjointed, but the charm of this book lies in its gossipy small-town feel. In that way, it's a lot like the work of L. M. Montgomery, though she usually has more story underlying the gossip.

Not as good as the same author's "Agatha's Aunt", but a pleasing read all the same.
]]> Agatha's Aunt 22452154 Harriet Lummis Smith Dorian 4 project-gutenberg
This being the sort of book it is, instead of simply letting Mr. Forbes know his mistake, Agatha decides that since he's blind, he won't know that she's not an old lady, and impersonates said great-aunt (who is now deceased, and so unlikely to turn up and expose the imposture). Being the sort of book it is, it is also inevitable that Mr. Forbes is in love with a heartless and mercenary young lady, who has broken off their engagement upon his becoming blind, but who still writes to him, boasting of her social engagements and romantic conquests.

Agatha's Aunt is a romantic comedy, rife with all the complications you might expect to arise from Agatha's impersonation of not one, but two distinct characters (when it seems necessary, she also becomes the servant girl, Hepzibah Diggs). She has a companion, Miss Finch, who really is an old lady, and who gets a little bit of romance of her own, and Forbes has a friend, Warren, who is not blind and leads to further complications. In her character as Hepzibah, Agatha gets to give Forbes a truly cracking set-down, and as the old lady, she writes one of most impressively bitchy letters ever to the frightful ex-fiancée. It's all an awful lot of fun and I enjoyed it immensely.]]> 3.67 1920 Agatha's Aunt
author: Harriet Lummis Smith
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1920
rating: 4
read at: 2014/06/10
date added: 2014/06/10
shelves: project-gutenberg
review:
Agatha Kent is poor, but determined to send her step-brother to college. To this end she decides to take in boarders...but alas, every prospective boarder takes one look at her dilapidated home and leaves in disgust. So when she gets a letter from one Burton Forbes, whose doctor has prescribed a summer in the country and who is temporarily blind after a bout of malaria, it seems providential. A blind man won't be able to see the holey carpets, peeling paint, stained wallpaper, etc. However, Mr. Forbes' letter makes it clear that he believes Agatha to be her great-aunt, whom he met as a child.

This being the sort of book it is, instead of simply letting Mr. Forbes know his mistake, Agatha decides that since he's blind, he won't know that she's not an old lady, and impersonates said great-aunt (who is now deceased, and so unlikely to turn up and expose the imposture). Being the sort of book it is, it is also inevitable that Mr. Forbes is in love with a heartless and mercenary young lady, who has broken off their engagement upon his becoming blind, but who still writes to him, boasting of her social engagements and romantic conquests.

Agatha's Aunt is a romantic comedy, rife with all the complications you might expect to arise from Agatha's impersonation of not one, but two distinct characters (when it seems necessary, she also becomes the servant girl, Hepzibah Diggs). She has a companion, Miss Finch, who really is an old lady, and who gets a little bit of romance of her own, and Forbes has a friend, Warren, who is not blind and leads to further complications. In her character as Hepzibah, Agatha gets to give Forbes a truly cracking set-down, and as the old lady, she writes one of most impressively bitchy letters ever to the frightful ex-fiancée. It's all an awful lot of fun and I enjoyed it immensely.
]]> <![CDATA[The Hanover Square Affair (Captain Lacey, #1)]]> 10518312
Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic wars, burned out, fighting melancholia, his career ended. His interest is perked when he learns of a missing girl, possibly kidnapped by a prominent member of Parliament. Lacey's search for the girl leads to the discovery of murder, corruption, and dealings with a leader of the underworld. He faces his own disorientation transitioning from a soldier's life to the civilian world at the same time, redefining his role with his former commanding officer and making new friends--from the top of society to the street girls of Covent Garden.

#1 of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries series.

This is a full-length novel, e-version of The Hanover Square Affair, previously published in print by Berkley Prime Crime.]]> 319 Ashley Gardner 0989867706 Dorian 2 other-ebooks
He begins his investigations, slightly hampered by the fact that gentlemen aren't supposed to do such things, and soon he has a murder, and another missing girl, and a murdered girl, all complicating matters. Not to mention a sinister procurer of hard-to-find items.

The mysteries are fairly well handled, and the solutions satisfying, but I can't really say as much for other aspects of the book. The setting is barely evoked; this may be Regency London, but you'd hardly know it if you weren't told. (Though at least there are no glaring anachronisms.)

Lacey is a somewhat uninspiring character. In an apparent effort to provide him with some personality, the author has loaded him down with problems - he's poor, he's partly crippled due to a badly-set broken bone, he has depression, his wife left him taking their child with her - but none of it actually adds up to anything very interesting.

The other characters are equally cardboard, and there's a dreadful dearth of females. Not that there aren't female characters - there are several - but that none of them has even as much personality as any of the more minor males. Also, they mostly seem to exist to be either victims or, in the case of Black Nance, a reward for the hero which he is too honourable to take.

Overall, I found this a rather disappointing read. I'm glad it was going free on Amazon and I didn't actually spend money it.]]> 3.86 2003 The Hanover Square Affair (Captain Lacey, #1)
author: Ashley Gardner
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2003
rating: 2
read at: 2014/06/03
date added: 2014/06/03
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
Crossing Hanover Square one day, Captain Robert Lacey sees a small riot, a small group of militia putting it down, and its ringleader shot in cold blood. He takes the elderly man home, treats his wound, and learns why he was shouting and throwing rocks at the particular house he was - he believes his daughter to have been abducted and kept prisoner there. Captain Lacey decides to find out what happened to the girl.

He begins his investigations, slightly hampered by the fact that gentlemen aren't supposed to do such things, and soon he has a murder, and another missing girl, and a murdered girl, all complicating matters. Not to mention a sinister procurer of hard-to-find items.

The mysteries are fairly well handled, and the solutions satisfying, but I can't really say as much for other aspects of the book. The setting is barely evoked; this may be Regency London, but you'd hardly know it if you weren't told. (Though at least there are no glaring anachronisms.)

Lacey is a somewhat uninspiring character. In an apparent effort to provide him with some personality, the author has loaded him down with problems - he's poor, he's partly crippled due to a badly-set broken bone, he has depression, his wife left him taking their child with her - but none of it actually adds up to anything very interesting.

The other characters are equally cardboard, and there's a dreadful dearth of females. Not that there aren't female characters - there are several - but that none of them has even as much personality as any of the more minor males. Also, they mostly seem to exist to be either victims or, in the case of Black Nance, a reward for the hero which he is too honourable to take.

Overall, I found this a rather disappointing read. I'm glad it was going free on Amazon and I didn't actually spend money it.
]]> Francesca's Party 2975668 587 Patricia Scanlan 1842230751 Dorian 3
Unfortunately, the book then gets bogged down in describing, in loving detail, how Francesca spends the next six months or so wallowing in misery and self-pity. This is not exactly thrilling stuff.

It does improve after that, though, when Francesca gets her act together, gets a job, acquires some self-confidence, and achieves the best revenge (that is, living well) on her husband.

As usual with this author, the characters are all well-drawn, from selfish, cheating Mark to even such minor characters as sensible but distractable Monica. I particularly liked grumpy, demanding Gerald, also the dynamic between Francesca's parents.

But overall, this isn't one of Ms. Scanlan's best books. Half of the page-count is wasted on Francesca's tedious wallowing. The three-star rating is generous; it should really be two and a half, but the second half of the book is very good.]]> 4.17 2000 Francesca's Party
author: Patricia Scanlan
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/05/31
shelves:
review:
Francesca Kirwan's life is in a rut. Married to a high-powered banker, mother to two grown-up sons, she is a practised corporate wife. Then she discovers her husband is having an affair. Angry, hurt, and humiliated, she throws him out.

Unfortunately, the book then gets bogged down in describing, in loving detail, how Francesca spends the next six months or so wallowing in misery and self-pity. This is not exactly thrilling stuff.

It does improve after that, though, when Francesca gets her act together, gets a job, acquires some self-confidence, and achieves the best revenge (that is, living well) on her husband.

As usual with this author, the characters are all well-drawn, from selfish, cheating Mark to even such minor characters as sensible but distractable Monica. I particularly liked grumpy, demanding Gerald, also the dynamic between Francesca's parents.

But overall, this isn't one of Ms. Scanlan's best books. Half of the page-count is wasted on Francesca's tedious wallowing. The three-star rating is generous; it should really be two and a half, but the second half of the book is very good.
]]> 5 Peppermint Grove 18744367 390 Michelle Jackson 1842235516 Dorian 2 other-borrowed-books
Ruth and Julia are best friends. Ruth is a bit of a doormat, and is going out with a married man (and what's worse, she's been with him for 10 years, since he was only engaged!). Julia is one of those tiresome people who likes to organise everyone else's life for them. She organises Ruth into getting a job in Australia.

In the background, Ruth's parents used to live in Australia, but moved back to Ireland shortly before Ruth was born. But she discovers there's some mystery about that...

And then there are the usual sorts of family troubles and romantic troubles and eventually the mystery is solved and everyone gets to live happily ever after. But the characters are none of them particularly appealing, and the solution to the mystery turns out to be not very interesting, and the writing ranges from competent at best to downright clumsy at worst (really, "chirp" is a speech tag that does not need to be used more than once in a book...if that!), and bits of plot get brought up and then randomly dropped again.

It's not a terrible book, but I certainly wouldn't pay money for it.]]> 3.17 2012 5 Peppermint Grove
author: Michelle Jackson
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.17
book published: 2012
rating: 2
read at: 2014/05/25
date added: 2014/05/25
shelves: other-borrowed-books
review:
This was a fairly mediocre piece of chick-lit.

Ruth and Julia are best friends. Ruth is a bit of a doormat, and is going out with a married man (and what's worse, she's been with him for 10 years, since he was only engaged!). Julia is one of those tiresome people who likes to organise everyone else's life for them. She organises Ruth into getting a job in Australia.

In the background, Ruth's parents used to live in Australia, but moved back to Ireland shortly before Ruth was born. But she discovers there's some mystery about that...

And then there are the usual sorts of family troubles and romantic troubles and eventually the mystery is solved and everyone gets to live happily ever after. But the characters are none of them particularly appealing, and the solution to the mystery turns out to be not very interesting, and the writing ranges from competent at best to downright clumsy at worst (really, "chirp" is a speech tag that does not need to be used more than once in a book...if that!), and bits of plot get brought up and then randomly dropped again.

It's not a terrible book, but I certainly wouldn't pay money for it.
]]> <![CDATA[Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns, #1)]]> 10816909 432 Rae Carson 0575099143 Dorian 4
I really liked this book. Elisa is a very real, and very engaging, heroine. She's a little bit shallow, and a little bit boy-crazy. She's fat and unfit and a bit desperate for approval. But she's also smart, and determined, and learned, and adaptable, and good at improvising. I loved the other characters too - Cosmé, harsh and fanatical, but not inflexible; Humberto, sweet and loving; Belén, doing terrible things in the name of religion; Rosario, bratty but more than that; even Alejandro becomes more than he thought he could.

The world-building...I'm kind of a sucker for desert worlds in fiction, even though (or maybe because?) I can't tolerate them in real life. The desert geography is well-drawn here. The Invierne are a convincingly scary enemy (though I would like to know more about why they do what they do - still, maybe in the next book). The language is clearly based on Spanish, which makes it comfortably pronounceable but still a bit exotic. The outward trappings of the religion seem to owe more than a bit to Catholicism, but not so much as to make me look around for the crucifixes.

What with the great characters and world-building, I could almost not care about the plot, but that's pretty good too. There's the scary enemy invading, and there's Elisa, who pretty much everyone thinks is going to be pivotal in the war, but they all disagree on just how, and some of the options (even from her own side!) are not pretty. And of course in the end it's not what anyone expected.

I'm definitely going to be buying the next book in the series.]]> 3.65 2011 Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns, #1)
author: Rae Carson
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2014/05/25
date added: 2014/05/24
shelves:
review:
Elisa is 16, and fat, and insecure. And her god's Chosen One, though chosen for what, exactly, she doesn't know. And she's a princess, and has just been married off to a king she's never met, as part of a treaty against a mysterious and occasionally sorcerous enemy.

I really liked this book. Elisa is a very real, and very engaging, heroine. She's a little bit shallow, and a little bit boy-crazy. She's fat and unfit and a bit desperate for approval. But she's also smart, and determined, and learned, and adaptable, and good at improvising. I loved the other characters too - Cosmé, harsh and fanatical, but not inflexible; Humberto, sweet and loving; Belén, doing terrible things in the name of religion; Rosario, bratty but more than that; even Alejandro becomes more than he thought he could.

The world-building...I'm kind of a sucker for desert worlds in fiction, even though (or maybe because?) I can't tolerate them in real life. The desert geography is well-drawn here. The Invierne are a convincingly scary enemy (though I would like to know more about why they do what they do - still, maybe in the next book). The language is clearly based on Spanish, which makes it comfortably pronounceable but still a bit exotic. The outward trappings of the religion seem to owe more than a bit to Catholicism, but not so much as to make me look around for the crucifixes.

What with the great characters and world-building, I could almost not care about the plot, but that's pretty good too. There's the scary enemy invading, and there's Elisa, who pretty much everyone thinks is going to be pivotal in the war, but they all disagree on just how, and some of the options (even from her own side!) are not pretty. And of course in the end it's not what anyone expected.

I'm definitely going to be buying the next book in the series.
]]> <![CDATA[Glamour in Glass (Glamourist Histories, #2)]]> 12160890 Shades of Milk and Honey , a loving tribute to the works of Jane Austen in a world where magic is an everyday occurrence. This magic comes in the form of glamour, which allows talented users to form practically any illusion they can imagine. Shades debuted to great acclaim and left readers eagerly awaiting its sequel. Glamour in Glass continues following the lives of beloved main characters Jane and Vincent, with a much deeper vein of drama and intrigue.In the tumultuous months after Napoleon abdicates his throne, Jane and Vincent go to Belgium for their honeymoon. While there, the deposed emperor escapes his exile in Elba, throwing the continent into turmoil. With no easy way back to England, Jane and Vincent’s concerns turn from enjoying their honeymoon...to escaping it. Left with no outward salvation, Jane must persevere over her trying personal circumstances and use her glamour to rescue her husband from prison...and hopefully prevent her newly built marriage from getting stranded on the shoals of another country's war.]]> 331 Mary Robinette Kowal 0765325578 Dorian 2 other-ebooks 3.75 2012 Glamour in Glass (Glamourist Histories, #2)
author: Mary Robinette Kowal
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2012
rating: 2
read at: 2014/05/19
date added: 2014/05/19
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
Disappointing. No more life or soul than the first book. I'm done with this series.
]]> Among Others 16096212
'It doesn't matter. I have books, new books, and I can bear anything as long as there are books.'

Fifteen-year-old Morwenna lives in Wales with her twin sister and a mother who spins dark magic for ill. One day, Mori and her mother fight a powerful, magical battle that kills her sister and leaves Mori crippled. Devastated, Mori flees to her long-lost father in England. Adrift, outcast at boarding school, Mori retreats into the worlds she knows best: her magic and her books. She works a spell to meet kindred souls and continues to devour every fantasy and science fiction novel she can lay her hands on. But danger lurks... She knows her mother is looking for her and that when she finds her, there will be no escape.]]> 408 Jo Walton 1472106539 Dorian 3
Still, Mor is quite an engaging character, and I liked the bits about books, and in fact I liked the dreaminess of it too, and I don't mind much that the story seems to be mostly round a corner somewhere from the book.]]> 3.83 2011 Among Others
author: Jo Walton
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2014/05/17
date added: 2014/05/18
shelves:
review:
This was sort of an odd book. I finished it not quite sure what was going on, but I think the author intended that. Mor is not so much an unreliable narrator as a rather vague one. She leaves out things that presumably are obvious to her, or that she doesn't want to talk about, and so the reader is left wondering what, exactly, the mother was doing, and what the aunts were doing, and what Mor and her sister did, and the whole book has a sort of dreamy feel to it.

Still, Mor is quite an engaging character, and I liked the bits about books, and in fact I liked the dreaminess of it too, and I don't mind much that the story seems to be mostly round a corner somewhere from the book.
]]> A Woman Named Smith 4239815 202 Marie Conway Oemler 140691519X Dorian 3 project-gutenberg
Sophronisba Smith (known to her friends as Sophy) is our eponymous heroine and narrator. As the story opens, she has just inherited her namesake great-aunt's house and (the remains of the) family fortune, on condition that she occupies the house and does not attempt to either sell or let it. So off she goes, with her best friend Alicia, to occupy her Colonial mansion in South Carolina.

And there they discover family history, and family secrets, and family mysteries, and family feuds. And relations. And two dogs and a family of cats. And a lovely house full of lovely Stuff, and assorted neighbours, and a Socialist furniture restorer, and a benevolent djinni, and a mummy, and all sorts of other fun and games. Oh, and romance. (Of course.)

I love the character of Alicia, who is all sweet and wide-eyed and ingénue-ish, and then quietly skewers some condescending pest so neatly that the reader laughs and so sweetly that the target fails to notice. And the lady from Boston who so yearns for the occult, and the lady who is the local "artistic" expert. And the various love interests are variously amusing and pleasing, and of course our Woman Named Smith is very endearing.

The plot is maybe a little predictable, especially when it comes to the Family Mysteries, but the real fun is in the characters anyway. It does go on a little longer than I felt was really necessary; the final 10% or so could probably be folded into the preceding 10% and only make the book stronger.

But the big downer is the treatment of the non-white characters - while probably Fair For Its Day, it's really rather cringeworthy to the modern reader. Were it not for that, I might have given it four stars.]]> 3.62 1919 A Woman Named Smith
author: Marie Conway Oemler
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1919
rating: 3
read at: 2014/05/16
date added: 2014/05/16
shelves: project-gutenberg
review:
I was put on to this book by Melody of the excellent blog, and a most pleasing recommendation it turned out to be.

Sophronisba Smith (known to her friends as Sophy) is our eponymous heroine and narrator. As the story opens, she has just inherited her namesake great-aunt's house and (the remains of the) family fortune, on condition that she occupies the house and does not attempt to either sell or let it. So off she goes, with her best friend Alicia, to occupy her Colonial mansion in South Carolina.

And there they discover family history, and family secrets, and family mysteries, and family feuds. And relations. And two dogs and a family of cats. And a lovely house full of lovely Stuff, and assorted neighbours, and a Socialist furniture restorer, and a benevolent djinni, and a mummy, and all sorts of other fun and games. Oh, and romance. (Of course.)

I love the character of Alicia, who is all sweet and wide-eyed and ingénue-ish, and then quietly skewers some condescending pest so neatly that the reader laughs and so sweetly that the target fails to notice. And the lady from Boston who so yearns for the occult, and the lady who is the local "artistic" expert. And the various love interests are variously amusing and pleasing, and of course our Woman Named Smith is very endearing.

The plot is maybe a little predictable, especially when it comes to the Family Mysteries, but the real fun is in the characters anyway. It does go on a little longer than I felt was really necessary; the final 10% or so could probably be folded into the preceding 10% and only make the book stronger.

But the big downer is the treatment of the non-white characters - while probably Fair For Its Day, it's really rather cringeworthy to the modern reader. Were it not for that, I might have given it four stars.
]]> <![CDATA[One Foot on the Ground (Moth, #3)]]> 2618001 164 Jean Richardson 0006746640 Dorian 3
These books tell the story of Moth's efforts to become a dancer. Starting just after she fails the audition for the Royal Ballet School, they detail her life at another full-time ballet school, living with her great-aunt and her Australian cousin (another would-be dancer), up until it comes time for the audition for the Royal Ballet's Senior School.

They don't have the sort of hot-house, ballet-is-the-most-important-thing-in-the-story-world feel of the Drina books, or even the ballet-is-the-most-important-thing-to-the-heroine feel of Lorna Hill's Sadlers Wells series - despite the fact that ballet really is the most important thing to Moth. But she's a more rounded individual than Drina or Veronica, more capable of fun and more inclined to behave like the child she is.

Likewise, the story is more realistic than other ballet books; Moth does not keep getting lucky breaks, or keep impressing her teachers with her dedication and brilliance - though she is considered a promising pupil. Nor does any sudden accident put paid to her dancing for weeks at a time. And when it finally comes time to move on from the Fortune School, [spoilers removed] - a somewhat more probable turn of events than, for instance, the end of the Drina series.

Having said all of that, though, while I like these books, I don't love them the way I love the more traditional ballet stories.]]> 3.78 1994 One Foot on the Ground (Moth, #3)
author: Jean Richardson
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1994
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/05/15
shelves:
review:
(This is a review of all three books of this trilogy, which I have in an omnibus edition, though Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ doesn't seem to.)

These books tell the story of Moth's efforts to become a dancer. Starting just after she fails the audition for the Royal Ballet School, they detail her life at another full-time ballet school, living with her great-aunt and her Australian cousin (another would-be dancer), up until it comes time for the audition for the Royal Ballet's Senior School.

They don't have the sort of hot-house, ballet-is-the-most-important-thing-in-the-story-world feel of the Drina books, or even the ballet-is-the-most-important-thing-to-the-heroine feel of Lorna Hill's Sadlers Wells series - despite the fact that ballet really is the most important thing to Moth. But she's a more rounded individual than Drina or Veronica, more capable of fun and more inclined to behave like the child she is.

Likewise, the story is more realistic than other ballet books; Moth does not keep getting lucky breaks, or keep impressing her teachers with her dedication and brilliance - though she is considered a promising pupil. Nor does any sudden accident put paid to her dancing for weeks at a time. And when it finally comes time to move on from the Fortune School, [spoilers removed] - a somewhat more probable turn of events than, for instance, the end of the Drina series.

Having said all of that, though, while I like these books, I don't love them the way I love the more traditional ballet stories.
]]> <![CDATA[Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris #1)]]> 17613025
But when Gutenberg vanishes without a trace, Isaac finds himself pitted against everything from vampires to a sinister, nameless foe who is bent on revealing magic to the world at large... and at any cost.]]> 320 Jim C. Hines 0091953448 Dorian 3 library-books
Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a magician who can pull items out of books. He is also a librarian, and a member of a secret society dedicated to protecting the world from magic. However, due to a bad habit of not stopping to think before he does something (a trait he shares with so very many literary protagonists!), he has been pulled off active fieldwork and forbidden to use magic.

All of which changes when a bunch of "Twilight"-born vampires barge into his library and try to kill him. After that things get complicated, as Isaac and his dryad side-kick, Lena, try to find out who's behind a war that's kicking off between the vampires and the Porters (Isaac's secret society), and stop it before things get entirely out of hand.

I wasn't greatly taken with the character of Lena, who is somewhat cliched (though one might argue that given her origins, this is actually part of her characterisation), and, well, those origins and the resulting messy moral dilemmas are a bit creepy.

Still, the story is fast-paced and a lot of fun, and Isaac gets to do all kinds of cool stuff with his magic. I loved the references to all the books, and the way he uses Robin McKinley's "Beauty" is especially brilliant. Also, I want a fire spider.

I liked this a lot more than I did John Scalzi's "Redshirts", another book I read because I enjoy the author's blog.]]> 3.62 2012 Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris #1)
author: Jim C. Hines
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2014/05/13
date added: 2014/05/15
shelves: library-books
review:
I found this a very entertaining read.

Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a magician who can pull items out of books. He is also a librarian, and a member of a secret society dedicated to protecting the world from magic. However, due to a bad habit of not stopping to think before he does something (a trait he shares with so very many literary protagonists!), he has been pulled off active fieldwork and forbidden to use magic.

All of which changes when a bunch of "Twilight"-born vampires barge into his library and try to kill him. After that things get complicated, as Isaac and his dryad side-kick, Lena, try to find out who's behind a war that's kicking off between the vampires and the Porters (Isaac's secret society), and stop it before things get entirely out of hand.

I wasn't greatly taken with the character of Lena, who is somewhat cliched (though one might argue that given her origins, this is actually part of her characterisation), and, well, those origins and the resulting messy moral dilemmas are a bit creepy.

Still, the story is fast-paced and a lot of fun, and Isaac gets to do all kinds of cool stuff with his magic. I loved the references to all the books, and the way he uses Robin McKinley's "Beauty" is especially brilliant. Also, I want a fire spider.

I liked this a lot more than I did John Scalzi's "Redshirts", another book I read because I enjoy the author's blog.
]]> <![CDATA[Beauty and the Werewolf (Five Hundred Kingdoms, #6)]]> 10081055 The magic continues in "New York Times" bestselling author Mercedes Lackey's enchanting new story from the Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series. A beauty must battle some beasts before she rescues her prince.

The eldest daughter is often doomed in fairy tales. But Bella—Isabella Beauchamps, daughter of a wealthy merchant—vows to escape the usual pitfalls.

Anxious to avoid the traditional path, Bella dons a red cloak and ventures into the forbidden forest to consult with "Granny," the local wisewoman. But on the way home she's attacked by a wolf—who turns out to be a cursed nobleman. Secluded in his castle, Bella is torn between her family and this strange man who creates marvelous inventions and makes her laugh—when he isn't howling at the moon.

Bella knows all too well that breaking spells is never easy. But a determined beauty, a wizard (after all, he's only an occasional werewolf) and a little Godmotherly interference might just be able to bring about a happy ending.]]> 329 Mercedes Lackey 0373803281 Dorian 3 other-ebooks
I wasn't greatly impressed by the heroine's intelligence, given the identity of the villain was obvious to me from very early on, but she failed to realise until he made it blatantly obvious, at almost the very end. Mind you, so did everyone else in the story fail to realise, and you'd think some of them would at least have considered the notion.

Still, apart from that bit of plot-demanded stupidity (though I'm not even sure the plot did demand it), I liked the characters, and even the villain has a bit of depth to him.

The plotline is largely a mash-up of "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Beauty and the Beast", which works better than you might think.

And it has Lackey's usual attention to the details of how her characters live, which is one of the things I like best about her writing, and she's reined in her tendency to costume porn (though without sacrificing it altogether).

Overall, a nice, undemanding read, eminently suitable for times one does not wish to engage one's brain.]]> 3.75 2011 Beauty and the Werewolf (Five Hundred Kingdoms, #6)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2014/05/15
date added: 2014/05/15
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
I thought this was one of the better installments in the "500 Kingdoms" series. It's utter fluff, of course, but very pleasant fluff.

I wasn't greatly impressed by the heroine's intelligence, given the identity of the villain was obvious to me from very early on, but she failed to realise until he made it blatantly obvious, at almost the very end. Mind you, so did everyone else in the story fail to realise, and you'd think some of them would at least have considered the notion.

Still, apart from that bit of plot-demanded stupidity (though I'm not even sure the plot did demand it), I liked the characters, and even the villain has a bit of depth to him.

The plotline is largely a mash-up of "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Beauty and the Beast", which works better than you might think.

And it has Lackey's usual attention to the details of how her characters live, which is one of the things I like best about her writing, and she's reined in her tendency to costume porn (though without sacrificing it altogether).

Overall, a nice, undemanding read, eminently suitable for times one does not wish to engage one's brain.
]]> <![CDATA[Shades of Milk and Honey (Glamourist Histories, #1)]]> 7295501 Shades of Milk and Honey is an intimate portrait of Jane Ellsworth, a woman ahead of her time in a version of Regency England where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality. But despite the prevalence of magic in everyday life, other aspects of Dorchester’s society are not that different: Jane and her sister Melody’s lives still revolve around vying for the attentions of eligible men.

Jane resists this fate, and rightly so: while her skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face, and therefore wins the lion’s share of the attention. At the ripe old age of twenty-eight, Jane has resigned herself to being invisible forever. But when her family’s honor is threatened, she finds that she must push her skills to the limit in order to set things right–and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.]]> 304 Mary Robinette Kowal 076532556X Dorian 3 other-ebooks
And it was all very nice and very pleasant, but for all the characters' talk about passion in art, I really didn't find any passion in it. It was just, ever so slightly, lifeless.

I will buy the next book in the series, but if it isn't any better than this, I don't think I'll go any further with it.]]> 3.49 2010 Shades of Milk and Honey (Glamourist Histories, #1)
author: Mary Robinette Kowal
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2014/05/12
date added: 2014/05/12
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
This is one of those books that I wanted to like more than I actually did. On the face of it, it has lots of what I like: a Regency setting with magic; Jane Austen references; an intelligent heroine; an intelligent(ish) love story...

And it was all very nice and very pleasant, but for all the characters' talk about passion in art, I really didn't find any passion in it. It was just, ever so slightly, lifeless.

I will buy the next book in the series, but if it isn't any better than this, I don't think I'll go any further with it.
]]> <![CDATA[Marianne, the Matchbox and the Malachite Mouse (Marianne, #3)]]> 104361 167 Sheri S. Tepper 0441519644 Dorian 2
This book, involving a boardgame being used to magically kidnap people, is by far the weakest of the three. The rather blatant feminist message in the "Buttercup" section is probably the most interesting bit in it (and I loathe message fiction). Two stars is probably a generous rating, but it's not a bad book, just a mildly dull one.]]> 4.01 1989 Marianne, the Matchbox and the Malachite Mouse (Marianne, #3)
author: Sheri S. Tepper
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1989
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2014/05/10
shelves:
review:
I can imagine the author being contracted to produce a third book about Marianne and fantastical lands, but having wrapped up her storyline in book two, being a bit stuck...

This book, involving a boardgame being used to magically kidnap people, is by far the weakest of the three. The rather blatant feminist message in the "Buttercup" section is probably the most interesting bit in it (and I loathe message fiction). Two stars is probably a generous rating, but it's not a bad book, just a mildly dull one.
]]> <![CDATA[Marianne, the Madame, and the Momentary Gods (Marianne, #2)]]> 104360 170 Sheri S. Tepper 0441519628 Dorian 2
Overall, somewhat disappointing.]]> 4.03 1988 Marianne, the Madame, and the Momentary Gods (Marianne, #2)
author: Sheri S. Tepper
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1988
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2014/05/07
shelves:
review:
This second book of the Marianne trilogy just isn't as good as the first. The settings no longer hold the cameo-like perfection of the first book. Marianne - due, perhaps, to the things she herself turns out to have done - is no longer such an engaging heroine. The other characters are less clearly drawn than before. And the plot...well, it explains the ending of the first book, which was a bit out-of-the-blue-ish, and puts an actual end to the affair of Madame Delubovoska, but it has a certain mundane feel to it that just isn't what I expected or wanted.

Overall, somewhat disappointing.
]]> <![CDATA[Marianne, the Magus, and the Manticore (Marianne, #1)]]> 104343 193 Sheri S. Tepper 0441519458 Dorian 3
But twenty years ago I felt, and I still feel on rereading now, that this book doesn't quite live up to its potential. And yet it's hard to say just where it fails. Should more be done with Madame's world, for instance? But it's intrinsically an in-between place; to do more with it would upset the balance of the book. Less of the real-world parts, maybe? But then later parts of the plot would make less sense, without that necessary background and build-up.

One place where it really does fall down is the climax, when Marianne, in a sudden access of power, gains her freedom with no apparent effort in about 5 seconds flat. After the build-up, and given what she's fighting against, that's really rather a let-down.

On the plus side, besides the wonderful settings, the book has strong, well-drawn characters, and a surprisingly subtle plot.]]> 3.90 1985 Marianne, the Magus, and the Manticore (Marianne, #1)
author: Sheri S. Tepper
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1985
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/05/07
shelves:
review:
I read and reread this book in my college years, largely for the settings, which are beautifully drawn. Marianne's refurbishment-in-process flat; the big country house of the weekend party; Madame's world of embassy, émigrés, visas and quotas; Marianne's world with the library, the manticore, the posters... Each setting has its own mood, its own feel - I could recognise any one of them were I to meet it in real life.

But twenty years ago I felt, and I still feel on rereading now, that this book doesn't quite live up to its potential. And yet it's hard to say just where it fails. Should more be done with Madame's world, for instance? But it's intrinsically an in-between place; to do more with it would upset the balance of the book. Less of the real-world parts, maybe? But then later parts of the plot would make less sense, without that necessary background and build-up.

One place where it really does fall down is the climax, when Marianne, in a sudden access of power, gains her freedom with no apparent effort in about 5 seconds flat. After the build-up, and given what she's fighting against, that's really rather a let-down.

On the plus side, besides the wonderful settings, the book has strong, well-drawn characters, and a surprisingly subtle plot.
]]> The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie 1072502
ë§ě¤ 블ë ěť� 여학ęµěť ě§� 브로ë”� ě„ ěťěť€, ěžě‹ ěť€ 지ę¸� ě „ě„±ę¸°ě— ěžěśĽë©� '미ëžěť� 여주인공'ěť� 재능 ěžëŠ” 아이들을 'í¬ë¦Ľ ě¤‘ěť í¬ë¦Ľ', ě¦� 아주 특별í•� 존재ëˇ� 만드ëŠ� ę˛ěť´ ěžě‹ ěť� 소명이라 ë§í•śë‹�("여기ě„� 밀가ëŁ� ë°ěŁ˝ěť� 부풀ë¦� 효모 ě—­í• ěť� 해야지. ě•„ě§ ë§ëž‘ë§ëž‘í•� ë‚ěť´ěť� 소녀ëĄ� 내게 주면 그애ëŠ� ěě›íž� ë‚� ę˛ěť´ ë� ę±°ě•Ľ. ë‚를 í•Ťë°•í•ëŠ” 무리ëŠ� ě ëŚ€ 성공í•� ë¦� 없어").

í•™ęµě—는 그녀가 특별íž� ě„ íťí•� ě•„ěť´ë“�, 일명 '브로ë”� 무리'ę°€ ěžë‹¤. 브로ë”� ě„ ěťěť€ 무리와 í•¨ę» ę·¸ë“¤ë§Śěť ëŞ¨ěž„ěť� 가지ë©� ę·� 아이들ě—게만 ëą„ë°€ěť� 공유한다. 아이들은 ěžě‹ ěť� ě§� 브로디ě—ę˛� ě„ íťë°›ě•ěśĽë©° 특별í•� 무리ěť� 일부라는 사실ě—� ě–´ë ´í’‹í•ś 희열ęł� 긍지ëĄ� ëŠë‚€ë‹�. 그러ë‚� 브로ë”� 무리 ě¤� í•� 명인 ěŚë””ëŠ� 다른 아이들ě˛ëź� 브로ë”� ě„ ěťěť� 동경í•ë©´ě„śëŹ„, 한편으로ëŠ� ěžě‹ ë§Śěť 기준ěť� ę°•ěš”í•ęł  ěžě‹ ěť� ě—°ě• ě—� í•™ěťë“¤ěť„ ěť´ěš©í•ëŠ” ě„ ěťě—게 ěťë¬¸ěť� 갖는ë‹�.]]> 128 Muriel Spark Dorian 2
Miss Jean Brodie is an Edinburgh schoolmistress in the 1930s. A woman in her prime, as she frequently tells her pupils, and one with Ideas (about Art, about Philosophy, about Truth and Beauty, about Politics...), which she imparts to her pupils when she is supposed to be teaching them Maths and English and History. The book doesn't really have a plot; it's more of a character study of Miss Brodie, depicting her rise and eventual fall.

This time around, I found it mildly interesting, as much for the social history aspect as anything else, but not much more. All of the characters are in one way or another thoroughly unlikable, which makes it difficult for me to regard the book with any degree of enthusiasm.]]> 3.79 1961 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
author: Muriel Spark
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1961
rating: 2
read at: 2014/04/29
date added: 2014/04/29
shelves:
review:
I read this book as a teenager, after seeing the film version on TV. I have a vague recollection that I thought it very clever and daring, and thought myself very clever and daring for liking it. Thirty years on, it - and I! - seem rather less clever and daring.

Miss Jean Brodie is an Edinburgh schoolmistress in the 1930s. A woman in her prime, as she frequently tells her pupils, and one with Ideas (about Art, about Philosophy, about Truth and Beauty, about Politics...), which she imparts to her pupils when she is supposed to be teaching them Maths and English and History. The book doesn't really have a plot; it's more of a character study of Miss Brodie, depicting her rise and eventual fall.

This time around, I found it mildly interesting, as much for the social history aspect as anything else, but not much more. All of the characters are in one way or another thoroughly unlikable, which makes it difficult for me to regard the book with any degree of enthusiasm.
]]> Jessamy 1127580 160 Barbara Sleigh 0340585803 Dorian 3
Jessamy is staying in a large old house for the holidays. Exploring at night, she slips into a cupboard, and when she emerges, it's 1914 and she has taken the place of the housekeeper's niece. She slips into this other Jessamy's place, helping her aunt and the other servants, and playing with the children of the house. And then comes war, and the eldest son runs away to be a soldier, and it seems he's taken his grandfather's treasured Book of Hours...

The plot-line is fairly predictable, but Jessamy is an engaging protagonist, and the secondary characters are well-drawn and believable. And unlike some similar tales, the big house here is no upper-class mansion, but the somewhat vulgar home of a patent medicine millionaire ("good solid middle class", as Miss Brindle says), which makes a refreshing change. And the 1914 and 1966 characters link up in neat but not entirely expected ways, which is also nice.]]> 4.21 1967 Jessamy
author: Barbara Sleigh
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1967
rating: 3
read at: 2014/04/25
date added: 2014/04/25
shelves:
review:
A light but pleasant time-slip story.

Jessamy is staying in a large old house for the holidays. Exploring at night, she slips into a cupboard, and when she emerges, it's 1914 and she has taken the place of the housekeeper's niece. She slips into this other Jessamy's place, helping her aunt and the other servants, and playing with the children of the house. And then comes war, and the eldest son runs away to be a soldier, and it seems he's taken his grandfather's treasured Book of Hours...

The plot-line is fairly predictable, but Jessamy is an engaging protagonist, and the secondary characters are well-drawn and believable. And unlike some similar tales, the big house here is no upper-class mansion, but the somewhat vulgar home of a patent medicine millionaire ("good solid middle class", as Miss Brindle says), which makes a refreshing change. And the 1914 and 1966 characters link up in neat but not entirely expected ways, which is also nice.
]]> The Year of Delight 14601032 It was meeting Gloria Jackson at the garden-party which finally convinced Delight of the inadequacy of her own social equipment.
You see, the Mary Lebaron School was not actually an orphanage. It was an endowed residential school run on the lines of Girard College The little girls had governesses, not teachers, and straight neat plaits behind round combs, instead of cropped heads. They were taken to religious gar den-parties up at St. John's Cathedral Grounds once every year in a well-drilled crocodile, just like other boarding-schools.]]> 320 Margaret Widdemer 1437437117 Dorian 3 project-gutenberg Drusilla with a Million and The Blue Castle. Like Valancy Stirling, Delight Lanier is given a year to live, and decides to truly live in it. Like Drusilla Doane, an unexpected and very large legacy enables her to spend the rest of her life doing whatever she takes a fancy to. (And like Drusilla, part of what she takes a fancy to do involves buying a large house in the country and filling it with friends.) The romance plot, though it is Blue Castle-ish, also reminded me of Cinderella Jane, especially at the end.

Overall, a light and fluffy read, despite the fact that no-one who reads Diana Wynne Jones can possibly take seriously as the love interest a character named Julian Leroy.]]> 3.87 1921 The Year of Delight
author: Margaret Widdemer
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1921
rating: 3
read at: 2014/04/22
date added: 2014/04/22
shelves: project-gutenberg
review:
This book is sort of a cross between Drusilla with a Million and The Blue Castle. Like Valancy Stirling, Delight Lanier is given a year to live, and decides to truly live in it. Like Drusilla Doane, an unexpected and very large legacy enables her to spend the rest of her life doing whatever she takes a fancy to. (And like Drusilla, part of what she takes a fancy to do involves buying a large house in the country and filling it with friends.) The romance plot, though it is Blue Castle-ish, also reminded me of Cinderella Jane, especially at the end.

Overall, a light and fluffy read, despite the fact that no-one who reads Diana Wynne Jones can possibly take seriously as the love interest a character named Julian Leroy.
]]> Princesses Don't Get Fat 18372538
Princess Valeria of Amaranta is fat, but she doesn’t care. All she wants to do is to eat and lead an idle life. When it becomes apparent she cannot get a husband, her mother decides to send her to the Royal Riviera Academy of Fighting Arts. For a chubby princess who has never picked up a sword, life at the Academy is torture. Worst of all, the food is terrible.

Valeria decides to improve Rivieran cuisine by sneaking into the palace kitchens and offering her expertise, never expecting the crown prince would take interest in her kitchen excursions. As they spend more time together, the princess must decide whether she should become thin or stay in the kitchens with her beloved desserts and remain fat]]> 136 Aya Ling 1490971912 Dorian 2 other-ebooks
Her mother is rather less sanguine about the situation, and after a disastrous competition in which the prize is Valeria's hand in marriage, she takes drastic action and packs her unfortunate daughter off to boot camp. There, Valeria is supposed to get fit and learn to fight, the better to go off and have adventures (something very fashionable amongst princesses). Naturally, she hates all the exercise, and is very bad at it. And the food is terrible!

But then she finds her way to the palace kitchens and starts teaching the cooks their job...

I have to give the author points for her aim, which was clearly to write a story in which the heroine is fat, and is allowed to stay fat and still get a happy ending. And, well, she achieved that. I just don't think it's very well written.

The characters are pretty one-dimensional, to start with. Princess Valeria is pretty much defined by her size and her cookery skills. She has no other interests than food, and there's no explanation of why not. Likewise, Ralph is a stereotypical handsome prince with no noticeable personality at all. And it's the same with all the other characters.

The world-building is so slipshod as to be barely there at all. There is an archipelago full of island kingdoms. There is a continent full of non-island kingdoms. They all have names borrowed from the real world, which gets somewhat jarring, especially since the author seems not to know or care what any of the words mean.

And the writing is pedestrian at best, and in places really quite awkward.

Overall, I was disappointed. This could have been so much better. Well, at least it's short.]]> 3.53 2013 Princesses Don't Get Fat
author: Aya Ling
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at: 2014/04/14
date added: 2014/04/14
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
Princess Valeria is sixteen and has, basically, one interest in life: sitting on her balcony in the sun eating tasty treats. Consequently, she is fat. She's not entirely happy about this, but if the choice is being fat or not eating tasty treats, she'll go with fat.

Her mother is rather less sanguine about the situation, and after a disastrous competition in which the prize is Valeria's hand in marriage, she takes drastic action and packs her unfortunate daughter off to boot camp. There, Valeria is supposed to get fit and learn to fight, the better to go off and have adventures (something very fashionable amongst princesses). Naturally, she hates all the exercise, and is very bad at it. And the food is terrible!

But then she finds her way to the palace kitchens and starts teaching the cooks their job...

I have to give the author points for her aim, which was clearly to write a story in which the heroine is fat, and is allowed to stay fat and still get a happy ending. And, well, she achieved that. I just don't think it's very well written.

The characters are pretty one-dimensional, to start with. Princess Valeria is pretty much defined by her size and her cookery skills. She has no other interests than food, and there's no explanation of why not. Likewise, Ralph is a stereotypical handsome prince with no noticeable personality at all. And it's the same with all the other characters.

The world-building is so slipshod as to be barely there at all. There is an archipelago full of island kingdoms. There is a continent full of non-island kingdoms. They all have names borrowed from the real world, which gets somewhat jarring, especially since the author seems not to know or care what any of the words mean.

And the writing is pedestrian at best, and in places really quite awkward.

Overall, I was disappointed. This could have been so much better. Well, at least it's short.
]]> <![CDATA[Dragon Prince (Dragon Prince, #1)]]> 185289
Sioned, the Sunrunner witch who was fated by Fire to be Rohan’s bride, had mastered the magic of sunlight and moonglow, catching hints of a yet to be formed pattern which could irrevocably affect the destinies of Sunrunners and ordinary mortals alike. Yet caught in the machinations of the Lady of Goddess Keep, and of Prince Rohan and his sworn enemy, the treacherously cunning High Prince, could Sioned alter this crucial pattern to protect her lord from the menace of a war that threatened to set the land ablaze?]]> 560 Melanie Rawn 0756403014 Dorian 3 other-ebooks
It bears its age pretty well, I think (unlike, say, Jennifer Roberson's Sword-Dancer, which I found almost unreadable on returning to it recently). Some aspects, mainly the depiction of the romance between the two protagonists, do feel very dated, but most of it still felt very fresh.

It's basically a coming-of-age story - the coming of age of Rohan, who inherits the Princedom of the Desert at the start of the book; of Sioned, a Sunrunner and Rohan's destined wife; of their world, a conglomerate of Princedoms still mostly ruled by the sword rather than the law, something they aim to change.

There's a plethora of interesting and complicated characters, on both the protagonists' and the antagonist's sides. And if the antagonist's motivations are a bit simplistic (power, power and more power), at least both he and those around him are real characters and not just ciphers. It's also pleasing to note that at least as many of the viewpoint characters (of which there are many) are female as male. (And how depressing that 26 years after this book was first published, I still feel the need to note that.)

I liked the magic too; the Sunrunners seem to be some kind of religious-based mages - at least they train at the Goddess Keep, though we don't learn anything much about said Goddess. Anyway, they can travel mentally on light to see things far away, or to communicate mentally with each other. And they get really, really sick on water, which makes crossing rivers interesting. And you can prevent them from using their powers by locking them up in the dark.

The story does sag a bit in the middle, I thought, and doesn't really pick up again until about the last quarter, but it didn't quite lose my interest.

Overall it's a fairly light read, despite some fairly gruesome bits; it doesn't have the gritty feel of some more recent fantasy, which I liked.]]> 3.95 1988 Dragon Prince (Dragon Prince, #1)
author: Melanie Rawn
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1988
rating: 3
read at: 2014/04/10
date added: 2014/04/10
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
I'm not sure how I didn't read this back in the late 80s or early 90s, when it was new and I was reading fairly indiscriminately through the fantasy genre, or as much of it as I could get my hands on. But somehow I didn't.

It bears its age pretty well, I think (unlike, say, Jennifer Roberson's Sword-Dancer, which I found almost unreadable on returning to it recently). Some aspects, mainly the depiction of the romance between the two protagonists, do feel very dated, but most of it still felt very fresh.

It's basically a coming-of-age story - the coming of age of Rohan, who inherits the Princedom of the Desert at the start of the book; of Sioned, a Sunrunner and Rohan's destined wife; of their world, a conglomerate of Princedoms still mostly ruled by the sword rather than the law, something they aim to change.

There's a plethora of interesting and complicated characters, on both the protagonists' and the antagonist's sides. And if the antagonist's motivations are a bit simplistic (power, power and more power), at least both he and those around him are real characters and not just ciphers. It's also pleasing to note that at least as many of the viewpoint characters (of which there are many) are female as male. (And how depressing that 26 years after this book was first published, I still feel the need to note that.)

I liked the magic too; the Sunrunners seem to be some kind of religious-based mages - at least they train at the Goddess Keep, though we don't learn anything much about said Goddess. Anyway, they can travel mentally on light to see things far away, or to communicate mentally with each other. And they get really, really sick on water, which makes crossing rivers interesting. And you can prevent them from using their powers by locking them up in the dark.

The story does sag a bit in the middle, I thought, and doesn't really pick up again until about the last quarter, but it didn't quite lose my interest.

Overall it's a fairly light read, despite some fairly gruesome bits; it doesn't have the gritty feel of some more recent fantasy, which I liked.
]]> <![CDATA[Just One Damned Thing After Another (The Chronicles of St. Mary's, #1)]]> 18207104
A madcap new slant on history that seems to be everyone's cup of tea...

Behind the seemingly innocuous façade of St Mary's, a different kind of historical research is taking place. They don't do 'time-travel' - they 'investigate major historical events in contemporary time'. Maintaining the appearance of harmless eccentrics is not always within their power - especially given their propensity for causing loud explosions when things get too quiet.

Meet the disaster-magnets of St Mary's Institute of Historical Research as they ricochet around History. Their aim is to observe and document - to try and find the answers to many of History's unanswered questions...and not to die in the process.

But one wrong move and History will fight back - to the death. And, as they soon discover - it's not just History they're fighting.

Follow the catastrophe curve from eleventh-century London to World War I, and from the Cretaceous Period to the destruction of the Great Library at Alexandria. For wherever Historians go, chaos is sure to follow in their wake ...]]> 332 Jodi Taylor 1783751770 Dorian 4 other-ebooks
Madeleine Maxwell (mostly known as Max, though Mad could also be appropriate) graduates in Ancient History and finds herself head-hunted by St Mary's Institute of Historical Research. Where, it transpires, they do their historical research the hands-on way, with the help of a set of time machines. Max dives happily into this milieu, recking nothing of possible danger, determined to become a fully-fledged Historian and see her specialty first-hand.

Of course, things aren't quite that easy. Being a Historian is indeed a dangerous pursuit, and it doesn't help that someone seems to have it in for St Mary's...not to mention the someone who has it in for Max, personally...

This is a fast-paced, one might even say rollicking, tale, if one can apply the term "rollicking" to a tale in which quite a lot of people die, some of them murdered. But despite the high death count, it is actually a light, fun read, and Max is a fun, self-deprecating heroine and narrator. I very much enjoyed it, and look forward to a sequel.]]> 4.02 2013 Just One Damned Thing After Another (The Chronicles of St. Mary's, #1)
author: Jodi Taylor
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2013/08/04
date added: 2014/04/07
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
A friend recommended this, and it was free on Amazon, and I like time-travel tales, so...I picked it up.

Madeleine Maxwell (mostly known as Max, though Mad could also be appropriate) graduates in Ancient History and finds herself head-hunted by St Mary's Institute of Historical Research. Where, it transpires, they do their historical research the hands-on way, with the help of a set of time machines. Max dives happily into this milieu, recking nothing of possible danger, determined to become a fully-fledged Historian and see her specialty first-hand.

Of course, things aren't quite that easy. Being a Historian is indeed a dangerous pursuit, and it doesn't help that someone seems to have it in for St Mary's...not to mention the someone who has it in for Max, personally...

This is a fast-paced, one might even say rollicking, tale, if one can apply the term "rollicking" to a tale in which quite a lot of people die, some of them murdered. But despite the high death count, it is actually a light, fun read, and Max is a fun, self-deprecating heroine and narrator. I very much enjoyed it, and look forward to a sequel.
]]> <![CDATA[The Moochers Abroad (The Moochers, #2)]]> 10616125 144 Jane Shaw Dorian 3 3.67 1951 The Moochers Abroad (The Moochers, #2)
author: Jane Shaw
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1951
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/03/30
shelves:
review:

]]> New Patches for Old 15715621 253 Christobel Mattingley 0140310819 Dorian 4
It is the mid-1970s, and Patricia Morgan's father has been made redundant. Unable to find a new position, he decides that the family will emigrate to Australia under the assisted passage scheme then in operation. Patricia, not unnaturally, is horrified by the prospect of losing her home, her friends, her grandparents, and everything she knows.

Australia isn't easy for her to get to grips with. They arrive in February - the middle of summer - and she can't cope with the heat. Going from a comfortable middle-class life to having almost no money is hard, and a would-be bully at school doesn't help.

But slowly, she does acclimatise, make friends, even find a boyfriend, while in a sort of echo her family begins to settle, her parents find work, and they move into a new home.

Patricia is a very real teenager, sometimes stroppy and sulky, recognising her bad behaviour and ashamed of it, but unable to bring herself to stop; sometimes mildly obsessed with boyfriend Geoff, living for their time together; sometimes happy with friends, laughing and joking and playing records together. If the other characters are sometimes a little shadowy, well, the book is about Patricia and she is firmly in the spotlight.]]> 4.17 1977 New Patches for Old
author: Christobel Mattingley
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1977
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/03/30
shelves:
review:
I loved this book as a child, and it stands up well to an adult reread.

It is the mid-1970s, and Patricia Morgan's father has been made redundant. Unable to find a new position, he decides that the family will emigrate to Australia under the assisted passage scheme then in operation. Patricia, not unnaturally, is horrified by the prospect of losing her home, her friends, her grandparents, and everything she knows.

Australia isn't easy for her to get to grips with. They arrive in February - the middle of summer - and she can't cope with the heat. Going from a comfortable middle-class life to having almost no money is hard, and a would-be bully at school doesn't help.

But slowly, she does acclimatise, make friends, even find a boyfriend, while in a sort of echo her family begins to settle, her parents find work, and they move into a new home.

Patricia is a very real teenager, sometimes stroppy and sulky, recognising her bad behaviour and ashamed of it, but unable to bring herself to stop; sometimes mildly obsessed with boyfriend Geoff, living for their time together; sometimes happy with friends, laughing and joking and playing records together. If the other characters are sometimes a little shadowy, well, the book is about Patricia and she is firmly in the spotlight.
]]> <![CDATA[Son of the Hero (The Varayan Memoir, #1)]]> 247647 256 Rick Shelley 0451450264 Dorian 2
Our Hero, Gil, is just 21 and coming home from uni for the last holidays before he graduates. But something's wrong - his parents don't come to meet him and their house is deserted, with mail piling up and food going off in the fridge. And then he discovers that his father is a professional hero for the fantastical country of Varay, his mother is a native of said land, and they've both gone to deal with a threat and not come back. Now all the war games, survival training, and what-not that his father has put Gil through all his life start to make sense. Obviously, the rest of the book involves Gil going to Varay, looking for his parents, and dealing with the problem they went after.

There's stuff to like. The magic doors, and how they work and how to make them, are pretty cool. Several of the secondary characters, especially Uncle Parthet and Lesh, are quite engaging. I quite like the concept of Varay and its neighbouring kingdoms as a buffer zone between our world and Fairy.

But overall, the story's rather predictable and Gil isn't a very interesting hero. I am going to go on and read the rest of the trilogy, but that's mainly because for years I didn't have the last book and I want to satisfy that ancient curiosity about how it all ends.]]> 3.86 1990 Son of the Hero (The Varayan Memoir, #1)
author: Rick Shelley
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1990
rating: 2
read at: 2014/03/28
date added: 2014/03/29
shelves:
review:
I remember liking this book a lot about 15 years ago. I'm not entirely sure why, now. It's not that it's a bad book. It's just...not much out of the ordinary.

Our Hero, Gil, is just 21 and coming home from uni for the last holidays before he graduates. But something's wrong - his parents don't come to meet him and their house is deserted, with mail piling up and food going off in the fridge. And then he discovers that his father is a professional hero for the fantastical country of Varay, his mother is a native of said land, and they've both gone to deal with a threat and not come back. Now all the war games, survival training, and what-not that his father has put Gil through all his life start to make sense. Obviously, the rest of the book involves Gil going to Varay, looking for his parents, and dealing with the problem they went after.

There's stuff to like. The magic doors, and how they work and how to make them, are pretty cool. Several of the secondary characters, especially Uncle Parthet and Lesh, are quite engaging. I quite like the concept of Varay and its neighbouring kingdoms as a buffer zone between our world and Fairy.

But overall, the story's rather predictable and Gil isn't a very interesting hero. I am going to go on and read the rest of the trilogy, but that's mainly because for years I didn't have the last book and I want to satisfy that ancient curiosity about how it all ends.
]]> <![CDATA[A Local Habitation (October Daye, #2)]]> 6782465
Now Sylvester has asked her to go to the County of Tamed Lightning—otherwise known as Fremont, CA—to make sure that all is well with his niece, Countess January O'Leary, whom he has not been able to contact. It seems like a simple enough assignment—but when dealing with the realm of Faerie nothing is ever as simple as it seems. Toby soon discovers that someone has begun murdering people close to January, whose domain is a buffer between Sylvester's realm and a scheming rival duchy. If Toby can't find the killer soon, she may well become the next victim.]]> 377 Seanan McGuire 0756405963 Dorian 3 other-ebooks
This time Toby gets sent off to another Faerie fiefdom: her liege lord is worried by the fact that his niece has suddenly gone incommunicado and he wants her to make sure everything's all right. It isn't, of course.

The first problem that becomes apparent is that said niece has been trying to contact uncle dearest, but he never returns her calls...yes, the ones he hasn't been getting. Matters take a turn for the worse when the dead body turns up...and then it transpires that this isn't the first murder. Things get worse from there.

Toby spends less time getting beaten up in this book than in the last, though she still ends up very battered. (I'm really not sure I like this tendency in urban fantasy; it seems like somehow, when I wasn't looking, it became a Rule that every UF heroine has to spend at least half of every book badly injured. It's getting creepy.)

Quentin is her major side-kick for this book, which I liked; he's kind of sweet and it was nice to see him growing up a bit.

I half-guessed who the murderer was, though there were still surprises for me at the dénoument. I also guessed what the deal was with Alex, which was pleasing. (I'm not very good at picking up clues/guessing what will happen, so I get all happy when I do.)

Overall, another well-crafted story that I enjoyed reading. On to book three now!]]> 3.87 2010 A Local Habitation (October Daye, #2)
author: Seanan McGuire
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2014/03/27
date added: 2014/03/27
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
Book two in the series, and yes, I did pick it up pretty much as soon as I finished book one.

This time Toby gets sent off to another Faerie fiefdom: her liege lord is worried by the fact that his niece has suddenly gone incommunicado and he wants her to make sure everything's all right. It isn't, of course.

The first problem that becomes apparent is that said niece has been trying to contact uncle dearest, but he never returns her calls...yes, the ones he hasn't been getting. Matters take a turn for the worse when the dead body turns up...and then it transpires that this isn't the first murder. Things get worse from there.

Toby spends less time getting beaten up in this book than in the last, though she still ends up very battered. (I'm really not sure I like this tendency in urban fantasy; it seems like somehow, when I wasn't looking, it became a Rule that every UF heroine has to spend at least half of every book badly injured. It's getting creepy.)

Quentin is her major side-kick for this book, which I liked; he's kind of sweet and it was nice to see him growing up a bit.

I half-guessed who the murderer was, though there were still surprises for me at the dénoument. I also guessed what the deal was with Alex, which was pleasing. (I'm not very good at picking up clues/guessing what will happen, so I get all happy when I do.)

Overall, another well-crafted story that I enjoyed reading. On to book three now!
]]> <![CDATA[Rosemary and Rue (October Daye, #1)]]> 6294549
The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening's dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant and renew old alliances. As she steps back into fae society, dealing with a cast of characters not entirely good or evil, she realizes that more than her own life will be forfeited if she cannot find Evening's killer.]]> 346 Seanan McGuire 0756405718 Dorian 3 other-ebooks
Anyway, there she is, only recently unfished, and doing a lousy job of putting her life back together again, when she finds herself bound and cursed to investigate a murder. Things, naturally, get somewhat messy from there on.

