Tuesday, July 12, 2016

At the Mountains of Madness - H. P. Lovecraft

At the Mountains of MadnessAt the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

October 2005
My rating: 2 of 5 stars (5/10)

I first really encountered the whole concept of Lovecraft's Mythos (something I remain unclear on, so please excuse any mistakes) while reading a BBC Eight Doctor Doctor Who novel, which I guess is kind of backwards. From there I was interested in finding about a bit more about it, but it all seemed to be very confusing and I didn't know where to begin or how much I really wanted to do so. When this was one of [BeyondReality]'s October selections, it seemed providential. It took me while to get hold of the book, eventually finding a copy online.

The story itself is fairly basic. A geologist, one of a small number of survivors of an ill-fated expedition to Antartica in 1930, finally reveals the true horrors discovered there in order to dissuade a new expedition from following in his footsteps.

So what did I think of it?

Well, in all honesty the writing is pretty mediocre. It's lurid and rambling and the vague hints that are supposed to build suspense, I found annoying. For all that though, I keep reading. I kept thinking of giving up, but there was something compelling about the story that kept me going. I found the beginning very slow, but it smoothed out and picked up in the second half before petering out into a somewhat unsatisfying ending.

I have to say that I didn't find this in the least scary; the writing was too clinical for that as it didn't stir any emotions. Also, especially in the first half, there was lots and lots of description, especially through Lake's reports. I am not at all a visual person, so it was just words to me and I wasn't building up any picture of these creastures. That may have diminished the impact. Where I did feel my emotions was being tugged was as the narrator makes his conclusions about what must have happened to the Old Ones who believed they were returning home and his guesses at their feelings about that.

All in all, this is very much a "tell, don't show" story, and as a modern reader, I tend to prefer the opposite. I often feel when things are hinted at and events described obliquely that I've missed a lot, but in this case I did feel I'd got most of the details I was supposed to by the end. Although I'm still not clear about what kind of creature was chasing Danforth and the narrator as their fled back up the tunnels from the abyss. If anyone can enlighten me, I'd be grateful.

If you want a taste of Lovecraft to see what all the fuss is about - as I did - I do think this is a good story to try. It turned out not to be my thing, but it might be yours.

View all my reviews

Fallen Host - Lyda Morehouse

Fallen Host (LINK Angel, #2)Fallen Host by Lyda Morehouse

October 2004
My rating: 4 of 5 stars (9/10)

Before I even started reading this book I knew I was going to have trouble reviewing it. Not because there is anything wrong with it - in fact, it is a great book - but because it is so different from anything I've read before. (Well, except for Archangel Protocol which is the book before it in the series and that I read before I started doing these reviews.)

It is the latter half of the twenty-first century; after a catastrophic war in which a terror device called Medusa was unleashed, humanity has turned away from the sciences and virtually all governments are now theocracies. What we know as the Internet has become the LINK, an all invasive network that individuals can access through implanted hardware. Two fully sentient artificial intelligences traverse the LINK, as do angels. In Archangel Protocol, Deirdre McMannus exposed the LINK-angels as a high-tech fraud and met a real angel - the Archangel Michael, no less.

Fallen Host is told through the first person point of view of three main characters. Page is an AI created by the same computer genius who programmed the LINK-angels. After helping expose his "father" in the previous book, he is trying to make his own way on the LINK. A Muslim, he also dreams of visiting Mecca. Emmaline McNaughten is a Papal Inquisitor, a maverick who has been sent to discover if Page and the world's second AI, the Dragon of the East, have souls. The third main character has chosen to call himself Morningstar. He has been known through history by many names; the Fallen One, the Adversary, Iblis, Lucifer, Satan.

In the first chapter, Morningstar meets with Jibril, the Archangel Gabriel, who obliquely reveals that the End of Days are upon the world. That leaves Morningstar with a quest - to find the Antichrist. He believes this to be Page and attempts to contact and recruit the AI. Emmaline is also looking for Page and the three protaganist's stories soon become inextricably entwined. This book ends with this section of the story complete the scene set for the third book, Messiah Node.

I was a little dubious about this series. As a Christian, a Catholic in fact, I want my beliefs to be treated with respect in the books I choose to read. So long as that is the case, I am perfectly happy to explore an author's 'what ifs'. This is exactly what Lyda Morehouse has done. She has begun with the premise that the God of Judaism, Islam and Christianity does indeed exist as in the One True God. From there, she has explored how the Second Coming might happen in our own near future.

This is a work of fiction, sprung from a lot of research (she discusses her research in the FAQ on her website), scientific extrapolation and a great imagination. It is a science fiction story about religion, not a religious science fiction story. I enjoyed it immensely and I'm looking forward to fitting the next one into my packed reading schedule. However, the bad news is that Fallen Host is currently out of print, although the other three books in the series are readily available. I recommend starting the series with Archangel Protocol, although this isn't necessary to follow the story. And if you think you might like these books, go and find a copy of Fallen Host now, while there are still some around.

View all my reviews

Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

October 2004
DNF

I really love this book, and all the other Anne books, but I'm really struggling to read this one at the moment. I have enough stresses in my life at present and I'm not going to add to it by forcing myself to finish a book that deserves to be savoured and properly appreciated.

View all my reviews

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Murder with Puffins - Donna Andrews

Murder With Puffins (Meg Langslow, #2)Murder With Puffins by Donna Andrews

September 2004
My rating: 3 of 5 stars (7/10)

After the chaos of the summer (weddings, peacocks and murder among other things, chronicled in Murder with Peacocks) Meg Langslow and her boyfriend Michael are desperate for some time and space to themselves. Meg suggests they go to the island of Monhegan off the coast of Maine, where her Aunt Phoebe has a summer cottage and Meg has an open invitation. There might not be any electricity and it is no longer exactly summer, but that should just help insure they get some peace and quiet.

Meg couldn't be more wrong. They arrive along with a coming hurricane to find the island swarming with bird watchers - and Meg's parents (back from their honeymoon in Europe), her brother Rod, Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Phoebe's friend Mrs Fenniman. The cottage is already full and Michael ends up sharing a room with Rod while Meg gets the sofa. So much for a romantic getaway.

Things only get worse after Meg and Michael find themselves in a confrontation with local artist Victor Resnick, who take potshots at them when they stray onto his land. They soon discover no-one on Monhegan likes Resnick and he likes no-one in return. This includes Meg's parents, since her mother knew him when she spent summers on the island as a teenager and local gossip has it that Meg's father is intensely jealous of this.

Then the hurricane hits, the island is cut off, Meg's father and Aunt Phoebe go AWOL at the height of the storm and when Meg and Michael go looking for her father the next morning they find Resnick instead, face down in a tidal pool and quite, quite dead. Meg's father is immediately considered a suspect and when Meg and Michael find a draft of a horribly purple prosed biography of Resnick that implies he had an affair with Meg's mother when she was only fifteen, things look even worse.

Meg takes it upon herself to solve the case, clear her father and save her mother's reputation, all before the hurricane abates enough for the ferry to start running again and the mainland authorities can arrive.

Like its predecessor, this book was wonderfully fun to read. Meg is a great character, her family remains totally insane and Michael puts up with them all with great grace. Andrews has had much fun with the chapter titles, taking known titles and sayings and substituting "puffin" in there somewhere. Examples include "A Long Day's Journey into Puffin" and "Zen and the Art of Puffin Maintenance".

My main reservation is that as I approached the end, I began to feel that the focus on the book was much more on the detection than on the solution. Working out who did it suddenly seemed to take about thirty seconds, and any following confrontation with the murderer seemed anti-climatic, as if it was just a side issue. Indeed, the book didn't end there, since it was now more important for Meg and Michael to discover the author of the awful Resnick biography and find a way to hush up any potential scandal. All of which they manage of course, even if some of their methods are far from conventional.

That said, this is still a very fun book to read. I thoroughly enjoyed going along for the ride with Meg and Michael and I look forward to their further adventures.

View all my reviews

Sorcery and Cecelia (or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot) by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Cecelia and Kate, #1)Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede

September 2004
My rating: 3 of 5 stars (7/10)

In a slightly alternative England just after the Napoleonic Wars, where magic and wizardry are real, two cousins start exchanging letters. Kate Talgarth has gone to London for the Season with her beautiful sister Georgina. Her cousin, Cecelia Rushton, remains at home in the country. Mysterious things soon start happening to both of them, starting with a strange woman trying to poison Kate with hot chocolate under the belief she is a man named Thomas - and they soon find themselves caught up in a series of strange, dangerous and magical events.

That's not much of a description compared to the other books I've reviewed, but this one is different. It grew from the authors playing the "letter game" and since the plot only developed between Wrede and Stevermer as the letters were exchanged, it does the same for the reader.

I really wasn't sure what I was going to think of this book when I started it. I had heard about it before and how it had grown out of "the letter game", where each author had taken one of the principal characters (Wrede is Cecelia and Stevermer is Kate) and written the letters in persona. Their one rule was that each writer must not reveal her idea of where the plot was going to the other. To a certain degree, this sounds like a brilliant idea. But it also reminded me of online fanfic round robins which I know from experience can go strange and dangerous places, developing terrible plot and logic holes as they go. These authors didn't even have an established universe they were playing in.

At first I was afraid my fears were being realised as I had trouble figuring out who was who and how all the characters were connected to each other. Whatever was going on also seemed rather confusing. However, the book soon took off as more pieces were revealed. I did find it a little frustrating that the two male leads - James and Thomas - were so darned secretive and unable to give any proper explanations. However, since those desired explanations hadn't been invented before the book began, it was inevitable that each author would be dropping hints for the other to pick up on. When the explanations did start coming, they all worked and the story concluded itself very nicely. I did see in the authors' note that they got together once they had decided to submit the book for publication and tidied up any few loose and/or shaky ends.

