Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey

3 Tomato Faces


Mortification Factors:

• The cover is a bit over the top
• Some of the "love" scenes are hot enough not to want to have anyone reading over your shoulder
• The alternate history thing that Ms. Carey had during the first 4 books has gone really wacky for the Kushiel's Legacy trilogy. We have regency clothing with Pictish warriors, ancient Greeks with Venetian doges. It's a jumble of epochs where history all happens at the same time.

Redeeming features:

• Wonderful, wonderful conclusion (maybe?) to the series
  
• In this book, the Basque get independence!

In this book, Imriel and Sidonie have come out regarding their love for each other. The country of Terre d'Ange is divided: the younger generation are happy for them but the oldsters who lost family members in the Skaldic war started by Imriel's mother, Melissande, are vehemently opposed to allowing the traitor's son to marry the heir to the throne. To secure their happiness, Imriel vows to find his mother and to bring her to justice.

Before this can occur, Terre d'Ange receives a delegation from Carthage (another odd anachronism), and the Carthaginian general ensorcels the city and carries off Sidonie as his zombie bride. Funny!

With the help of his traitor-mother, Imriel manages to rescue Sidonie, stop a war in Aragonia, break the spell on Terre d'Ange and convince his countrymen to support his marriage and eventual co-rule of the nation. Sweet!

This book is action-packed fun, but would best be enjoyed by someone who has read the whole series. I recommend this series to anyone who likes fantasy, romance, quasi-history or any type of swashbuckling romp! Jacqueline Carey also does a pretty good job of writing love scenes from a male perspective.

Tales & Chronicles of the King's Blades by Dave Duncan

The Gilded Chain; Lord of the Fire Lands; Sky of Swords; Paragon Lost; Impossible Odds; The Jaguar Knight

Fantastic series of the King's Blades set in alternate fantasy world that combines 16th & 17th century France & England (the Blades are like magical Musketeers, but in alternate-England); fantasy Scandinavia; Mexico City right before the fall of the Aztec Empire; etc. We have an alternate Henry the Eighth who not only kills his wives, but also ends up using evil magic to become an immortal ghoul, eating his subjects. Cool. This series is full of engaging characters and fascinating quasi-historical twists. My favorite is the first book, The Gilded Chain. The first three books are really one book written from three different perspectives, including a time-traveling twist worthy of a soap opera. Durendal is my absolute favorite character, though I also like Wolf (Jaguar Knight), and all of the other Blades.

I would absolutely recommend this series, though there were times when I grew a little tired of reading about dashing swordsmen who are irresistible to women. I'd recommend taking a breather from the series to make the experience more exciting. Enjoy!

The Alchemist's Code by Dave Duncan

Embarrassment Quotient: Skyhigh!

• Please see the entry for The Alchemist's Apprentice. All of the factors there still apply, except that the cover is even worse!

Redeeming Factors:

• Please see the entry for AA
• Also, excellent mini-treatise on codewriting/breaking.
• I love it!

Synopsis:

Alfeo is back. This time, he is hunting a spy and a murderer who might or might not be the same person. The coded messages from the spy have been intercepted by the Council of Ten and Nostradamus has been put on the case. The arrival of an old acquaintance of Alfeo's signals the start of the saga. There is a repeat appearance by Alfeo's beloved courtesan. Also, there's a wonderful scene referencing the trials of the Knights Templar, with especial reference to good old Baphomet.

I highly recommend these to anyone looking for a fun read!

The Alchemist's Apprentice by Dave Duncan

Embarrassment Quotient: Fairly High; I'd give it a 4

• First, there's the cover. Boy, that's a great cover for a grown woman to be caught reading.
• Then, there's the light, under 300 page, read factor.
• Alchemist??? One of the main characters is Nostradamus. OK, that might be a tad embarrassing, but it is also really cool!

Redeeming features:

• