Well, I have been reading but not updating. I was tinkering with a new webpage thought create and go. Teah well back here, as the creating has been a tad slow. Be prepared for a couple of posts here and going to try and put in some themes, starting with fantasy, magic and alternative.
Comes the Night - Isobelle Carmody
472 pages, Paperback, Published 29 October 2024, Allen & Unwin
In the future people have to live in domes as the climate has become unpredictable. Will lives in Fyshwick an outer suburb of Canberra with his father. Life for Will is tough, his Uncle's passing does not sit easy with him as feels something seems off. What is worse no one is listening to him, not his Dad, his mother or therapist. His mother is more concerned about wanting Will to move to Sydney to follow a career path that is advantageous to her political ambitions. Will is feeling pulled in a multitude of directions. Talking to his friend Ender, rock climbing and taking pictures help Will relax. The nagging doubts about his Uncle's death set Will off to try and discover what happened. What Will does not expect is that his Uncle's death is part of a bigger conspiracy that will impact everyone around him.
Each of the characters are nuanced, distinctive and come to the page fully formed. Will is a wonderful, confused mess, trying to balance the expectations of parents and is own dreams. Ender is a treat, she is feisty, opinionated but a fragility. The challenges that Ender faces really heightens the tension in the story.
Carmody is able to create a world with complex governance and social structures that as a reader you easily inhabit. You feel like this a world you intimately know as Carmody is so good at crafting a strong sense of place. Not only that, but the mystery to be unraveled is deftly laid out, allowing you to pull the pieces together. The added bonus was as someone who has lived in Canberra there were little mentions like the Green Shed, which made me smile. This simply just a great from a master storyteller.
Starter Villain - John Scalzi
264 pages, Kindle Edition, published 19 September 2023
Charlie is nothing, divorced, a substitute teacher, living pay check to pay check, with only cats for company, life is really bleak. The death of estranged and very rich Uncle Jake brings new opportunities for Charlie but there is a catch. Uncle Jake was in the super villain business, and he was ruthless with his empire. Charlie will have to take on the other super villains and try to keep alive with the help of some cats.
Scalzi certainly has come up with a unique idea and is able to put down layer upon layer of even more ridiculous scenarios that all work seamlessly. This is a rollicking story, well crafted, great characters and just fun. I would love to describe in greater detail, but I do not want to give away any of the surprises.
Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros
561 pages, paperback, 26 March 2024
Violet Sorrengail has a family legacy to live up, even if she does not want to. Hoping to be a scribe, her mother, the commanding gerneral has other ideas. Making Violet participate in a brutal indoctrination program to become a dragon rider where you either succeed or you die. Violet quickly learns who to trust and who to fear, but Xaden Riorsin, well she is just not sure which bucket to put him in.
The key to all fantasy novels is the world building, if you don’t get that shining through the novel, then no romance is going to save it. Yarros has created a dense and rich world, with a class structure that is complex, fragile and prone to exploitation by invested political actors. It is also resplendent with dragons with their own governance structure. What Yarros does with ease is fuse the world into the story, so that you feel apart of what is happening. You immediately understand what Violet is trying to navigate, the difficulties and expectations that she faces.
Overall, the characters are well formed on the page. Violet is steadfast in her resolve to prove to everyone her worth and remain true to her own path. At times, she is misguided but is able to form friendships and develop enemies. The main love interest Xaden, I was not enthralled with. I have read many a good looking, brooding, smirking, fabulous in the sack, does things to assist with out asking and slightly manipulative. There is many a time in the story where he does a told you so to Violet. However, as the story is told from Violet’s point of view, that does limit what you discover about Xander. The other characters glide in and out but the focus in on the development of the romance and heat between Xaden and Violet.
I can understand why the book is popular and why there is a dedicated fan base.
The Book of Elsewhere - Keanu Reeves & China Mieville
337 pages, paperback, published 23 July 2024
Unute or B is immortal and has been around for over 80000 years. He has seen some things, done some things, is currently part of a military outfit and a research subject. B when it comes to violence goes into a berserker rage and destroys all with little or no empathy. Obviously, the research people want to tap into B's immortality and berserk rage to create the ultimate soldier. Swirling all around this is mysticism, cults who want to balance things in their favour. Whilst B does not want to die but would like to be mortal.
The book was patchy for me, parts I really enjoyed, which was mainly the present time stories. The going back in time, worked every now and then. I found some of the narrative convoluted and taking a long time to get to the hub of the matter. There are plenty of interested parties all trying to gain either a direct or indirect benefit from B's unique abilities. I just felt it was a long development to fully comprehend what the end game was. It is an interesting concept, but it did not click for me.
Nettle and Bone - T. Kingfisher
243 pages, hardcover, published 16 April 2022
Marra is part of a minor royal family and as the third daughter is often overlooked. Marra's mother wants to ensure their kingdom survives, and arranges a marriage for her eldest daughter with the Prince from the North Kingdom. Things do not go well and she dies in mysterious circumstances. The second daughter, Kania is accepted as a replacement wife and Marra is shipped off to a covenant to ensure no bastards are born. When Marra attends the birth of Kania's first child, she learns the Prince is a sadist and fears for the life of her sister. Marra decides that killing the Prince is the only option.
When we meet Marra she is trying to re-animate the bones of a dog, in a land where people that eat human flesh roam. There is danger all around and Marra is working to deadline, she needs to prove that she can make the bones alive so that a Dust Wife will assist in the quest. It is part of three seemingly impossible tasks that she has to undertake. I was intrigued, this was shaping into a rather strange world with a character pushing against the odds. It helped that the Dust Wife had a demonic chicken as a pet. The three of them travel to the goblin market and through magic, Marra is directed by a magical moth to a man who will aid her, Fenris a disgraced knight. The merry band of four, then head off and collect a fairy godmother before they go to rescue Marra's sister.
The journey to reach the confrontation takes up the majority of the story as I approached the last quarter I did wonder if the story would be resolved. It is but I found the ending somewhat perplexing. I mean what exactly did Marra do? Apart from working out how to exit the tombs and finding a way for Fenris to not be punished for a crime, she didn't really do anything, The Dust Wife, Fairy Godmother and Fenris were the main contributors to the outcome. At the start Marra is on land that has humans looking for flesh, there was a plague but that world never seems to connect with the North and South kingdoms. Kingfisher's world creation is vibrant, with lots of interesting premise but never fully teased out.
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