Kate and Cecy are fun characters, and the reader gets to know them better as the story progresses. However, I felt all the other character were sketched rather than drawn. I suppose part of that could be because we only see as much of them as the girls put in their letters. In the same way, the romances seemed a little forced. Both women found their man "odious" a long way through the book and then they were in love and getting married. It was there, but the progression wasn't as smooth as it might have been.

My grumble done, I still recommend the book. If, like me, you feel a little confused at first, stick with it. The story unfolds neatly and by half way I was reading every moment I could to find out how everything turned out. I will certainly be reading the sequel, which my friendly librarian has reserved for me. (Aren't I lucky, having a friendly bookstore owner and a friendly librarian, even if the former takes a lot of my money!)

View all my reviews

Monday, July 4, 2016

Police at the Funeral - Margery Allingham

Police at the Funeral (Albert Campion Mystery #4)Police at the Funeral by Margery Allingham

September 2004
My rating: 3 of 5 stars (7/10)

On a Margery Allingham list I'm on, someone accidently posted a message that was meant to go to a different Allingham list - one for group reads of the Campion books. This seemed like an excellent idea and I nipped over and joined. They are still early in the series (this is the fourth book) so I jumped in with glee. I've read Police at the Funeral before, but on starting it, I couldn't remember exactly what happened or who "dunnit". In fact, as I kept reading, I still couldn't remember. While my terrible memory (made worse by all my years of CFS) is often a detriment, in this case it was a great advantage.

The story appears simple: an old friend of Campion's asks his to ease his fiance's fears about the disappearance of her uncle. However, the story gets murkier and nastier and more confusing with each passing page. The lost Uncle Andrew is part of a decidedly dysfunction family still living in the 1890's or so (the book is set in 1931) and run with an iron fist by Great Aunt Caroline who keeps her middle-aged children (William, Julia and Kitty) and nephew, Andrew, at home with her and treats them as if they were still in the nursery.

By the time Campion arrives in Cambridge, Uncle Andrew has been found dead. By the time he's been there a couple of days, Aunt Julia is dead under mysterious circumstances and Uncle William is under suspicion of murder. It is up to Campion to solve the mystery, save the family name and hopefully prevent any more deaths.

It is in this book that Allingham's writing becomes much deeper and more serious than it was in the earlier Campion books, which have a certain Boy's Own Adventure atmosphere to them. This novel, despite a strong and moody description of London at the very beginning, looks like it may be the same. Campion, lurking in a deliberately dramatic hidden meeting place and dressed in a Holmes-style deerstalker cap, waits to meet a young woman and soothe her worries with a performance as the "clever detective". But it is soon clear her troubles are real ones and Campion abandons his frivolity at the same moment he abandons the cap, becoming serious about the case. Despite his sometimes contradictory appearance, he is to remain so in his following adventures in print. Allingham's skill in description also comes to the fore, as the forbidding house in Socrates Close almost becomes a character in its own right - and a disturbing and dangerous character too.

As I said, I couldn't remember who the murderer was as I re-read Police at the Funeral. Up to the revelation I still didn't. I was both surprised and disappointed. The solution was clever, although the character's immediately assumption to why it had all been done did seem rather simplistic to me. However, I think that is just a difference in seventy year's perspective. We try to make some things more complicated these days.

This is a good book and I enjoyed spending time with Campion again. I am looking forward to re-reading Sweet Danger with the list. Yay, I'll get to meet Amanda all over again.

View all my reviews

The Silver Spoon - Stacey Klemstein

The Silver SpoonThe Silver Spoon by Stacey Klemstein

August 2004
My rating: 4 of 5 stars (8/10)

This is Stacey Klemstein's first novel and it's a great debut. I hope it will be the first of many to come in the years ahead.

Two years ago, Zara Mitchell began having terrible nightmares and has been known since as the local crazy. At the same time, Earth made its first contact with aliens. The Observers had been watching us from a distance for a while and have since landed on Earth, sending out small numbers of research parties. Zara is terrified of the aliens, but fortunately unlikely ever to meet any.

Or so she thinks. As the story opens, she is working in her diner, The Silver Spoon, when the sheriff stops in with his latest captive - one of the Observers. Moments later her world turns upside down when the diner explodes, her life is saved by Caelen, the Observer, and he insists she was the target of the attack. Reluctant, but determined to find answers to the questions in her life, Zara finally agrees to go with Caelen. From there, her life just gets more complicated as every answer raises a host more questions.

Klemstein has placed her characters very neatly on the board and proceeds to play havoc with them with skill, ease and a delightful touch of wit and humour. What impressed me most is the way, as she slowly revealed more about the nature and plans of the Observers, she made them more human at the same time as she showed us how different they were. Zara too finds she is not exactly what she has always believed as she finally discovers the source of her nightmares. She deals with this realistically rather than easily, a fact that made me like her more. She has a wry sense of humour and is strong without being forcefully or unbelievably so.

Caelen is less clearly drawn, partly because we never see his thought processes (the story is told first-person from Zara's point of view) and because his motives remain cloudy and uncertain. The romance between Zara and Caelen is gentle, cautious and uncertain; while "happy ever after" is definitely a possibility at the end, it is not yet certain.

Many of the questions facing the characters at the start of the book are answered by the end, but some remain and others have been created. This book is crying out for a sequel and I hope Stacey Klemstein is in the process of writing one. I'll be buying it.

View all my reviews

Mind Game - Christine Feehan

Mind Game (GhostWalkers, #2)Mind Game by Christine Feehan

August 2004
DNF

I had read about half this, then paused to read other things. As I finished them and thought about going back to this one, I began to realise that I just wasn't interested. I didn't particularly care about what happened to the characters and I'd left them in a fairly dire situation. So I decided to put it away.

View all my reviews

Sunrise Alley - Catherine Asaro

Sunrise AlleySunrise Alley by Catherine Asaro

August 2004
My rating: 5 of 5 stars (10/10)

The theme of this book is age old and timeless: What is it that makes us human?

The setting is not. This is Earth in 2033, where information and nano-technology (and probably other sciences not specifically relevant to the book) have advanced at a great pace. Dr Samantha Bryton has been a leader in her field; she works with and develops artificial intelligences.

In this book, Asaro develops the concept of two different types of artificial intelligence. The first, AI, is artificial intelligence as we generally consider it now; it is limited by its programming but able to think within it. The second she calls EI, which stands for "evolving intelligence". This is AI that has surpassed its programming, becoming sentient. Now, that intelligence is not limited by programming and will evolve through experience and learning. Sam is one of the best in her field, but after blowing the whistle on ethically dubious research and suffering the following publicity, she has retired to her secluded home for some much needed time to herself.

Her solitude is broken when, after a storm, she finds a man washed up on her beach. He says his name is Turner Pascal and he needs her help. She soon discovers he isn't kidding. Technically, Turner is what is called a forma - an engineered body with an EI brain. But, he insists, his mind was imaged moments after he died, and he is still Turner Pascal and he is human.

It takes a little convincing, but Sam believes him. He has escaped from the madman (and genius) who made him and soon both he and Sam find themselves on the run, not knowing whom they can trust. The story takes them from California to captivity somewhere in the Himalayas and back to the States, constantly trying to stay ahead of their pursuers and find out just exactly what is going on. All the while, Turner is trying to figure what and who he is now, certain he is human, but discovering he is also more. Luring him on are tales of Sunrise Alley, supposedly a haven for EIs who want to be free individuals.

Technically this makes up the third in a series with The Veiled Web and The Phoenix Code, but there is no requirement to have read the other two. The link is little more than a reference to the characters of The Veiled Web in The Phoenix Code and to the characters of The Phoenix Code in Sunrise Alley. It is also interesting that the technology and terms in this book match many that occur in Asaro's Skolian Imperialate series. I have a vague idea that she has said that the Skolian books occur in the future of these books, but I can't remember where I heard it or if it is even true.

So what did I think? I'll admit right at the start that I'm biased. I love Catherine Asaro's books and I started this already predisposed to like it. I certainly did. It was a little slow to start, and the plot is very convoluted - you have to pay attention, especially to who is who, since that occasionally changes. It's about science and technology and how they may change they ways we define our humanity. It's about dealing with the ghosts of our past and about two people learning to expand their views of who they are and how they care for each other.

I found this a very fascinating and enjoyable read. Sam is immediately a likeable character and if Turner seems a little naive at the beginning, part of that may come from having recently died and being artifically reborn. He certainly develops and matures over the course of the book. At the end, he is perhaps both more human and less human, and a much stronger, deeper man for it. Sam, despite her work with EIs in the past - if not one in such a human and straight out "pretty" body - finds she carries her own share of prejudices that she must acknowledge and overcome. At the end, they are two people who fit together and are determined to stay together.

Sunrise Alley is not a romantic tale with a few futuristic sounding words thrown in. There is science in this science fiction. Asaro has a PhD in physics and her scientific background and knowledge shows in all her books. She has a great talent for combining science with an understanding of human nature and an ability to create strong, flawed characters that engage the reader.

View all my reviews

Night Play - Sherrilyn Kenyon

Night Play (Dark-Hunter #5, Were-Hunter #1)Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon

August 2004
My rating: 3 of 5 stars (7/10)

Night Play is Sherrilyn Kenyon's latest "Dark-Hunter" book, although this time the hero is not a Dark-Hunter but a Were-Hunter.

Vane Kattalakis is a Lykos Were-Hunter; both a wolf and a man, born with a wolf's soul and destined to love with a man's. He's also in a lot of trouble. He's being hunted by just about everyone there is, and currently hiding out (as much as an alpha male such as he is likely to hide) at the Sanctuary Bar in New Orleans, a safe refuge for Weres of all clans and affiliations. His brother, Fang, is seriously injured after they were both betrayed and Vane's focus is to see to Fang's safety and healing.

