Title: Cast in Secret
Author: Michelle Sagara
Begun: August 23, 2007
Completed: August 25, 2007
You have to be careful when reading Michelle Sagara - whatever the name she's using. So much of her exposition slips in where you least expect it, important details of motive and history are constantly eluded to and only very rarely fully elaborated on. Her books require close reading and a lot of thought, and Cast in Secret is a perfect example.
The third book in the fantasy/romance Elantra books, Cast in Secret chronicles once more the adventures of reformed street kid (well...sort of) Kaylin Neya. If Samuel Vimes had stayed at the bottom of the Watch ranks and had a lot more serious trauma and been a girl, he might be something like Kaylin. She is endearingly lower class, and she sticks to those principles despite her frequent forays in the Elantran aristocracy. It's hard not to love Kaylin.
Cast in Secret forces Kaylin to confront her prejudices against a variety of issues, most obviously the Tha'alani and her own unpredictable magic. Sagara once again explores Kaylin's unrequited-and-highly-tense chemistry with the mad, bad and dangerous to know Lord Nightshade (you want to laugh at the name... and then you meet him) and the stoic Severn. It's easy to cast Severn in the "strong, silent good guy" role, but he's much more morally complex than that. Sagara also has the good sense to bring back Tiamaris, my favorite character in the first book and more than a simple bit player here.
Like the preceeding novels - Cast in Shadow, Cast in Courtlight - Cast in Secret blends genres and techniques in a highly intricate pattern. Though it comes from the Luna line and is billed as romance and fantasy, it's also a good part gritty crime procedural. But though Cast in Secret doesn't quite spark as much as Cast in Shadow, it certainly piques the interest for the fourth book. When, hopefully, we may get some of the much-delayed gratification.
Cast in Secret at Amazon.com
Monday, September 3, 2007
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Review: Rises the Night, Colleen Gleason
Title: Rises the Night
Author: Colleen Gleason
Begun: July 31, 2007
Completed: August 3, 2007
Rises the Night is the second book in the highly enjoyable Gardella Vampire Chronicles. Unusually for a second book in a trilogy (especially a fantasy trilogy), Rises the Night is better than the first novel, The Rest Falls Away. Gleason wisely takes Victoria out of her London society comfort zone and ships her off to Italy to deal with a new vampiric threat. The book is sprinkled with historical characters (and personally, I'm hoping for a run-in with Beau Brummell in the next one). I imagine Byron is quite miffed about his portrayal, but Byron is pretty much guaranteed hilarity. (My notes contain the phrase: "HAHA, BYRON" several times.)
At the core of Rises the Night is still Victoria, now widowed, her great-aunt and the two men who comprise the love triangle that qualifies this book as romance. The good news is that Sebastian Vioget (of course he's French) is much more appealing a love interest in this book - but Max Pesaro falls from focus. I like this approach, because it muddies the romantic waters considerably. During the first book I would have back Max as the winner in the race for Victoria's hand, their oft-professed reluctance for each other aside. But Sebastian really emerges in Rises the Night, becoming more interesting, charasmatic, attractive and, yes, sexier. He's a bit of a rake, and that's not unwelcome.
One of the things I truly appreciated was Victoria's new status. So often romance is about a young woman's sexual awakening. She may not actually be a virgin, but she is close enough. The novel is supposed to follow the first time she has ever falled in love. Victoria is a widow, but rather than the chaste and innocent widow that is as much a stereotype as the sexually unhinged hero, she is one fully aware of her sexual power. I enjoyed that angle very much. Victoria is far from innocent. Gleason acknolwedges that and incorporates it very well into the story.
Rises the Night is a well-plotted, suspensful mix of historical fiction, fantasy and romance. Victoria is as engaging a heroine as she was in the first book, and her continuing adventures will certainly be interesting. I do hope, for her sake, she gets some girl friends her own age sometime soon though.
Rises the Night at Amazon.com
Author: Colleen Gleason
Begun: July 31, 2007
Completed: August 3, 2007
Rises the Night is the second book in the highly enjoyable Gardella Vampire Chronicles. Unusually for a second book in a trilogy (especially a fantasy trilogy), Rises the Night is better than the first novel, The Rest Falls Away. Gleason wisely takes Victoria out of her London society comfort zone and ships her off to Italy to deal with a new vampiric threat. The book is sprinkled with historical characters (and personally, I'm hoping for a run-in with Beau Brummell in the next one). I imagine Byron is quite miffed about his portrayal, but Byron is pretty much guaranteed hilarity. (My notes contain the phrase: "HAHA, BYRON" several times.)
At the core of Rises the Night is still Victoria, now widowed, her great-aunt and the two men who comprise the love triangle that qualifies this book as romance. The good news is that Sebastian Vioget (of course he's French) is much more appealing a love interest in this book - but Max Pesaro falls from focus. I like this approach, because it muddies the romantic waters considerably. During the first book I would have back Max as the winner in the race for Victoria's hand, their oft-professed reluctance for each other aside. But Sebastian really emerges in Rises the Night, becoming more interesting, charasmatic, attractive and, yes, sexier. He's a bit of a rake, and that's not unwelcome.
One of the things I truly appreciated was Victoria's new status. So often romance is about a young woman's sexual awakening. She may not actually be a virgin, but she is close enough. The novel is supposed to follow the first time she has ever falled in love. Victoria is a widow, but rather than the chaste and innocent widow that is as much a stereotype as the sexually unhinged hero, she is one fully aware of her sexual power. I enjoyed that angle very much. Victoria is far from innocent. Gleason acknolwedges that and incorporates it very well into the story.
Rises the Night is a well-plotted, suspensful mix of historical fiction, fantasy and romance. Victoria is as engaging a heroine as she was in the first book, and her continuing adventures will certainly be interesting. I do hope, for her sake, she gets some girl friends her own age sometime soon though.
Rises the Night at Amazon.com
Monday, July 30, 2007
Review: The Loved One, Evelyn Waugh
Title: The Loved One
Author: Evelyn Waugh
Begun: June 30, 2007
Completed: June 30, 2007
Of all the books I've read in the past year, I think I've enjoyed The Loved One the most. Waugh is best known today for the depressing and homoerotic Brideshead Revisited, but The Loved One is an entirely different animal.
Were Waugh alive today, he would probably have made indie films. In its brevity and ruthless satire, The Loved One seems much less a book than a movie - and a good film adaptation would be both terrific fun and fit in well at Cannes or Sundance. It's a strange comparison to make, maybe, but the most accurate one I can think of.
We like to call well-done a satire "biting satire", but The Loved One is possessed of fangs. Waugh rips holes in people and communities we would never have thought to ridicule. I admire his acuity, not least because it made me laugh. A lot.
Author: Evelyn Waugh
Begun: June 30, 2007
Completed: June 30, 2007
Of all the books I've read in the past year, I think I've enjoyed The Loved One the most. Waugh is best known today for the depressing and homoerotic Brideshead Revisited, but The Loved One is an entirely different animal.
Were Waugh alive today, he would probably have made indie films. In its brevity and ruthless satire, The Loved One seems much less a book than a movie - and a good film adaptation would be both terrific fun and fit in well at Cannes or Sundance. It's a strange comparison to make, maybe, but the most accurate one I can think of.
We like to call well-done a satire "biting satire", but The Loved One is possessed of fangs. Waugh rips holes in people and communities we would never have thought to ridicule. I admire his acuity, not least because it made me laugh. A lot.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Review: Archangel, Sharon Shinn
Title: Archangel
Author: Sharon Shinn
Date Begun: July 1, 2007
Date Completed: July 1, 2007
Archangel owes Anne McCaffrey a very, very large debt.
It has been some time since I reread one of McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books, but even so the similarities between Shinn's world and characters and McCaffrey's early books were both striking and slightly disturbing. The angels are almost exactly identical to the dragonriders - both are elite groups who dwell in high places and govern and protect their world. Also, they fly. Rachel, the heroine, could understandably be mistaken for Lessa and Gabriel, the hero, has several traits in common with F'lar. Their relationship, too, is uncomfortably similar to the romance that takes up much of Dragonflight.
But beyond characters, there is a sense that Shinn's Samaria is also populated by refugees from Earth, the the "magic" and religion are actually science provided by the original settlers, now long forgotten. And like Pern, music is of paramount importance.
This is not to say that Archangel is badly written. It is well-done enough for me to hope that the sequels deviate enough from McCaffrey's template to be worth reading. Grading it presented me with a problem - perhaps the similarities were accidental, certainly Shinn is a popular author and her style is engaging. But nevertheless, the similarities are there and they are blatant enough to bring down the grade quite a bit. So Archangel gets a C from me, with fingers crossed.
But if talking dolphins and Artificial Intelligence show up, I call foul.
Author: Sharon Shinn
Date Begun: July 1, 2007
Date Completed: July 1, 2007
Archangel owes Anne McCaffrey a very, very large debt.
It has been some time since I reread one of McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books, but even so the similarities between Shinn's world and characters and McCaffrey's early books were both striking and slightly disturbing. The angels are almost exactly identical to the dragonriders - both are elite groups who dwell in high places and govern and protect their world. Also, they fly. Rachel, the heroine, could understandably be mistaken for Lessa and Gabriel, the hero, has several traits in common with F'lar. Their relationship, too, is uncomfortably similar to the romance that takes up much of Dragonflight.
But beyond characters, there is a sense that Shinn's Samaria is also populated by refugees from Earth, the the "magic" and religion are actually science provided by the original settlers, now long forgotten. And like Pern, music is of paramount importance.
This is not to say that Archangel is badly written. It is well-done enough for me to hope that the sequels deviate enough from McCaffrey's template to be worth reading. Grading it presented me with a problem - perhaps the similarities were accidental, certainly Shinn is a popular author and her style is engaging. But nevertheless, the similarities are there and they are blatant enough to bring down the grade quite a bit. So Archangel gets a C from me, with fingers crossed.
But if talking dolphins and Artificial Intelligence show up, I call foul.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Review: The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky (Unexpurgated Edition)
Title: The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky
Author: Vaslav Nijisnky; Edited by Joan Acocella and Translated by Kyril FitzLyon
Date Begun: June 23, 2007
Date Completed: June 28, 2007
There is a blurb on the back of this edition of Nijisnky's diary which nails the experience of reading it, in a way promotional blurbs hardly ever do: "Like watching the permanent eclipse of the sun."
That sums up the experience. While watching Nijinsky approach insanity must have been like watching a racehorse break its legs, experiencing the same time period through his own words is infinitely worse. It is not that the prose is difficult to comprehend - the short, abrupt sentences are fairly easy in and of themselves - but it is a very difficult book to actually read. I find that I want to cry but am entirely unable.
Perhaps the most difficult part is that Nijinsky seems completely aware of his disintegrating mental status. He makes references to other artists and intellectuals that went mad. He references Hamlet (this might have been written by Hamlet, almost). But there are moments when Nijinsky seems equally oblivious to his madness.
I certainly didn't expect such a preoccupation with politics. But I suppose anything written during the post WWI peace conferences must be political.
It's a very difficult book, but I'm glad I read it.
Author: Vaslav Nijisnky; Edited by Joan Acocella and Translated by Kyril FitzLyon
Date Begun: June 23, 2007
Date Completed: June 28, 2007
There is a blurb on the back of this edition of Nijisnky's diary which nails the experience of reading it, in a way promotional blurbs hardly ever do: "Like watching the permanent eclipse of the sun."
That sums up the experience. While watching Nijinsky approach insanity must have been like watching a racehorse break its legs, experiencing the same time period through his own words is infinitely worse. It is not that the prose is difficult to comprehend - the short, abrupt sentences are fairly easy in and of themselves - but it is a very difficult book to actually read. I find that I want to cry but am entirely unable.
Perhaps the most difficult part is that Nijinsky seems completely aware of his disintegrating mental status. He makes references to other artists and intellectuals that went mad. He references Hamlet (this might have been written by Hamlet, almost). But there are moments when Nijinsky seems equally oblivious to his madness.
I certainly didn't expect such a preoccupation with politics. But I suppose anything written during the post WWI peace conferences must be political.
It's a very difficult book, but I'm glad I read it.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Review: Twilight, Stephanie Meyer
Title: Twilight
Author: Stephanie Meyer
Date Begun: June 20, 2007
Date Completed: June 20, 2007
Stephanie Meyer seems like a pretty nice person (with tragic music taste), so it made me sad when I didn't like Twilight even a little bit. I would have been sadder if I'd paid money for it though.
You're probably thinking "You're reading Twilight now? Way to lose track of the YA literature bandwagon there." And you have a point. The Stephanie Meyer phenomenon is well-documented already. But the third novel is coming out this summer, and it didn't seem too inappropriate to review the first one.
Stuck somewhere between a romance novel and a television show, Twilight follows (Isa)Bella Swan through her move to a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Bella narrates, a tactic I found easier to handle if I thought of Angela Chase's voice doing the narration instead. Normally, this would be a compliment. Really, there's probably nothing wrong with Bella - I sympathize with anyone who is abnormally pale and has to move half-way through high school (been there). But it would be nice if she'd exhibited a personality that was a little less clingy.
Even clingy would have been all right, maybe, if she'd clung to someone other than Edward Cullen. Because frankly, Edward Cullen is kind of a dick. He's high-handed and autocratic, he constantly talks down to Bella and wraps himself up in his own immortal angst. Traits that maybe Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer could have pulled off in a hero don't work here. Even if he was born in 1901, the novel was written in the twenty-first century. I found myself cheering for Jacob Black - a side character in Twilight who seems to come to more prominence in the sequels. Jacob's a sweetheart and probably has his own sources of angst, a more unusual combination than anything Edward Cullen offers even if he is really Henry Cavill. (Henry Cavill was good at being a sweetheart with unsuspected level angst in I Capture the Castle, for what it's worth.)
Twilight isn't egregiously bad. The writing is fine, and as mentioned Bella has her own redeeming qualities. But if I want to hear about angsty love with gorgeous and autocratic vampires? Well, I've already got Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD, thanks.
Author: Stephanie Meyer
Date Begun: June 20, 2007
Date Completed: June 20, 2007
Stephanie Meyer seems like a pretty nice person (with tragic music taste), so it made me sad when I didn't like Twilight even a little bit. I would have been sadder if I'd paid money for it though.
You're probably thinking "You're reading Twilight now? Way to lose track of the YA literature bandwagon there." And you have a point. The Stephanie Meyer phenomenon is well-documented already. But the third novel is coming out this summer, and it didn't seem too inappropriate to review the first one.
Stuck somewhere between a romance novel and a television show, Twilight follows (Isa)Bella Swan through her move to a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Bella narrates, a tactic I found easier to handle if I thought of Angela Chase's voice doing the narration instead. Normally, this would be a compliment. Really, there's probably nothing wrong with Bella - I sympathize with anyone who is abnormally pale and has to move half-way through high school (been there). But it would be nice if she'd exhibited a personality that was a little less clingy.
Even clingy would have been all right, maybe, if she'd clung to someone other than Edward Cullen. Because frankly, Edward Cullen is kind of a dick. He's high-handed and autocratic, he constantly talks down to Bella and wraps himself up in his own immortal angst. Traits that maybe Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer could have pulled off in a hero don't work here. Even if he was born in 1901, the novel was written in the twenty-first century. I found myself cheering for Jacob Black - a side character in Twilight who seems to come to more prominence in the sequels. Jacob's a sweetheart and probably has his own sources of angst, a more unusual combination than anything Edward Cullen offers even if he is really Henry Cavill. (Henry Cavill was good at being a sweetheart with unsuspected level angst in I Capture the Castle, for what it's worth.)
Twilight isn't egregiously bad. The writing is fine, and as mentioned Bella has her own redeeming qualities. But if I want to hear about angsty love with gorgeous and autocratic vampires? Well, I've already got Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD, thanks.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Review: The Rest Falls Away, Colleen Gleason
Title: The Rest Falls Away
Author: Colleen Gleason
Date Begun: June 9, 2007
Date Completed: June 10, 2007
I read almost all of The Rest Falls Away during a criminally slow night at work. The situation was not ideal - I would much rather have read it sometime in January with hot chocolate in constant supply, because that's the sort of book it is. The winter version of a beach read. But, and this is important, it's a high-quality beach read.
Originally, I picked Gleason up on a recommendation from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. They enjoyed the novel - it got a B+ - and the review led me to believe that I would too. There are a lot of elements that push the exact right buttons for me. Vampires in an historical setting, a "good guy" character who would probably be played by James Marsden in the movie version, a spunky heroine (but not one of those irritating spunky heroines, you know?), illegal activity and an alluring underworld. These are all elements that I enjoy in my fantasy life. And Gleason delivers, even if she never really surpasses any of my expectations.
The biggest strength, beyond the heroine, is probably how well-plotted Gleason made everything. Though she stuck in several immediate plot arcs and a couple more over-arching ones, she keeps them all well-organized. I don't think I ever got confused if I wasn't supposed to be, and I had to answer phones and run credit cards in between chapters. The plot and the characters mesh well together, and I enjoyed Gleason's use of mythology and original ideas even if it sometimes tended towards info-dumping. (And as a sidenote, I didn't need Judas Iscariot's identity explained to me. I don't think there are many people who do.) The romantic side-plots are interesting. The Rest Falls Away is getting a lot of obvious comparisons to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the romantic tension at least reminds me more of Michelle Sagara's Cast books (Cast in Shadow, Cast in Courtlight, and so on). That a dynamic I enjoy, and I recommend the Sagara books if you enjoyed TRFA, though they're a bit more hardcore fantasy.
For me, the reason Gleason is only getting a B, is that the quality of her prose never really distinguishes itself. What would have been interesting to read would be something along the lines of Georgette Heyer with added sex and vampires. Heyer's style can be recreated, and something along its lines would have served this storyline well. At no point does the simple beauty of Gleason's prose strike you. It is well-written, but there is nothing very poetic in it. There probably should be, when you consider the subject matter.
But I enjoyed it, and I'll certainly look out for the sequels.
The Rest Falls Away at Amazon.com
Author: Colleen Gleason
Date Begun: June 9, 2007
Date Completed: June 10, 2007
I read almost all of The Rest Falls Away during a criminally slow night at work. The situation was not ideal - I would much rather have read it sometime in January with hot chocolate in constant supply, because that's the sort of book it is. The winter version of a beach read. But, and this is important, it's a high-quality beach read.
Originally, I picked Gleason up on a recommendation from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. They enjoyed the novel - it got a B+ - and the review led me to believe that I would too. There are a lot of elements that push the exact right buttons for me. Vampires in an historical setting, a "good guy" character who would probably be played by James Marsden in the movie version, a spunky heroine (but not one of those irritating spunky heroines, you know?), illegal activity and an alluring underworld. These are all elements that I enjoy in my fantasy life. And Gleason delivers, even if she never really surpasses any of my expectations.
The biggest strength, beyond the heroine, is probably how well-plotted Gleason made everything. Though she stuck in several immediate plot arcs and a couple more over-arching ones, she keeps them all well-organized. I don't think I ever got confused if I wasn't supposed to be, and I had to answer phones and run credit cards in between chapters. The plot and the characters mesh well together, and I enjoyed Gleason's use of mythology and original ideas even if it sometimes tended towards info-dumping. (And as a sidenote, I didn't need Judas Iscariot's identity explained to me. I don't think there are many people who do.) The romantic side-plots are interesting. The Rest Falls Away is getting a lot of obvious comparisons to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the romantic tension at least reminds me more of Michelle Sagara's Cast books (Cast in Shadow, Cast in Courtlight, and so on). That a dynamic I enjoy, and I recommend the Sagara books if you enjoyed TRFA, though they're a bit more hardcore fantasy.
For me, the reason Gleason is only getting a B, is that the quality of her prose never really distinguishes itself. What would have been interesting to read would be something along the lines of Georgette Heyer with added sex and vampires. Heyer's style can be recreated, and something along its lines would have served this storyline well. At no point does the simple beauty of Gleason's prose strike you. It is well-written, but there is nothing very poetic in it. There probably should be, when you consider the subject matter.
But I enjoyed it, and I'll certainly look out for the sequels.
The Rest Falls Away at Amazon.com
Monday, June 4, 2007
Review: Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
Title: Tipping the Velvet
Author: Sarah Waters
Date Begun: June 2, 2007
Date Completed: June 3, 2007
I quite enjoyed Tipping the Velvet. I've meant to read it for several years, but it took watching the miniseries to spur me on and actually buy it. (So much historical fiction with lesbians, so little time. Or something.) Nancy, the protagonist, is engaging and likeable. But she was far from perfect, thankfully. She is a strong narrator, both resilient and humorous and often unexpectedly sweet.
Indeed, characterization is probably the biggest draw. I enjoyed reading about all the characters. None of Nancy's lovers are perfect, but they're all understandable. Even Diana, who is kind of frightening (Anna Chancellor did a great job with the role in the adaptation) has a sort of draw which reaches out through the pages of the book. It's not wonder Nancy is entranced by her. Florence, who becomes her dream girl, is far from perfect, but certainly enjoyable despite that. I enjoyed the way Waters brings in socialism towards the end of the novel, but I have a big kink for socialists so, um, right.
But the inclusion of socialism brings me to an important point about Tipping the Velvet. If you were to read a summary of the novel, it would all seem more than improbable. Somehow, the twists of the plot all work. Some of them definitely shouldn't work, but Waters has an amazing ability to pull it all off. Once disbelief is suspended, it stays that way. So well done. It's a very densely plotted novel, and the tension dissipates just when it ought to and not a moment before.
Still, Tipping the Velvet was not quite the erotic read I'd expected. Perhaps fanfiction has ruined me. There was really very little titillation, which I suspect had something to do with the writing style. I suppose I'd thought to read something more langorous and sultry, but because of the first person narration and Nancy's characterization, the finished product is fairly conversational. It's an entertaining and sometimes scandalous letter from a high school friend, rather than the Marquis de Sade's memoirs.
Tipping the Velvet at Amazon.com
Author: Sarah Waters
Date Begun: June 2, 2007
Date Completed: June 3, 2007
I quite enjoyed Tipping the Velvet. I've meant to read it for several years, but it took watching the miniseries to spur me on and actually buy it. (So much historical fiction with lesbians, so little time. Or something.) Nancy, the protagonist, is engaging and likeable. But she was far from perfect, thankfully. She is a strong narrator, both resilient and humorous and often unexpectedly sweet.
Indeed, characterization is probably the biggest draw. I enjoyed reading about all the characters. None of Nancy's lovers are perfect, but they're all understandable. Even Diana, who is kind of frightening (Anna Chancellor did a great job with the role in the adaptation) has a sort of draw which reaches out through the pages of the book. It's not wonder Nancy is entranced by her. Florence, who becomes her dream girl, is far from perfect, but certainly enjoyable despite that. I enjoyed the way Waters brings in socialism towards the end of the novel, but I have a big kink for socialists so, um, right.
But the inclusion of socialism brings me to an important point about Tipping the Velvet. If you were to read a summary of the novel, it would all seem more than improbable. Somehow, the twists of the plot all work. Some of them definitely shouldn't work, but Waters has an amazing ability to pull it all off. Once disbelief is suspended, it stays that way. So well done. It's a very densely plotted novel, and the tension dissipates just when it ought to and not a moment before.
Still, Tipping the Velvet was not quite the erotic read I'd expected. Perhaps fanfiction has ruined me. There was really very little titillation, which I suspect had something to do with the writing style. I suppose I'd thought to read something more langorous and sultry, but because of the first person narration and Nancy's characterization, the finished product is fairly conversational. It's an entertaining and sometimes scandalous letter from a high school friend, rather than the Marquis de Sade's memoirs.
Tipping the Velvet at Amazon.com
Monday, May 28, 2007
Review: Athénaïs, Lisa Hilton
Title: Athénaïs: The Life of Louis XIV's Mistress, the Real Queen of France
Author: Lisa Hilton
Date Begun: May 25, 2007
Date Completed: May 29, 2007
Look, I don't have any problem with revisionist historians. Unpopular historical characters are some of my favorite people. So it's easy to understand the desire to rehabilitate such characters, and Hilton wants to do that here. The problem with the book is that Hilton goes much too far in her quest. Instead of recognizing the flaws in her subject, Hilton ignores all of them in order to make Montespan into the goddess her name implies.
Really, this is the bitchiest, cattiest biography I've ever read. It's like Regina George wrote it. Except then it would have been funny. And on one level it is plenty of fun, but really it's simply exasperating. Life isn't high school. The role of mistress is not synonymous with prom queen. There is more to it than looks or popularity - just as there is more to the role of queen.
I don't understand why Hilton is only interested in such a shallow analysis. Obviously beauty was important and Athénaïs was quite amazingly lovely - but it was not the end all and be all of women's political involvement, even in the seventeenth century. Nor was beauty the entirety of a courtier's life. But Hilton equates stupidity and unattractiveness. Maria Theresa was unattractive, so she wasn't worthy to be the queen of France. OBVIOUSLY. I wonder what Hilton would have done if she'd tried to write about Catherine de Medici (and for a book about that unattractive and politicall able Queen of France, I recommend Leonie Frieda's biography).
Athénaïs left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Between Hilton's overly credulous discussion of the Affair of the Poisons - seventeenth century superstition made Satanism/witchcraft a bit more complex than I think Hilton treats the matter - and the hero worship she heaps on Montespan, I just want my five bucks back. And you know, I didn't have high expectations to begin with.
(Points to Hilton, though, for citing Anthony Blunt and Nancy Mitford.)
Author: Lisa Hilton
Date Begun: May 25, 2007
Date Completed: May 29, 2007
Look, I don't have any problem with revisionist historians. Unpopular historical characters are some of my favorite people. So it's easy to understand the desire to rehabilitate such characters, and Hilton wants to do that here. The problem with the book is that Hilton goes much too far in her quest. Instead of recognizing the flaws in her subject, Hilton ignores all of them in order to make Montespan into the goddess her name implies.
Really, this is the bitchiest, cattiest biography I've ever read. It's like Regina George wrote it. Except then it would have been funny. And on one level it is plenty of fun, but really it's simply exasperating. Life isn't high school. The role of mistress is not synonymous with prom queen. There is more to it than looks or popularity - just as there is more to the role of queen.
I don't understand why Hilton is only interested in such a shallow analysis. Obviously beauty was important and Athénaïs was quite amazingly lovely - but it was not the end all and be all of women's political involvement, even in the seventeenth century. Nor was beauty the entirety of a courtier's life. But Hilton equates stupidity and unattractiveness. Maria Theresa was unattractive, so she wasn't worthy to be the queen of France. OBVIOUSLY. I wonder what Hilton would have done if she'd tried to write about Catherine de Medici (and for a book about that unattractive and politicall able Queen of France, I recommend Leonie Frieda's biography).
Athénaïs left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Between Hilton's overly credulous discussion of the Affair of the Poisons - seventeenth century superstition made Satanism/witchcraft a bit more complex than I think Hilton treats the matter - and the hero worship she heaps on Montespan, I just want my five bucks back. And you know, I didn't have high expectations to begin with.
(Points to Hilton, though, for citing Anthony Blunt and Nancy Mitford.)
Monday, May 21, 2007
Review: The Divided Crown, Isabel Glass
Title: The Divided Crown
Author: Isabel Glass
Date Begun: May 19, 2007
Date Completed: May 20, 2007
I picked up The Divided Crown based on two things: The K. Y. Craft cover art and the Patricia McKillip blurb on the front. I love Patricia McKillip. She is one of the best fantasy writers ever, and some day everyone else will know it. Of course, I don't expect every author I pick up to have the same mastery of language and characterization that McKillip has. However, I thought The Divided Crown would be a safe bet, if Patricia McKillip liked it.
Not so much. I'm glad I bought this on the bargain shelf, because I would have been really pissed off if I'd bought it a full hardcover price.
The Divided Crown has some good points. For example, of the main characters two of them are middle-aged and married with children. That's something you hardly ever see among fantasy novels, or novels period. And I genuinely liked Angarred. But generally, I was left with the feeling that none of Glass' characters were really very smart, and that's never a good way to feel. Certainly, politically involved people should be quicker on the uptake, even if one of them is a recovering drug addict. (I really should have liked this book more than I did. It had a recovering drug addict too. And cross dressing fortune tellers.)
Beyond the characters is Glass' writing. Her style reminds me of Lloyd Alexander, but not in a good way. Alexander's writing was superior - not least because he included jokes. But there is an oversimplified style to Glass' writing here which doesn't do well in a novel this length. Like some of Alexander's writing, I was left with the feeling that I was reading this a bit too soon after taking some Benadryl. But that feeling works with Westmark or The Black Cauldron. I don't know if it will ever work for The Divided Crown.
Author: Isabel Glass
Date Begun: May 19, 2007
Date Completed: May 20, 2007
I picked up The Divided Crown based on two things: The K. Y. Craft cover art and the Patricia McKillip blurb on the front. I love Patricia McKillip. She is one of the best fantasy writers ever, and some day everyone else will know it. Of course, I don't expect every author I pick up to have the same mastery of language and characterization that McKillip has. However, I thought The Divided Crown would be a safe bet, if Patricia McKillip liked it.
Not so much. I'm glad I bought this on the bargain shelf, because I would have been really pissed off if I'd bought it a full hardcover price.