There was quite a lot to like in this story, overall. The characters are all various types of Faerie beings, and the author does a good job of describing and differentiating them. And, as in all proper Faerie stories, they are none of them sweet or nice. (Except maybe the rose goblins, which are quite the cutest things ever and I want one.)

Our Heroine, despite being an utter idiot when it comes to interpersonal relationships (though 14 years a fish may have something to do with that, and even before that what we learn of her upbringing is pretty screwed up), is rather endearing, and the other characters are well-drawn too (though mostly not endearing!).

The plot is somewhat slight, but I liked the setting and characters enough to not really care.

I did find a large chunk of the middle of the book, which consisted mostly of Our Heroine getting repeatedly shot, beaten up, and nearly dying, rather tedious, but that's probably my main complaint. Well, that and the fact that I'm just not very keen on Faerie creatures in general, so a book entirely populated by them is never going to make me as happy as a book without them.]]> 3.76 2009 Rosemary and Rue (October Daye, #1)
author: Seanan McGuire
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2014/03/27
date added: 2014/03/27
shelves: other-ebooks
review:
At the start of this book, Our Heroine gets ambushed and turned into a fish, which is a bit of an unexpected opening. However, it is just the prologue, and by the start of the story proper, 14 years later, she's...um, bipedal, again. (As a Changeling, she's not human.)

Anyway, there she is, only recently unfished, and doing a lousy job of putting her life back together again, when she finds herself bound and cursed to investigate a murder. Things, naturally, get somewhat messy from there on.

There was quite a lot to like in this story, overall. The characters are all various types of Faerie beings, and the author does a good job of describing and differentiating them. And, as in all proper Faerie stories, they are none of them sweet or nice. (Except maybe the rose goblins, which are quite the cutest things ever and I want one.)

Our Heroine, despite being an utter idiot when it comes to interpersonal relationships (though 14 years a fish may have something to do with that, and even before that what we learn of her upbringing is pretty screwed up), is rather endearing, and the other characters are well-drawn too (though mostly not endearing!).

The plot is somewhat slight, but I liked the setting and characters enough to not really care.

I did find a large chunk of the middle of the book, which consisted mostly of Our Heroine getting repeatedly shot, beaten up, and nearly dying, rather tedious, but that's probably my main complaint. Well, that and the fact that I'm just not very keen on Faerie creatures in general, so a book entirely populated by them is never going to make me as happy as a book without them.
]]> <![CDATA[The Curse of Chalion (World of the Five Gods, #1)]]> 61886
It is an assignment Cazaril dreads, for it will ultimately lead him to the place he fears most, the royal court of Cardegoss, where the powerful enemies, who once placed him in chains, now occupy lofty positions. In addition to the traitorous intrigues of villains, Cazaril and the Royesse Iselle, are faced with a sinister curse that hangs like a sword over the entire blighted House of Chalion and all who stand in their circle. Only by employing the darkest, most forbidden of magics, can Cazaril hope to protect his royal charge—an act that will mark the loyal, damaged servant as a tool of the miraculous, and trap him, flesh and soul, in a maze of demonic paradox, damnation, and death.]]> 490 Lois McMaster Bujold 0007133618 Dorian 5 The Curse of Chalion is one of the relatively few books that, no matter what mood I may be in, I can pick up and fall happily into.

From the opening, where Cazaril - battered, bruised, and broken - seeks no greater boon than a place as a scullion in the castle where once he served as a page...the calm, golden days he spends as tutor to Iselle, sister to the heir to the throne...the frightening days in Cardegoss when the gods first show their hands in his life...

And that's just the plot. The start of the plot. The surface of the plot.

Then there are the characters. Cazaril, broken, almost destroyed, but still determinedly putting one foot in front of the other. Not really so mad Ista. Awful Dondo. Umegat, foreigner and saint and not what one expects of either. And the rest...

The gods - oh, the gods. I love how Bujold does gods. The religion is so very well done, properly thought out and an integral part of the world and the characters' lives. And their interactions with the gods are...not one-sided, let's say.

And the ideas...it's appropriate that a volume of theology plays a large part in the story.

I just love this book. I find new things in it every time I read it.]]> 4.14 2001 The Curse of Chalion (World of the Five Gods, #1)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2014/03/08
shelves:
review:
There are some books that I need to be in the right mood for. This is not one of those. The Curse of Chalion is one of the relatively few books that, no matter what mood I may be in, I can pick up and fall happily into.

From the opening, where Cazaril - battered, bruised, and broken - seeks no greater boon than a place as a scullion in the castle where once he served as a page...the calm, golden days he spends as tutor to Iselle, sister to the heir to the throne...the frightening days in Cardegoss when the gods first show their hands in his life...

And that's just the plot. The start of the plot. The surface of the plot.

Then there are the characters. Cazaril, broken, almost destroyed, but still determinedly putting one foot in front of the other. Not really so mad Ista. Awful Dondo. Umegat, foreigner and saint and not what one expects of either. And the rest...

The gods - oh, the gods. I love how Bujold does gods. The religion is so very well done, properly thought out and an integral part of the world and the characters' lives. And their interactions with the gods are...not one-sided, let's say.

And the ideas...it's appropriate that a volume of theology plays a large part in the story.

I just love this book. I find new things in it every time I read it.
]]> <![CDATA[Throne of the Crescent Moon (The Crescent Moon Kingdoms #1)]]> 16129586 The Arabian Nights.

The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, home to djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, are at the boiling point of a power struggle between the iron-fisted Khalif and the mysterious master thief known as the Falcon Prince. In the midst of this brewing rebellion a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. It is up to a handful of heroes to learn the truth behind these killings.

Doctor Adoulla Makhslood, “the last real ghul hunter in the great city of Dhamsawaat,� just wants a quiet cup of tea. Three score and more years old, he has grown weary of hunting monsters and saving lives, and is more than ready to retire from his dangerous and demanding vocation. But when an old flame’s family is murdered, Adoulla is drawn back to the hunter’s path.

Raseed bas Raseed, Adoulla’s young assistant, is a hidebound holy warrior whose prowess is matched only by his piety. But even as Raseed’s sword is tested by ghuls and manjackals, his soul is tested when he and Adoulla cross paths with the tribeswoman Zamia.

Zamia Badawi, Protector of the Band, has been gifted with the near-mythical power of the lion-shape, but shunned by her people for daring to take up a man’s title. She lives only to avenge her father’s death. Until she learns that Adoulla and his allies also hunt her father’s killer. Until she meets Raseed.

When they learn that the murders and the Falcon Prince’s brewing revolution are connected, the companions must race against time—and struggle against their own misgivings—to save the life of a vicious despot. In so doing they discover a plot for the Throne of the Crescent Moon that threatens to turn Dhamsawaat, and the world itself, into a blood-soaked ruin.]]> 288 Saladin Ahmed 0575132922 Dorian 3
I liked that the main character was old and fat and non-white, and that of his four "team-mates", two more were on the older side of middle-age. I liked the vaguely Arabian Nights type setting and the ghul-hunting and the discovery of the intrigue and horror.

But somehow it all seemed to be a bit rote. There didn't seem to be any passion to it, and I put it down at last with a faint feeling of dissatisfaction. It's probably closer to 2.5 than 3 stars, really, but I'm being generous because it's the author's first book.]]> 3.47 2012 Throne of the Crescent Moon (The Crescent Moon Kingdoms #1)
author: Saladin Ahmed
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2014/02/23
date added: 2014/03/02
shelves:
review:
This was one of those books that I wanted to like more than I did.

I liked that the main character was old and fat and non-white, and that of his four "team-mates", two more were on the older side of middle-age. I liked the vaguely Arabian Nights type setting and the ghul-hunting and the discovery of the intrigue and horror.

But somehow it all seemed to be a bit rote. There didn't seem to be any passion to it, and I put it down at last with a faint feeling of dissatisfaction. It's probably closer to 2.5 than 3 stars, really, but I'm being generous because it's the author's first book.
]]> <![CDATA[Lt. Leary, Commanding (Lt. Leary, #2)]]> 553696 556 David Drake 0671319922 Dorian 3 4.02 2000 Lt. Leary, Commanding (Lt. Leary, #2)
author: David Drake
name: Dorian
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/02/27
shelves:
review:

]]> With the Lightnings (RCN, #1) 286445 336 David Drake 0671578863 Dorian 3 3.88 1998 With the Lightnings (RCN, #1)
author: David Drake
name: Dorian
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/02/27
shelves:
review:

]]>