He certainly isn't looking for a mate. He isn't even looking for a little short-term female attention.

Then he meets Bride McTierney. She's everything he's looked for in a woman; well-rounded, intelligent and loving. She's also sworn off men after being dumped - by FedEx - by her now ex-fiance. She certainly doesn't expect serious attention from a man as stunning as Vane. She prefers the wolf that has started hanging around her.

These two people are not exactly what fated lovers are supposed to be. For one thing, they aren't even the same species, which is about as big as barriers can get. Add to that the fact Vane is on the run as well as being caught up in a long-time family feud and romance doesn't seem to stand much of a chance. As for Bride, once she learns Vane's big secret and begins to understand the situation, she faces a world she never knew existed, new enemies and the possibility her children might be puppies.

Kenyon has created a detailed and complex mythology for her ever-expanding series. She's done a lot of work and this adds great depth to her books. However, it can also be very confusing and sometimes distracting for the reader. I have to admit that I still haven't got it all straight and I've even joined a discussion list to help me work it all out. Night Play harks back to the earlier books, without the machinations of gods, goddesses and great fates. I enjoyed it for exactly that reason. As much as it can be fun to work out all the hints and little revelations, sometimes it is nice just to sit back and devour a story. That's what I got to do this time.

Bride is a wonderful heroine and one I could relate to. For one thing, she's a little plump - and that's one of the things Vane loves about her. All of us "larger" women can relate to the power of that. She takes all the new things in her life well, but not automatically.

There is less angst in this book that some of the others - and certainly than there will be in the next one, which is Valerius's story - and that made it a lovely relaxing read while I was away from home.

[Copied across from Library Thing; 25 September 2012]

View all my reviews

Heart Duel - Robin D. Owens

Heart Duel (Celta's Heartmates, #3)Heart Duel by Robin D. Owens

August 2004
My rating: 4 of 5 stars (8/10)

In her first novel, HeartMate, Robin D. Owens introduced us to the planet Celta. It was settled around 400 years ago by colonists from Earth. While I cannot remember if it is clearly stated, the colonists were primarily from the Celtic countries and left an increasingly technological Earth for a place where they could develop their psi talents, now known as "Flair".

Some very lucky Celtan couples find that they are HeartMates. This means they have a deep, life-long, flaired connection the binds them more strongly than what a couple that is simply in love can share. In the books so far, it has been the man who has first found his HeartMate and set to win her over, although on her website Owens states that it can also be the other way around. There are firm rules about wooing one's HeartMate, the most important one being that the fact the couple are, in fact, HeartMates must not be revealed until a gift and the union have already been accepted.

We first met Holm Holly, the hero of Heart Duel back in the original in the series. He was young, impulsive and the heir to a Noble House famous for its fighting skills. Now he is a little less young, a little less impulsive, a little more mature and still the heir to his House. He never discovered he had a HeartMate at the appropriate time and now he is being pressured to marry to provide his family with an heir of his own. Then, as the book begins, he discovers to his amazement that he does have a HeartMate after all; he had to mature enough to match her own, older soul.

Whether or not Holm has reached that point, and how he deals with the complications of his love are the main components of the book. There are a lot of complications. For starters, his lady - Lark Collinson - doesn't believe either of them has a HeartMate and that any relationship would be temporary. She is still getting over the death of her husband, three years ago. She is a Healer and Holm a Fighter, not exactly compatible callings. But the real kicker is that Holm's family is involved in a escalating feud with Lark's family. Winning her is not going to be easy.

As I reread what I've written so far, this all sounds very Romeo and Juliet, but I never once thought of that while I was reading the book, which tells me Owens has neatly avoided the risk of falling into cliché. Holm is an engaging hero as he tries his hardest to develop parts of his personality that he has either never uncovered or left long abandoned. The man he is at the end of the book is very different from who he was at the beginning and his development is both well-handled and occasionally painful. Lark's progress though the book is more gentle but still very real. She is a Healer to her fingertips and finding herself so attracted to a man trained to fight goes against everything she believes in.

An added bonus in each Celtan story is the presence of Owens' wonderful "Fam" cats. Intelligent, telepathic and superior, they can easily steal a scene if the rest of the characters are not careful. These books are lovely stories set in their own unique location. I love a mix of technology and magic and these fit that bill perfectly.

View all my reviews

Murder with Peacocks - Donna Andrews

Murder With Peacocks (Meg Langslow, #1)Murder With Peacocks by Donna Andrews

August 2004
My rating: 4 of 5 stars (8/10)

This book was a delight. The characters are quirky, funny and quite, quite insane. The story rolls along at an easy pace and goes in logical but totally unexpected directions.

