Book review - Deerskin by Robin McKinley

Deerskin by Robin McKinley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Oh my, I scarcely know what to say about this book.  It's actually not quite 5 stars, but I'd feel bad only giving it four.



It's wrenching, maddening, lyrical, unflinchingly honest in the way of fairy tales, and it's terribly sad.  If it weren't for the dogs, I'm not sure I could've read it.  I knew it was about a woman who was raped by her father when I bought it.  It was on a list compiled by NPR of books about strong women.  That's why I bought it.  I thought I was prepared for it.  I work as a practicing psychotherapist, and have sat in my office with women (and men) who have been through this same thing.  I have been enraged before by the way families and society blame the victim in situations like this.  And yet when I read it in this book, I was so upset I had to stop reading for a while.



I got up and cleaned my kitchen, walked the dogs, cast around for some light hearted simple minded book to read.  Then I decided to pick it up again.  I'd put it aside right after the rape and his killing of her beloved dog.



But the dog was not dead.  The rest of the book is about her healing, and her recovery, and the way she comes into her own power.  It's also about the dog, and then dogs, as she finds her way to the court of the man who'd given her the dog in the first place, and she nurses a litter of puppies whose mother died and she keeps them alive along with herself.



I hadn't read Robin McKinley before, but now will have to look at her other books.  I love dogs.  :-)  And they save this book from being unbearable.



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A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I'd give it more than 5 stars if I could.  It's going in my 'favorites' pile.  I don't know when I've read a book with so much humor, tragedy, love, truth, love, and plain old deep understanding of human nature.

I listened to this book and it's one of the few I've listened to that I didn't 'zone out', fall asleep, get bored, or whatever.  There are parts, thankfully, that are less intense, but they didn't bore me.  At times I was weeping and laughing out loud at the same time.  Drove my dogs nuts.


I read his other famous novels years ago and while I liked them a lot, they nowhere near moved me as much.  I kept trying to imagine if I would be as involved if I were reading it instead of listening, and can't really say, as the narrator was absolutely perfect.  His voice for Owen Meany was so true to the description that it was hard to believe there wasn't a second person involved in the narration.

Since I was born about the same time as the story teller, John Wheelwright, perhaps parts of the story were more meaningful to me.  I completely remember the chaos of the Viet Nam war, the craziness of Iran-Contra.  I, too, did not know my father but had a stepfather who did a fairly decent job of parenting me.  I'd like to think, though, that people without those commonalities could enjoy the book as much as I did.

Some reviewers have complained about the time span and how the story moves back and forth in time.  That was so not an issue for me.  It was woven so completely together that I was never confused.

This book is a good example of how it often doesn't matter what a book is about.  If someone had told me it was about a friendship between two boys in New Hampshire, one of which never grows taller than five feet and never outgrows his high, squeaky voice, I probably wouldn't have been much interested.  It's also a good example of how little complexity depends on vast numbers of characters, changing landscapes, and endless new plot elements.  Irving's ability to develop complexity in relationships and emotions is enough.



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So then, as promised, I read

Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C.J. Cherryh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Excellent, almost mystical story of humanity's assimilation into the fabric of an alien planet.  I'd like to have me a Caliban, for sure.



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Now I'm going back and forth between The Silent Tower, by Barbara Hambly; Dissolution by C.S. Sansom; The Chanur Saga by Cherryh; and Regenesis, the sequel to Cyteen which just got here today!  Also listening to a Lindsey Davis Marcus Didius Falco that is hilarious and well researched historical mystery taking place in ancient Rome, city of savages.

I also listened to I, Claudius, which I read a hundred years ago and thought was fabulous.  It's still good; just not as awesome as first time through.

I've done a bit of reading! 

Got my eyes examined and need new glasses - hardly a surprise - and have decided it's never going to stop raining in Connecticut!  ARGH!

Another month has gone by without a word from me!

And actually, quite a lot has happened in my quiet life.  I went to Sarasota, Florida, to visit my new author friend!  She let me read her new book prior to publication later this year.  I was so honored, and it was so pleasant, being in their lovely home, so quiet and cool against the Florida heat, reading and reading -- my favorite occupation.


The new book is AWESOME!  I can' wait to have it in my hot little hands so I can reread it.  I plan to reread the whole series later when it's closer to release time.

Anyway, I've been reading and reviewing.  A few forgettable things - One Good Dog, and Silverthorn which I only skimmed.  Just couldn't take any more of Mr. Feist at the moment.