The Divided Crown has some good points. For example, of the main characters two of them are middle-aged and married with children. That's something you hardly ever see among fantasy novels, or novels period. And I genuinely liked Angarred. But generally, I was left with the feeling that none of Glass' characters were really very smart, and that's never a good way to feel. Certainly, politically involved people should be quicker on the uptake, even if one of them is a recovering drug addict. (I really should have liked this book more than I did. It had a recovering drug addict too. And cross dressing fortune tellers.)
Beyond the characters is Glass' writing. Her style reminds me of Lloyd Alexander, but not in a good way. Alexander's writing was superior - not least because he included jokes. But there is an oversimplified style to Glass' writing here which doesn't do well in a novel this length. Like some of Alexander's writing, I was left with the feeling that I was reading this a bit too soon after taking some Benadryl. But that feeling works with Westmark or The Black Cauldron. I don't know if it will ever work for The Divided Crown.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Review: The Element of Fire, Martha Wells
Title: The Element of Fire (2006 edition)
Author: Martha Wells
Date Begun: February 9, 2007
Date Completed: February 10, 2007
I love reading Martha Wells. There's a feeling I get, when I read her books, that there is someone else out there who looked at the fantasy book shelves and thought "Enough with the goddamn druids already" and decided to do something about it. (No, really.) Reading her books always makes me want to go and find more of hers, and luckily I've got a few. Of course, now I'm thinking about getting into Stargate so I can read her tie-in novel and that's dangerous territory, there.
The fact that two of her books open with the hero breaking into someone else's house may also have endeared her to me. In fact, I had a recent conversation about The Element of Fire with my sister which went something like this:
HER: There's a new Martha Wells book?
ME: Not exactly.
HER: Is it good?
ME: I don't know yet. But the opening scene has breaking and entering so...
HER: You were powerless to resist.
What can I say, I'm easy.
Like all the Ile-Rien books, the setting is a major benefit. Vienne, however, is not quite the minor character it is in Death of the Necromancer. The characters are not quite the characters Wells is capable of writing. Despite the revisions, this is very obviously a first novel. It is neither as tight nor as well-drawn as her later work. But it's a decent book, and I enjoyed it.
Actually, I really enjoyed the female lead the most, and I never like the girls. Seriously. But she's quite interesting and, I think, well done.
Really, I'm torn. I don't know if I'd suggest you start with this book because it's only okay, it's not great. I definitely enjoyed Death of the Necromancer more. For one, because it's funnier. The Element of Fire is quite dark and quite political. It's also probably worth a second read. Maybe my feelings will be clearer then.
The Element of Fire on Amazon. Martha Wells' website.
Author: Martha Wells
Date Begun: February 9, 2007
Date Completed: February 10, 2007
I love reading Martha Wells. There's a feeling I get, when I read her books, that there is someone else out there who looked at the fantasy book shelves and thought "Enough with the goddamn druids already" and decided to do something about it. (No, really.) Reading her books always makes me want to go and find more of hers, and luckily I've got a few. Of course, now I'm thinking about getting into Stargate so I can read her tie-in novel and that's dangerous territory, there.
The fact that two of her books open with the hero breaking into someone else's house may also have endeared her to me. In fact, I had a recent conversation about The Element of Fire with my sister which went something like this:
HER: There's a new Martha Wells book?
ME: Not exactly.
HER: Is it good?
ME: I don't know yet. But the opening scene has breaking and entering so...
HER: You were powerless to resist.
What can I say, I'm easy.
Like all the Ile-Rien books, the setting is a major benefit. Vienne, however, is not quite the minor character it is in Death of the Necromancer. The characters are not quite the characters Wells is capable of writing. Despite the revisions, this is very obviously a first novel. It is neither as tight nor as well-drawn as her later work. But it's a decent book, and I enjoyed it.
Actually, I really enjoyed the female lead the most, and I never like the girls. Seriously. But she's quite interesting and, I think, well done.
Really, I'm torn. I don't know if I'd suggest you start with this book because it's only okay, it's not great. I definitely enjoyed Death of the Necromancer more. For one, because it's funnier. The Element of Fire is quite dark and quite political. It's also probably worth a second read. Maybe my feelings will be clearer then.
The Element of Fire on Amazon. Martha Wells' website.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Driveby Reviews
I don't have time to write up a long, incoherent review for these. So you're getting short ones.