Meg Langslow knows she has a busy summer ahead of her. She's bridesmaid at three weddings and the main organiser of them all. Meg's mother is getting remarried, despite no-one understanding why she and Meg's father ever split up in the first place, especially since her father spends almost all his time at the family house as if he had never left, only staying nights in his new home with Meg's sister. Her brother's fiance - the one who decided her wedding requires the peacocks of the title - has given Meg the honour and the hard work of being chief bridesmaid. To round the number out to three, her best friend is also getting married and Meg is in charge of her wedding as well.

The entire prospect is daunting, one bright spot being Michael, who is running the local dressmakers while the owner, his aunt, is recuperating from an unexplained accident. She is soon informed he is gay, which given his good looks she considers a disappointment, but his help and friendliness is much appreciated. Between them, they start undertaking the difficult task of getting three bridal parties outfitted, while Meg also has to deal with all the other wedding preparations.

Once guests start arriving, things only get more frantic. Especially when Meg's mother's sister-in-law to-be arrives in town. She is a tactless, disagreeable woman who clearly has the ability to make enemies at the drop of a hat. The only thing that could make life more difficult than her presence is her death. When she is found dead below the cliff near Meg's family home, difficult is an understatement.

Her father dives in to trying to solve the mystery - in his own unique fashion - while Meg attempts to keep her attention on the weddings. Even so, with Michael's help, she seems to keep finding herself in the middle of it all to the point that someone starts trying to kill her.

Andrews writes the book in a quirky and easy-to-read style. Meg's various trials are sympathetically written and yet funny to read. Her accidental solving of the murder slides easily into place beside the wedding planning and she is an engaging and sympathetic character. Meg's father is beautifully drawn and his gift to his ex-wife who is about to marry someone else is truly touching. The other characters are generally well penned, but my favourites remain Meg, Michael and Meg's father.

Oh, and the peacocks. They are there to stay.

View all my reviews

You've Got Murder - Donna Andrews

You've Got Murder (Turing Hopper, #1)You've Got Murder by Donna Andrews

August 2004
My rating: 4 of 5 stars (8/10)

I'm not sure what started the topic "AI as detective" on the Friends of Liad mailing list (I'm always running behind with my email and do a lot of quick scanning of lists, meaning I sometimes miss things). Whoever it was, by the time I joined the topic, the names of Donna Andrews and Turing Hopper were being tossed around. I read a few emails and decided this sounded like an author to try. I phoned my ever-helpful bookstore and asked it they had a copy; it arrived on my doorstep the next morning. Since I was struggling with Anne Kelleher's Silver's Edge, I chose to take a break from that one and read You've Got Murder right away.

The concept is essentially simple, but very neatly executed. The Universal Library is a growing online store of books and information. Turing Hopper is one of the Artificial Intelligence Personalities (or AIPs) created by UL programmers to help customers find the information they are looking for. But there's one very unique thing about Turing.

Although she has made sure the fact is far from common knowledge, Turing is sentient.

As the book begins, Turing is starting to get worried. Her programmer, Zack, appears to have disappeared. He hasn't been at work for several days, and Turing is unable to trace him electronically through bank account use or anything else of the kind. No-one else seems worried, but Turing remains concerned.

Eventually she enlists the help of two human friends and begins to investigate. Maude, a secretary at UL and Tim, who works in the copy room there, both consider Turing to be a friend. Maude knows she's an AIP while Tim refuses to believe Turing's insistence that she is part of the computer system and spends the first part of the book trying to trick her into telling him what she looks like. As the tale progresses he is convinced, and he and Maude become Turing's hands and legs as they try to discover what has happened to Zack. Perhaps even more importantly, they also begin to discover why Zack has vanished, and this threatens Turing's very existence.

Turing is a delightful heroine; she is both very wise and unexpectedly naive. She has a huge amount of information at her beck and call, but she has less understanding of humans and how they respond to circumstances.

I was a little unsure on the first few pages - the beginning shows a shadowy figure breaking in to Zack's office and is quite different from the feel of the rest of the book. But once things got going and Turing entered the picture the tale took off. It is written alternating between Turing's first person point-of-view and third person focus on Maude and Tim. It took me a couple of switches to get into the flow of things, but Andrews' style soon sweeps the reader up into the story.

Turing learns a lot in the course of the story and is a much stronger person - and there's no doubt she's a person -by the end. Maude and Tim quickly shift from being icons to being real people; I did find that they developed their mechanical and electronic skills especially fast though, once they started doing some building for Turing.

I have the next book in the series - Click Here for Murder - waiting for me at home and I look forward to starting it.

View all my reviews

Dark Destiny - Christine Feehan

Dark Destiny (Dark, #13)Dark Destiny by Christine Feehan

July 2004
My rating: 5 of 5 stars (10/10)

It probably won't be often that I give a book at 10/10 rating, but I decided this one deserved it for reasons I'll go into below.

Yet again, the fact I read Christine Feehan (in fact, pretty much everything she publishes) is because I got suckered in my Barbara the Bookseller. That's okay. I discovered a good author and she gets a lot of my business. In fact, she was so sure she could convert both me and the friend I was shopping with on the day in question, she gave us a second hand copy of the first Carpathian book, Dark Prince. She gave away one book and between us we've probably bought about forty or so Feehans since then. I'm not sure who won.

Dark Destiny is the thirteenth Carpathian book. I wasn't as impressed as usual with the last one (Dark Melody) although I admit I'm still not sure why. It just didn't gel as well with me as some of the others have. So I started this one wondering if this was a general trend or a one-off that just hadn't quite worked for me. It was soon clear that it was the latter. In my opinion, Dark Destiny is possibly the best of the series.

Destiny (I don't think we ever learn her last name) was beguiled by a vampire when she was six. She unwittingly led him to her family and he murdered them in front of her, before abducting her and forcing her to take his blood. In her desperation to survive years of torture and abuse, Destiny reached out and touched another mind. I was a man, one she believed to be another vampire, who taught her all the skills and talents she needed to become a hunter. At fourteen she killed the vampire who had taken her and since then has been hunting the evil creatures.

Destiny made one error. She had not made contact with another vampire, but with Nicolae Von Shrieder, an ancient Carpathian. He has been trying to find Destiny for years, and as the book begins, he finally does so. When he finds her, his grey world explodes into colour and he realises Destiny is his lifemate.

Nicolae has a hard task ahead of him. Not only does he has to convince Destiny of what she is to him, he also first has to prove to her that he is not a vampire and that she, despite having been converted by one, is not either. Destiny, because of her terribly abusive childhood, is a scarred and damaged survivor, who does not know how to trust; she believes herself to be fundamentally evil (and while her actions quickly prove this untrue to the reader, she is unable to see it herself) and she has closed herself off from the possibility of friends, let alone the binding love of lifemates.

The reason I have chosen to rate this so highly is because of the way Feehan has handled the sensitive issues of an abuse survivor. Nothing drives me crazy more that a book where the heroine is shown to have been terribly abused, but once she meets the hero she is swept away by his amazing virility and suddenly everything is all right. Feehan has avoided this with care, sensitivity and style.

Destiny learns slowly. Even as her instincts involve her with people and draw her to Nicolae, she's fighting it. She comes to trust slowly with false starts. Sex is a frightening experience, no matter how right it feels and - hooray - it is a development, not a cure. Even by the last chapter of the book, when Destiny has grown and learned so much, when she's discovering it is safe to laugh and be happy, "the scars remained in her heart and mind".

I am blessed and lucky. The horrors of abuse of any kind have passed me by and I can only be grateful for that. So I cannot say if this is truly an honest and appropriate treatment of the subject, shifted into Feehan's fantasy world. But it does look to me that it is, and that is a large part of what impressed me so much. She tells a great story, introduces another set of wonderful characters you want to know more about, depicts again a wonderful tale of love, and yet, amongst it all, maintains a sense of great truth.

The book also introduces a sparkling set of minor characters and I look forward to having a chance to catch up with at least some of them again. I hope Vikirnoff finds his lifemate (like others, I have my suspicions about who it will be) and I hope we get to see Mary Ann again (I think it should be in the Carpathian mountains - it's time we had another story there). Velda and Inez were a delight; Velda's tragedy such a touching sadness - and an explanation of something I hadn't even thought about before.

The whole Carpathian series is great, this one especially so.

View all my reviews

Witness in Death - J. D. Robb

Witness in Death (In Death, #10)Witness in Death by J.D. Robb

July 2004
My rating: 4 of 5 stars (8/10)

It's not just this book that is the fault of my dealer, it is the whole series. She conned me into reading Naked in Death last year and here I am devouring book #11. I heard that Nora Roberts (who writes this futuristic detective series under the pseudonym J. D. Robb) was once asked why she is still writing this long series when usually she doesn't like long series. Her reply was that she simply liked visiting with Eve and Roarke. I couldn't agree more; I too love checking in to see what they are up to.

In this book Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke are at the opening night of the 2056 production of Agatha Christie's 1952 play, "Witness for the Prosecution". In the last act, disagreeable character Leonard Vole, played by disagreeable actor Richard Drake, is stabbed, not with the intended prop knife, but the real thing that someone has substituted between scenes. Eve soon discovers that pretty much everyone had a reason to kill Drake and it is her job to find out who actually did it.

The case grows more complicated as Eve delves deeper and finds connections between the various cast members and Drake, as well as discovering just what a nasty character the dead actor was. Eve's memories of her own abusive childhood are stirred by the case and she struggles to stay objective.

As always, Roarke helps her out whether she likes it or not and in a beautiful scene, practical Eve struggles to create a romantic evening for her husband. For readers of the series, various relationships develop (particularly Peabody and Charles Monroe and Peabody and McNab). Regulars such as Mavis and Nadine Furst make brief appearances.