But then I read (or listened to)
With No One As Witness CD by Elizabeth  George

My rating: 5 of 5 stars






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Burndive by Karin Lowachee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Outstanding.  A follow up to Warchild, this books delivers Lowachee's spare but rich prose, deep psychological understanding, and burning suspense. I was terribly disappointed in this edition, however, as it was peppered with typos that constantly took me out of the story. Looked like the publishers merely scanned it without proof reading in order to make a fast buck. The next book WAS available for Nook but has been taken down, an ERROR which I hope will be rectified soon. I bought it in paperback so will be reading it regardless. Do hope to see more from Miss Lowachee, however, as I've been gripped by both this book and the two previous ones I've read.



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Cagebird by Karin Lowachee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The last, the most intense, and the most interior of this trilogy by Karin Lowachee.  It tells the story of the second victim of the pirate Falcone, who kidnaps kids and raises them to be pirates through seduction and power and horrific abuse.  At the age of four Yuri Kirov's home is destroyed by an alien attack... or is it a pirate attack?  At any rate, Yuri ends up on Falcone's ship at the age of nine.  We follow his life, told in first person during the same time period as the stories of Jos and of Ryan Azarcon, the boy/young man stories of the previous two books.  It's a time of political upheaval and chaos in the world of Earth, Earth Hub (the stations in the galaxy belonging to Earth) and the world of the alien Strits and their stations.  Crooked politicians, crooked members of Black Ops, pirates, and the two flawed but honorable men - both the captains of warships.  One, Cairo Azarcon, a former protege of Falcone, who escaped the life and became captain of a huge battleship, and the other, Warboy, a human Strit sympathizer who captains a Strit warship and who helps Jos when he escapes from Falcone.

Yuri Kirov is the most damaged of the three boys and his story is gripping and filled with suspense, angst, tragedy, violence and love.  Written with spare rich prose, integrity, and authenticity.  Highly, highly recommended.





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Both Lowachee's were totally AWESOME!

Meanwhile read a very forgettable historical mystery/romance called What Angels Fear, recommended by members of the Yahoo Dorothy Dunnett groups that was as unlike Frances Crawford as you could get.  Ugh.

Better was
Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Wow!  Really a story about PTSD in a Viet Nam vet who escapes into fantasy land.  Wrenching in its revelations about the lack of understanding of this problem in those days, and the pathetic unresponsiveness of the VA.  Beautifully written.  More reality than fantasy.



The writer who became Robin Hobb.



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I went slumming with Sookie Stackhouse and read
Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This one seemed a little uneven to me.  Impossible to say what happens, of course, but it seems Sookie loves Eric and he loves her.  There are kinks in the works, though.  There were scenes that totally cracked me up, and make me glad all over again that it's not the TV series.  One scene I roared out loud and couldn't stop laughing.  My dogs thought I'd gone nuts.  And it was Pam and her deadpan sarcasm that did it.  Too funny.

Sigh.  I suppose it will be another year before we get another one.



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Spirit Lens by Carol Berg was disappointing.

Got Dragonfly in Amber on sale from Audible.com - here's my review of that one!

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


OMG, I am finally finished.  Someone said it ends in a cliffhanger and I BRIEFLY contemplated getting the next one, but NO!  I've had enough of Claire and Jamie, thank you very much.

Beautiful writing, good research, but plot is snail's pace and not really much of a mystery.  I can't imagine how she had enough interest in these characters to keep writing through -- how many? -- eight ? books???

Whew.



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Read a delightful mystery about Bangkok, called, aptly enough, Bangkok 8   Review follows:

Bangkok 8 (Sonchai Jitpleecheep, #1) by John Burdett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


3.75 stars.  Hilarious in spots.  The ending a little weak.  Very entertaining and exotic.



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Hellburner by C.J. Cherryh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


4.5 stars.  A hell of a ride.  As usual, Cherryh reveals the story up close and personal, showing us what's happening from the points of view of four or five main characters, in bits and pieces, building tension and suspense, despairing of a good outcome, until finally the whole jigsaw comes together in a complete whole.  Cherryh writes fantastic science fiction from a very human perspective, with all the realities of politics, lies, sweat, insanity, and incredible pressure.  What a writer.



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Can't beat Cherryh!  And then read Cyteen which has been waiting in my pile forever!  Why why why?  I should've read it a long time ago!  IT WAS AWESOME!

Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


OMG!  What a book!  Best Cherryh yet!  Now I have to read Forty-thousand in Gehenna and Regenesis!  I can see why it won the Hugo.  It's non stop psychological thriller with so many plot twists and unexpected turns that one can hardly keep up.  She makes me hate a character and then come to understand them if not like them in a most interesting way, uncovering layers and layers of meaning.

I could hardly put it down and am now sad that it's over and I'll have to get myself involved in another book to get that feeling again.  So, it's off to Forty Thousand in Gehenna which I wish I'd read first.



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I haven't had much to say lately.

I'm in a kind of a reading slump, although I enjoyed


Spiral Hunt by Margaret Ronald

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A thoroughly enjoyable urban fantasy.  I hadn't read any for a while and found this one a refreshing change.  No strange creatures, just Celtic magic and mythology and a heroine with a sense of smell like a hound.  Definitely a nice twist with no huge romances or wild sex.  Characters well rounded and real enough to keep my interest.  I found the beginning a little choppy and had some trouble getting into it, but after it hit its stride it was a definite page turner.  Looking forward to the next one.



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and

Heavy Time by C.J. Cherryh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars






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And

The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A charming tale of a girl talented in knotting and designing rugs in 17th century Isfahan, Iran.  Very enjoyable.



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and

One Good Dog by Susan  Wilson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars






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And

Burndive by Karin Lowachee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Outstanding.



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And I LOVED

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Beautifully readable, well drawn characters, well woven plot.  Loosely based on the old tale of the six brothers turned into swans by their evil step mother, Marillier enriches the tale with a likable heroine and six well defined brothers as well as other interesting people along the way.

Lyrical descriptions of the enchanted forest with its magical creatures enrich the tale, beautifully woven to draw us in and surround us with this world.


Straight forward without layers and hidden meanings, it is easy to read.  While some brutality is present, including a rape that had me heart sore, it is presented with authenticity and heart.

All in all a very good book.  After a certain point I couldn't put it down and stayed up way too late to finish it.

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And

With No One As Witness CD by Elizabeth  George

My rating: 5 of 5 stars






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And I HATED

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


OMG you say!  Where does she get the nerve to give this only two stars?  Well, I had to screw up all my courage to do so.  First, this is a group read for a group that I moderate, so I feel some obligation to read the books and give them a good try and the benefit of the doubt.  Also, one of my favorite reviewers, whose taste I admire, said one shouldn't give up on this series until reading to Memories of Ice, so I've hung in there through Book 1 (which I gave 3 stars) and more than halfway through this one.

Here are my status updates.   For some reason Goodreads lists them most recent first, but that one was the deciding factor:

04/10        page 451    
    64.0%     "The Toblakai bared his teeth, a hand plunging through the slit in the lizard's belly to re-emerge with slick entrails. I'm sorry, but this strikes me as something nine year old boys might enjoy. I try to avoid seeing things like that in my life. Why am I reading about it? I think I'm going to have to give up."
04/10     page 431   
    61.0%     "Two quotes: We do naught but scratch the world, frail and fraught. Every vast drama of civilizations, of peoples with their certainties and gestures, means nothing, affects nothing. Life crawls on, ever on. And: It's the ignorant who find a cause and cling to it, for within that is the illusion of siginificance. Faith, a king, queen or Emperor, or vengeance...all the bastion of fools. Cheery stuff, eh?"
04/10     page 431   
    61.0%     "Having just finished Marillier's Daughter of the Forest, thought I'd head back into the blood, gore, and pure disgusting filth of Erikson, :)."
04/02     page 429   
    61.0%     "Well there was a great battle, but now it's gotten all weird again."
03/26     page 388   
    55.0%   
03/25     page 360   
    51.0%     "O M G. This is SO depressing."
03/24     page 321   
    46.0%     "Finished Part Two"
03/23     page 261   
    37.0%     "Chapter nine"
03/23     page 241   
    34.0%     "I found some good guys!"
03/22     page 222   
    32.0%     "Proceeding through the gore, hoping to get to the other side. :)"
03/21     page 195   
    28.0%     "Well, we've made it through blood, rape, slaughter, babies with crushed skulls, impaled on pikes, blood flies, wolves, demons, sand storms, and more."
03/20     page 155   
    22.0%     "Starting Book two. A whole lot of unrelenting violence and gore so far."
03/20     page 135   
    19.0%     ""Foul snot of rabid dogs! Anal crust of dysenteried goats!" - lol. A bit of creative cursing. Sounds Arabic." 2 comments
03/20     page 84   
    12.0%     "Felisin is nothing if not practical, eh?"
03/20     page 29   
    4.0%     "Good lord."

Call me squeamish, but a guy slitting open a lizard's belly and withdrawing slick entrails for a meal is just plain disgusting.  I think it's given me PTSD because I was having flashbacks this morning eating my eggs.

Fans of Erikson call it 'brillaint', 'layered with meaning', 'complex', 'tragic', 'funny', and on and on.  I have to grant them most of those accolades are true.  But there's only so much childish slime I can find my way through in order to enjoy it.  I understand some of the characters display courage in the face of adversity, honor among thieves, and so on and so forth, but there are many fine books I can read to find those characteristics.  And those are written by very fine writers indeed.  Cormack McCarthy, Dorothy Dunnett, Colum McCann, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Guy Gavriel Kay, Carol Berg, Janny Wurts to name only a few.

One of my main objections while reading these books is that few react to what would be horrific trauma if experienced in real life.  True, soldiers in battle numb out emotionally in order to go on.  Most of them pay a huge price later.  This is pointed out here and there, but I don't see much of it in action.  Perhaps it's not necessary in this world, as people's wounds are instantly healed by mages, people die only to come back to life.  I guess I wouldn't mind seeing my friend's head chopped up by a propellor blade if all the pieces could be put back together by magic.  In real life people who suffer this trauma sit in my office and bleed.  And patch themselves back up with cocaine or by abusing their loves or by going crazy.

So, sorry to be such a wimp, but I'm letting this series go.  I'm old and semi-retired.  I want to enjoy life in my leisure time.  Or if I read about tragedy I want the author to show me it's authentic with more than endless images of horror and gore.


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LOVED

Betrayer by C.J. Cherryh

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Unputdownable!  Non-stop action, political tension, all out war, and suspense.  I just love this series.  No one does political suspense or weaves a plot like Cherryh.

This series has to be read from the beginning.  And it's worth it.  In each book we learn more about the atevi world, about their thinking, their customs.  And Bren Cameron, the human negotiator/ambassador sticks out harrowing situations and broadens his own understanding of atevi politics and increases his value to atevi leaders.  Most engrossing and gratifying.

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So there you have something of a summary of my recent reading.  I'm taking a long vacation from Black Sun Rising and am attempting to get into Carol Berg's The Spirit Lens.  Listening to Dragonfly in Amber as it was on sale at Audible.com.  It's about 100 years long, though.  Maybe my indifference about the Friedman is due to burnout on ugly monsters in Deadhouse Gates, I don't know.  Maybe I'll get back to it later and love it, but I doubt it.  Maybe I'm too old to be scared by scary monsters.

A friend has a mom and an uncle in hospital so I guess I'm lucky.  Am meeting eldest daughter et al in Sturbridge, MA for Easter dinner Sunday.  An advantage of working for a Catholic hospital is Good Friday off, so am piddling around today.  Am on vacation officially until May 3!  Hope I have fun.  Am going to Sarasota, FL to visit a friend, so it should be very good.

Last night I dreamed I joined 'Inda Readers' on Facebook!

Now what do you suppose that means?  I started Inda yesterday after finishing C. J. Cherryh's Betrayer and Martin O'Brien's Jacquot and the Waterman.  After finally deciding, on p. 380-something of Deadhouse Gates truly means 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.'  What a bunch of tripe.


Here is some stuff I wrote to a friend about that sad and sorry series: 


Erikson - you can skim, as none of it makes sense anyway. I've now read a lot of reviews and two things are fairly remarkable: 1)everyone says it's too jumbled to follow, has too many characters - who can remember 3 books later who is a character he spent a paragraph on in book 1? A couple said his magic systems are arbitrary (one called them deus ex machina) and contradict each other. And 2) NO ONE MENTIONS the APPALLING violence.

A few things that I found 'memorable' -

A god that giggles as he takes possession of a young girl and turns her into an assassin.

The endless battlefields with blood, body parts, skulls, and one that was the remains of people eaten by the huge hounds of hell? Hounds of something. Earth roiling to spit out thousands on thousands of dead. Apparently this fighting has been going on for eons.

