various books

I’m clearing out my drafts for the new year; this is what I read but never wrote up. Some of these were rereads; others were from the library and will probably get an individual post upon a reread.

Lois McMaster Bujold: Paladin of Souls and Curse of Chalion, in that order. I was looking for a comfort read, and chose to reread Paladin of Souls; I ended up rereading The Curse of Chalion as well, mostly because I was curious about Foix and Ferda’s characterizations (Foix was the one listening at the door; otherwise they were Foix-and-Ferda). These are two of my favorite books for any number of reasons; I like Bujold’s writing style and the worldbuilding. I like most of the characters, and am interested in the ones I don’t like; (notably, Cattilara in Paladin is the type of character I usually dislike, but Bujold made her sympathetic). Both have a good mix of action (more in Paladin), political intrigue (more in Curse), and romance. They also have adult protagonists (Cazaril is 35, and Ista is 40) who have had difficult lives and who are given a second chance at happiness.

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Liz Williams: Snake Agent and Demon in the City (reread)

These are her Inspector Chen novels, which are mystery/thriller/political intrigue type books at heart; they both start with murders which prove to be related to much larger schemes. The world itself has both science fiction and fantasy elements; the technology level (for the rich, at least) is very high, but Heaven and Hell and various gods exist (the Christian version exists somewhere, but is not relevant here.) Detective Inspector Chen is a member of the Singapore Three Franchise Police Department and often handles supernatural crime, and eventually ends up with a demon as an assistant. I received the third book for Christmas (Precious Dragon) and will do a full post once I’ve read it; more people should read these.

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Sarah Monette: The Mirador

I had this from the library, and read it without rereading Mélusine and The Virtu and was occasionally confused; the large spoiler in the front flap did not help (it’s a spoiler for something in the first few pages). Felix and Mildmay are still having disfunctional lives, Mehitabel Parr is added as a viewpoint character (with a marginally more functional life). I think this is also part one of two; the pacing was a little off. It started very slowly, and then there was extreme amounts of action at the very end. Part of me wishes I had stopped after The Virtu; Felix and Mildmay are too messed up to be truely happy, but they had both found some measure of contentment there. I am currently expecting everyone to die at the end; I am doubting that both Felix and Mildmay will survive the series. I liked it well enough (Mélusine is still my favorite, though) and plan to buy it in the near future and will do a full review later (or I may reserve judgement on this one until after the next is released).

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China Miéville: Un Lun Dun

At some point, I tried to read Perdido Street Station and ended up setting it aside to try again later; I liked the setting and was somewhat interested in the plot, but wasn’t interested enough to finish it (I think I didn’t like his writing style and wasn’t interested enough in the plot or characters to continue). I saw Un Lun Dun; it looked like exactly the sort of thing that I like, and was young adult (or lower) so I hoped the issues I had with his writing style would be minimized. This starts off as a “chosen one on a quest for plot coupons to save the world” type fantasy, but bends or breaks all of the tropes of that sort of fantasy. UnLunDun is created from the trash of London; the lead ends up with a milk carton as a pet, and there are buildings made from things like old record players. I adored this book and will buy it eventually; I’m going to wait to see the paperback, though, since it’s out later this month. If the illustrations are still there and look good, I’ll get that; otherwise I’ll get the hardback.

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Matt Ruff: Bad Monkeys

I got this from the library; I was very surprised that they had a copy, and glad that that copy was at the nearest branch. I have all of his other books: Sewer, Gas & Electric is one of my favorite books; Fool on the Hill gave me severe college flashbacks; and I have Set This House in Order (and have since it was a new trade paperback), but have not yet read it. This starts with Dr. Vale, psychiatrist, interviewing Jane Charlotte, inmate of the psychiatric wing of the Las Vegas jail, about the murder of Mr. Dixon; she says it’s going to be a very long story. She claims to be a member of an unnamed vigilante organization that deals with people who avoid legal punishment; her particular section is the assassin’s section, codename “Bad Monkeys”. Mr. Dixon was not an official target. Each visit, her story changes slightly (due in part to Dr. Vale’s investigations about the previous part), until eventually the truth is revealed (maybe). She blames some of the inconsistencies on other parts of the organization changing history; they are apparently very close to omniscient (anything with eyes can be used for spying) and omnipotent. I liked Jane Charlotte more than I should have; she ought to be a completely unsympathetic character. I got this for Christmas and am looking forward to reading it for the details instead of hurrying through to see what happens next.

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Georgette Heyer: Cotillion (reread)

Pure fluff! I had a library discard of this, but bought it again recently; it was reprinted (by someone other than Harlequin; my Waldenbooks had it in fiction instead of romance). Kitty is the ward of an elderly man; he will make her his heir if she marries one of his grand-nephews and he summons his nephews to tell them this. His favorite (and Kitty’s crush) is Jack, who is a bit of a rake. The other nephews are George (married), Hugh (a rector), Freddie (nothing special, of average intellect, rich, with a minor title), Dolph (a bit slow (on the verge of needing a keeper), poor but highest title), and Claude (in the military and in France, not there). Jack doesn’t show up, both Hugh and Dolph propose and are rejected; Kitty runs away, meets Freddy, and convinces him to participate in a fake betrothal with a trip to London to meet his parents. Once in London, there are measles, Freddy’s sister, Jack and Dolph, Kitty’s French cousin, and Olivia (a chance acquaintance of Kitty’s, also Jack’s intended mistress). This is one of my favorites of hers.