I particularly liked the solution to this mystery. Robb introduced a very neat twist at the end and laid some successful red herrings along the way. If you've never read a J. D. Robb book before, I recommend the first in the series - Naked in Death - simply because the character develop steadily through the series and the beginning is always a good place to start. However, Robb keeps the individual books accessible to the causal reader and if you like the sound of this one, go for it.

View all my reviews

A Fistful of Sky - Nini Kiriki Hoffman

A Fistful of Sky  (LaZelle, #1)A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

July 2004
My rating: 3 of 5 stars (7/10)

This is the first book by Hoffman that I've read. I saw it in my book catalogue and thought the blurb looked interesting. I checked with my helpful bookseller (sure to be often referred to in these reviews as my "dealer") who assured me it is was good, so I took the risk and ordered it. I'm very glad I did.

A Fistful of Sky introduces the reader to the LaZelle family, most especially Gypsum LaZelle, the middle of five siblings (the others named Opal, Jasper, Beryl and Flint) who is the narrator of the story. Around the time of puberty LaZelle's go through something called "transition", a nasty illness after which they have gained their share of power.

At the time the story opens, Gypsum is twenty and the "normal" member of the family. She has never transitioned and is trying to reconcile herself to a life without power. Then, while alone for the weekend she finally undergoes transition and survives to find herself a person of power after all.

But there's a catch. Late transitions tend to produce stronger, but darker powers. Gypsum finds herself with the power of curses. If she doesn't use it, it will canker inside her and slowly kill her, but who wants to curse people or things - especially when there tends to always be unfortunate side effects.

This is the story of Gypsum learning to use her power, and learn just who she is at the same time. She makes some mistakes along the way, including calling a creature who names herself Altria and whose own agendas are unknown. By the end of the book Altria is unmasked and Gypsum has found a solution (and a possible romance).

My primary complaint is that I didn't "get" the last chapter. I'm not sure if that was my fault or the fault of the author. I'm going to need to read that final chapter again after I've had a bit of a break away from the book. Since this is the explanation of how Gypsum finally tames her power, it is kind of important.

All the same, I happily recommend this book. The characters are well drawn, and the investigation of how one manages something so potentially dangerous as the need to regularly curse things is very interesting. Try it out; see what you think.

View all my reviews

Silver's Edge - Anne Kelleher

Silver's Edge (Shadowlands, #1)Silver's Edge by Anne Kelleher

July 2004
DNF

I just didn't get far enough into this one to get it completed. I have so many other books I want to read and I'm just not inspired to put in the work on it.

I really thought I would like this. The premise was good and my kind of 'thing'. But it was really slow going. Reading isn't as easy for me as it used to be and I now tend to work on the concept of an effort/reward ratio. If I have to put in too much effort for too little reward, I'm not always going to stick at it. I think that's what happened in this case. The characters were fine, the setting was fine, the plot had potential, but I just didn't feel I was getting enough back for the effort it was taking. The discovery that it was the first of two was also off-putting as that seemed to double the effort required without necessarily increasing the reward.

I've felt a lot of the Luna books have a lot of potential and good ideas, but after this one, I'm a little leery of buying them. They cost significantly more, and my budget is reduced these days. They're also not found in our library system. I think I'll wait for more reviews and comments on future releases before I take the risk on buying.

View all my reviews

Reviews, alphabetically by Title

Some of these can be classified as reviews while others are only comments (or occasionally even just a sentence), about the books. I’ve used the word reviews for simplicity.

** A **
** B **

** C **

** D **
** E **

** F **
** G **

** H **
** I **

** J **

** K **

** L **

** M **
** N **
** O **

** P **
** Q **

** R **

** S **
**T**

** V **

** W **
** Y **
** Z **

    Reviews, by Series (alphabetically by Author)

    Some of these can be classified as reviews while others are only comments (or occasionally even just a sentence), about the books. I’ve used the word reviews for simplicity.

    A series has been included in this list only if I've read more than one book in it. If the order of books in the series is disputed or can be done in more than one way, I've gone with publication order and my best guess. I pulled my information from Fantastic Fiction and FictFact.

    ** A **
    ** B **

    ** C **

    ** D **

    ** E **

    ** F **
    ** G **

    ** H **

    ** I **

    ** J **

    ** K **
    ** L **

    ** M **
    ** N **

    ** O **
    ** P **

    ** Q **

    ** R **
    ** S **

    **T**

    ** V **

    ** W **
    ** Z **

    Reviews, alphabetically by Author

    Some of these can be classified as reviews while others are only comments (or occasionally even just a sentence), about the books. I’ve used the word reviews for simplicity.

    ** A **
    ** B **

    ** C **

    ** D **

    ** E **

    ** F **
    ** G **

    ** H **
    ** I **

    ** J **

    ** K **
    ** L **
    ** M **
    ** N **

    ** O **
    ** P **

    ** Q **

    ** R **
    ** S **

    **T**

    ** V **

    ** W **
    ** Z **