A ritual for Hood (god of death) that involved a priest covering himself with the blood of murderers that was collected in amphora so that huge swarms of flies covered him, and then all flew away revealing - ta da! - nothing. The priest had disappeared.

A young girl being raped over and over.

And a battlefield with corpses of men who'd been gutted, their women raped and then strangled with their entrails and babies with crushed skulls or impaled on spears.

And this goes on and on and on and on. Bah.

One reviewer said, "This was written for a certain audience and it's not me."

Well said, well said.

The complexity is in the gazillions of people you have to keep track of and don't give a fig about. Intellectually complex? A reviewer of a later book complained about Erikson's 'preaching'. Maybe that's what they mean? Maybe there's some vague intellectual conceit behind all this? But in the end who cares?

One reviewer of The Crippled God said Huh? That's it? And seemingly this is a reviewer for some website or other who's been following the series.

Lovely quotes from Checkmate

I just finished listening to it again and am moved to write down these quotes:


"I shall send gems of lapis lazuli: I shall make her fields into vineyards, and the fruit of her love into orchards.  Philippa."


"When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall
and she me caught in her arms, long and small,
Therewith all sweetly did me kiss
And softly said, 'Dear heart'..."


And then Jerott: "My beloved is unto me as a cluster of campfires in the vineyards of Engedi."  My beloved is dead.


And Lymond, at last, to Philippa, "Qedeshet, Mistress of all the Gods, Eye of Ra, who has none like her....Come and let us beget all kinds of living things."


And then, "I have begun to eat," said Francis Crawford.  "And I have begun to slake my thirst.  But in you I have found a banquet under the heavens that will serve me forever."

I confess to indulging my addiction - am reading Checkmate again!

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However 'reading' is really 'listening'.  I finally got the tapes from Recorded Books.  Sure do wish they were available to buy!  Easily converted to digital.

Meanwhile, I finished a second listen to Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brien.  Here's my review:

Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I've listened to it before. It's ok. Very male. A lot about sailing vessels. Not much about the sea. Seems historically accurate.


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AND the most exciting news is that I am making serious arrangements to go to Florida to visit Janny Wurts.  She's lured me down there with an offer to read Initiate's Trial, the next volume of The Wars of Light and Shadow, my other favorite series besides Dunnett!

Got my used hard cover volume of King Hereafter yesterday.  The paper cover isn't quite pristine, but the book itself is.

Started Magician: Master to read with the Fantasy Book Club Series club, and am continuing in Gardens of the Moon, which is not compelling, but I am enjoying it more than I expected.  There are people who are FANATIC about the Steven Erikson series, Malazan, Book of the Fallen.  Also being read by the series club.

Meanwhile, my knee is much better.  Do need to exercise to keep it that way.  I need to say that as a mantra! Har.  My natural resistance to exercise is a fierce thing.

My son-in-law's birthday is this weekend and we're taking him out to eat at some fancy Mexican restaurant at Blue Back Square.  Yum.

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                  Fantasy Book Club        

                2518 members
        For lovers of Fantasy, monthly book discussions
February
- The Hundred Tho...

         

                

Books we've read

                                            

                                      
                Griffin's Daughter

                by Leslie Ann Moore

                                             Start date: January  1, 2009
              
                  

                   

                                      

                                      
                The Princess Bride

                by William Goldman

                                             Start date: March  1, 2009
              
                  

                   

                  
              
                

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And here's King Hereafter

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Suddenly I knew what I wanted to say.

King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


4.5 stars.  The longer I sit with it, the better it gets.



I started reading this book with a Dunnett group on Yahoo, but shortly got frustrated because it went so slow and there was virtually no discussion as many (including me) were first time readers and they're Nazis about spoilers.  Personally, I don't mind spoilers and sometimes even seek them out.  'Spoilers' implies that all there is to a book is the plot and what happens, and if I know that then the whole book is spoiled.  Since this is the story of the life of a king of Alba, as Scotland was called at that time, it's hardly a spoiler to know that he dies in the end.  It doesn't take the sadness away.  At least not for me.  To say that is to say that I don't want to know about the life of the people I love because I know they are going to die in the end.  What poppycock.  And after a month and a half, I got impatient and just read to the end.

For me, a lot of the enjoyment of a book is in the reading, the way it's written, the characters, the setting, the twists and turns along the way.  And this one, being a Dunnett book, has plenty of wealth in all of those story elements.