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Diana Wynne Jones: The Pinhoe Egg (new) and Conrad’s Fate (reread)

These are both Chrestomanci novels; The Pinhoe Egg is set in Chrestomanci’s world, with other magic-users trying to avoid the Chrestomanci’s notice, and Conrad’s Fate is set in another universe with people trying to use power in inappropriate ways (and a lack of Chrestomanci himself). I liked Conrad’s Fate better than The Pinhoe Egg; I liked the latter, but found most of the characters unsympathetic.

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Carol and Nobuo Akiyama: Barron’s Japanese Grammar (second edition)

I did actually read part of this and skimmed the rest; I was looking for an overview of Japanese grammar and ran across a mention of this online. I flipped through it at Borders, decided it looked useful and the price was right ($6.95) and bought it. It’s divided into sections by parts of speech, with a section at the end for things like numbers, dates, family members, common phrases, etc. There are tons of examples, most of which translate the relevant words individually and also convert them into proper English sentences. I like the way it’s laid out; I knew a lot of this anyway, but it helps to have the information in an organized format. It is definitely a beginner-level book; everything is romanized.

Lois McMaster Bujold: The Sharing Knife: Beguilement/Legacy

These are essentially one book in two parts; they are romance in a fantasy setting instead of fantasy with a romantic subplot. I read these because Lois McMaster Bujold is one of my favorite authors; however, I waited for paperback for the first one and have the second one from the library (they had issues for a while and never had the first one). I did not find the various descriptions of Beguilement very appealing; this is the description from its back cover:

Troubled young Fawn Bluefield seeks a life beyond her family’s farm. But en route to the city, she encounters a patrol of Lakewalkers, nomadic soldier–sorcerers from the northern woodlands. Feared necromancers armed with mysterious knives made of human bone, they wage a secret, ongoing war against the scourge of the “malices,” immortal entities that draw the life out of their victims, enslaving human and animal alike.

It is Dag—a Lakewalker patroller weighed down by past sorrows and onerous present responsibilities—who must come to Fawn’s aid when she is taken captive by a malice. They prevail at a devastating cost—unexpectedly binding their fates as they embark upon a remarkable journey into danger and delight, prejudice and partnership . . . and perhaps even love.

There are some inaccuracies in this but it does give a good indication of what it will be like. Beguilement has the descriptions of the world and the way it works: there are farmers and Lakewalkers; the Lakewalkers have groundsense, which allows them to have a feeling about their general area and the people and other beings in it; some can use it to make things (coats that will repel water, ropes that won’t break, etc.), and they mostly consider the farmers as lesser beings. The Lakewalkers call everyone else farmers; farmers discourage relationships with Lakewalkers, and Lakewalkers forbid outside relationships. It starts with Fawn and Dag meeting and the encounter with the malice, the incident with the knife of the title, and continues through the beginning of their relationship and Fawn’s return home. Legacy finds Dag and Fawn returning to Dag’s home and the problems they face there.

I liked Beguilement well enough; I tend to like the getting-together portions of romances best, and it was interesting learning about the world itself. Even though it is really only half a book, it was a satisfying read on its own, and had a decent ending; the significance of the knife and the reaction of Dag’s people to the relationship were the only bits left hanging. I didn’t like Legacy that much; I wanted to smack some sense into both Fawn and Dag (and occasionally Dag’s family) and found myself wondering if Fawn was Dag’s midlife crisis. Most of Dag’s family was (deliberately) unlikeable, and the Lakewalker society as a whole seemed annoying and hard-headed and prejudiced. There was far too much of Fawn worrying about fitting in and trying to be accepted; I don’t really want to read about people becoming accustomed to a different culture. She also seemed a bit too impulsive and hard-headed (typical teenage girl); I didn’t mind this in the first, but in the second it became annoying.

I don’t really like large age differences, though it’s not an automatic no for me; if it’s presented as normal in the society, it doesn’t bother me as much, but there was opposition on the basis of Dag’s age as well as his being a Lakewalker. Also, the mental ages are more important to me than the physical ages, but Fawn seemed very young, and Dag seemed much, much, much older (18-55 seems about right); the Lakewalkers do seem to age a little bit more slowly than the farmers, but even 18 to 40 (what Fawn first thought Dag’s age was) is a little too much for me. I also don’t like love-at-first-sight or short-but-fast-moving type relationships, especially when there are very good reasons against the relationship (age, farmer vs. Lakewalker). I can overlook some of these things in the hands of a good author (and Bujold is a good author), but I didn’t find the speed of the relationship very convincing, especially since Fawn’s previous attempt at a relationship ended badly (rebound+experimentation?). The bit with the knife in the title seemed like it was only really important as an excuse for Fawn and Dag to be together; it was useful but did not seem to have any real meaning.

I liked the setting, and wouldn’t mind reading other books in this world; I don’t want to read any more about Fawn and Dag, even though the ending left the possibility of other stories about them. I wanted to like these books; I have read most of Bujold’s works and count several of them among my favorites (including the ones with strong romantic subplots), but these had several romance tropes that I personally don’t like, and they were enough to make me dislike Legacy. I will probably buy Legacy in paperback, eventually, though, and read any further books (even if they include Fawn and Dag).