Title: Strange Attractions
Author: Emma Holly
Date Begun: December 28, 2006
Date Completed: December 29
Hot, hot, hot. Okay, so it's not exactly mentally challenging and I'm definitely not going to recommend it to my mother (because...ew), but this was a hot, fun read. It's also my first Holly - I know she generally comes pretty highly recommended, but personally I find contemporary romance dull. If I'm going to read about two heterosexuals getting it on, I want them to have pretty pretty clothes and historical context and I want to be able to fantasize about their messy, early deaths if I dislike them. But this book, has the traditional M/F pairing, as well as M/M and M/M/F and...oh, yes, I liked it. (Which really shouldn't be any surprise.) Grade: B
Title: The Name and Nature of Poetry (and other selected prose)
Author: A. E. Housman
In progress
I love Housman. I love him mostly for his poetry and the way the table of contents reads in my Collected Works of A. E. Housman. It goes like this: A Shropshire Lad, Last Poems, More Poems because, of course, he always thought he would stop writing poetry. And he didn't and thank god. Because his poetry is AWESOME. But so is his prose. This book, a Christmas present, has only very little on poetry. I'm great with that, poetry is always interesting and not difficult to relate to. But even his prefaces to translations of books I have never read (I've heard of Juvenal, but I have no clue who this Manilius guy was), which frequently contain lengthy quotes in languages I don't speak or even read, is so much fun. He's snobby and nasty in a way someone like Nancy Mitford (whom I also love!) could never be. Because Housman is being nasty about people who are long dead and generally regarded as terribly clever and it's always hilarious. At least, it is if you are a geek like me. (Although, clearly, I am not geeky enough. It's like the indie music geek who is confronted with a true classical music geek and...well, we know who wins that one.) Grade A
Title: Zelda
Author: Nancy Milford
Date Begun: December 20, 2006
Date Completed: January 1, 2007
Apparently, a lot of Amazon reviewers felt that Milford lacked compassion for her subject. I don't know what they're on, but I would really like some of it. Zelda is a good biography. Not only does the central focus (Zelda) remains sympathetic and interesting throughout - so do the other people in her life. It would be incredibly easy to make Fitzgerald into a villain (as happened to T. S. Eliot in this one biography of Vivian Eliot I read, but Eliot had real problems) and blame him for everything. It's clear, however, that Zelda and Scott are both responsible. Neither of them are blamed. I did find Milford's heavy use of primary sources a little jarring, but enjoyable all the same. She seems to have conducted many interviews with people who knew the Fitzgeralds personally (I suppose in 1970 many of them were still alive) and she draws from many letters and diaries. I admit, I'll probably enjoy any biography of someone who a) hated Hemingway and b) accused her husband of being gay for him. Points off, though, for ommitting the meeting with Edith Wharton. ("Yes, and then what?" You'd think the person who could get along with Henry James would get along with anyone!) Grade: A-
Title: Strange Attractions
Author: Emma Holly
Date Begun: December 28, 2006
Date Completed: December 29
Hot, hot, hot. Okay, so it's not exactly mentally challenging and I'm definitely not going to recommend it to my mother (because...ew), but this was a hot, fun read. It's also my first Holly - I know she generally comes pretty highly recommended, but personally I find contemporary romance dull. If I'm going to read about two heterosexuals getting it on, I want them to have pretty pretty clothes and historical context and I want to be able to fantasize about their messy, early deaths if I dislike them. But this book, has the traditional M/F pairing, as well as M/M and M/M/F and...oh, yes, I liked it. (Which really shouldn't be any surprise.) Grade: B
Title: The Name and Nature of Poetry (and other selected prose)
Author: A. E. Housman
In progress
I love Housman. I love him mostly for his poetry and the way the table of contents reads in my Collected Works of A. E. Housman. It goes like this: A Shropshire Lad, Last Poems, More Poems because, of course, he always thought he would stop writing poetry. And he didn't and thank god. Because his poetry is AWESOME. But so is his prose. This book, a Christmas present, has only very little on poetry. I'm great with that, poetry is always interesting and not difficult to relate to. But even his prefaces to translations of books I have never read (I've heard of Juvenal, but I have no clue who this Manilius guy was), which frequently contain lengthy quotes in languages I don't speak or even read, is so much fun. He's snobby and nasty in a way someone like Nancy Mitford (whom I also love!) could never be. Because Housman is being nasty about people who are long dead and generally regarded as terribly clever and it's always hilarious. At least, it is if you are a geek like me. (Although, clearly, I am not geeky enough. It's like the indie music geek who is confronted with a true classical music geek and...well, we know who wins that one.) Grade A
Title: Zelda
Author: Nancy Milford
Date Begun: December 20, 2006
Date Completed: January 1, 2007
Apparently, a lot of Amazon reviewers felt that Milford lacked compassion for her subject. I don't know what they're on, but I would really like some of it. Zelda is a good biography. Not only does the central focus (Zelda) remains sympathetic and interesting throughout - so do the other people in her life. It would be incredibly easy to make Fitzgerald into a villain (as happened to T. S. Eliot in this one biography of Vivian Eliot I read, but Eliot had real problems) and blame him for everything. It's clear, however, that Zelda and Scott are both responsible. Neither of them are blamed. I did find Milford's heavy use of primary sources a little jarring, but enjoyable all the same. She seems to have conducted many interviews with people who knew the Fitzgeralds personally (I suppose in 1970 many of them were still alive) and she draws from many letters and diaries. I admit, I'll probably enjoy any biography of someone who a) hated Hemingway and b) accused her husband of being gay for him. Points off, though, for ommitting the meeting with Edith Wharton. ("Yes, and then what?" You'd think the person who could get along with Henry James would get along with anyone!) Grade: A-
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