I never read or studied Shakespeare beyond what I had to in high school, so wasn't familiar with the plot of Macbeth, the Shakespearean play.  I just read a summary on Wikipedia and this story is nothing like that.  The fictional king, Thorfinn (his Viking name) who later is called Macbeth (his baptismal name) is loosely based on a real king of Scotland who ruled Scotland, then called Alba, from 1040 to 1057.  Dunnett's story is a more accurate portrayal of what we know of his life than the famous play, at least according to the Wikipedia article on him.  Wikipedia on Macbeth, King of Scotland.

No one matches Dunnett in creating characters.  Thorfinn, a tall, gangly, ugly, black haired Viking becomes a hero along the way.  Typical Dunnett style, we only see him at first through the eyes of others who may or may not know what is really going on in Thorfinn's head.  It becomes clear fairly rapidly that he is a great fighter and smart ... very smart.  He's also an independent thinker and this is totally frustrating to his foster father, Thorkel Fostri, a peripheral character who is funny, fierce, loyal and finally lovable.  One can only imagine his sorrow after Thorfinn is killed.  Thorfinn's wife, Groa, is also a memorable character and is left to finish his work at his death.  The love between them is vividly and poignantly written.

The only thing that makes me lower my rating from 5 stars is that there is a lot of time spent talking about the people, the family lines, the political machinations, and so forth.  I got lost as I could not follow who was related to who and why unless they were main characters.  And since we follow Thorfinn/Macbeth's life from around the time he was 5 until his death in his 40's, there are a LOT of people.  Fortunately I'm pretty good at picking out the significant people along the way, so was able to keep track of most of what was going on.

Well worth reading, if a significant investment in time.  I read the ebook which was 902 pages.


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It's the last day of February

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Apparently I haven't had anything to say for the whole month.  My knee has been killing me and it's better now, so maybe it loosened my tongue.  Or my fingers.  Or my thoughts.

I watched the Egyptians and now the Libyans fight for their freedom.  I'm disgusted with the US for shoring up these despicable dictators.

I've read, but nothing memorable.  It took me from January 6 to finish King Hereafter, late last night.  First, I was trying to read with the DDANZ group  over on Yahoo, but got frustrated with the slowness and the lack of discussion so finally tore off on my own.  It's still making me tear up with its heart breaking ending.  I knew it was coming, had to come, but still.  Broke my heart.  Thorfinn/Macbeth is the hero - an ancient King of Scotland - and I fell in love with him.  Dorothy Dunnett does create the most wonderful heroes.

I am reading Erikson's Gardens of the Moon with the Fantasy Book Club Series group.  It's confusing, filled with unfathomable magic, slaughter, gore.  But everyone raves about the series, so I'm giving it a shot.  Of course, everyone raves about the Wheel of Time series as well, and I quit after the first book because the characters are too dumb to live, which makes me not care what happens to them.  Gah!


I've written a brief review of KH, will post when I'm done.  Other than that, the best book I read all month was Death Without Company by Craig Johnson - #2 in a series about Walt Longmire, a sheriff in the Powder River country of Wyoming.  His wry sense of humor, his dog - named Dog - and his Indian friend Henry Standing Bear - all make them wonderful.  Actually, I listened to it, and George Guidall does a wonderful job of narrating.  I've got the first - The Cold Dish - in my Nook, but I'd almost rather listen to it than read it.


Oh!  I forgot I read Warchild by Karin Lowachee, which was powerful good!  Here's my review:
Warchild by Karin Lowachee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The book starts with the hero, eight year old Jos, huddled in a hiding place on the space ship he and his parents call home, listening to a battle rage outside.  It proceeds through his capture by the pirate captain, his escape, his rescue by a man sympathetic to the alien race that Earth Hub is trying to eradicate, and his eventual growth into manhood.  This is a character driven story that takes place in a future universe that is well developed and real -- my favorite kind of read.

It starts in the second person, creating some needed emotional distance from the terror stricken boy, but morphs into first person fairly quickly.  I'm not even sure when it happened.


Lowachee creates such emotional reality with so few words and without the graphic violence of so many books, that I found my heart gripped with the emotions Jos was experiencing - his loneliness, the frozen emptiness of abandonment, the avoidance of the real traumas of murder, dismemberment, rape and child abuse.

The alien planet where Jos learns his skills in fighting, computer hacking (or Burn Diving as they call it) is a place of beauty and peace modeled on the oriental.  The giant space ships are felt and imagined.  The torn loyalties between Earth and the aliens are wrenching.  The connection between Jos and Niko, his rescuer, is real and moving and we sense Jos' need to be loved and valued.

I didn't want it to end.  I'm glad there are two more books.


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This one was pretty good as well:
The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Very complex, densely woven story of Nicholas Valiarde and his attempt to exact revenge on the man he holds responsible for his foster father's unjust conviction and execution for necromancy ten years earlier.

Great characters, fascinating world, very interesting magic, and some truly scary moments made it a great read.

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And here's my review of the Craig Johnson:
Death Without Company by Craig Johnson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Another delightful episode with Walt Longmire, brilliantly narrated by George Guidall.  The wry humor, the characters, the setting in the Powder River country of Wyoming, all combine to make a thoroughly enjoyable listen.


In this story, Walt struggles to uncover the twisted family secrets of an elderly woman who dies in a nursing home.  He shortly discovers she was murdered, and then follows a convoluted story of her life... His Indian buddy, Henry, provides endless entertainment with his dry wit, his brilliant understatements, and his knowledge of Indian language and custom.

I have a couple of the titles on my Nook, but kind of wish I'd bought the audio versions instead, as Walt is a perfect foil for George Guidall's narration.

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I can't seem to settle on a design template that I like.

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So I've tried out several.  We'll see how long this one lasts.

I finally finished listening to The Eye of the World.  Here's my review:

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I'm sure if I'd read this twenty years ago I would have enjoyed it a lot more.  I found it hard to relate to the characters - mostly teenagers who don't appear to be very bright.  It kind of reminded me of those horror movies where the stupid girl goes into a dark house and never turns on the lights and you know the monster is waiting for her.  There were many monsters, evil ones, strange and enchanted landscapes, mysterious powers, etc.  The three young men 'chosen' to follow the journey were obtuse to a point beyond belief.  Sometimes I thought their denial to be the most powerful 'force' of all.  There were things I liked about the book, the ending being a notable one.  It was very nice.  Jordan seems better at creating positive scenes than scary ones - most of which had me rolling my eyes.  The women were not very interesting to me except for the main one, Moraine.  The culture is very sexist and also superstitious in annoying ways.

I hope my reading of Lord of the Rings is a happier experience.  And, no, I've never read it, so have put it on my list so I will be educated in the ultimate of fantasy lore.  Somehow I think Tolkien probably did a better job of it than Jordan.



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More snow! Argh! Enough, already.

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Let's see if I can do this

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It's colder than you know what today!

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I'm way behind on my reading as I've been rereading the famous Lymond Chronicles (just can't get enough of that Francis Crawford), and The Wars of Light and Shadow!  (Also can't get enough of that series' complexity.)  Oh well, life is short, I am old, I may as well do what makes me happy, right?

My eldest child got me a new Dyson vacuum cleaner for my birthday and I have been having a blast cleaning everything.  It's so nice to have the right tools.  It's lightweight, slick as a whistle, covered with Scandinavian design, and it sucks up everything in its path.  Bliss.  My other child got me a new 27" HP monitor for Christmas/birthday and it's a joy and a half.  So nice to have great kids, isn't it?  Mostly makes up for other disappointments/sadness.

In spite of the fact that it's so cold (has warmed up from 7 to 16 degrees) life is good today.

I must go to the grocery store - ugh- to get something fit to eat. 

I listened to this the other day.

Indulgence in Death (In Death, #31) by J.D. Robb

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Candy listen and typical Eve Dallas.  The formula is getting just a bit tired.  I think Eve needs to have a baby.  At least she's not freaking out every time Roarke mentions it and allows it as a possibility.



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Welcome to 2011!

Huge blizzard last night!  A few pictures.  Fortunately a nice young man helped me dig it out!  Well, actually, he dug, I sat in car.  Pretty nice.  I told him he was today's Angel of Mercy.

I intended to read all day as the office was closed, but spent most of the day messing around on the internet, as usual.  Huge furor at Fantasy Book Club Series group seems to have died down, thank the Good Lord!  Jon Moss helping me moderate the barbarians!

Have been mostly rereading the Lymond Chronicles as I'm not ready to give Francis Crawford up quite yet.  Joined Yahoo Group DDANZ for a group read of King Hereafter, but the discussion leader had a death in the family so we've postponed it a week.

Ah books!  Love 'em.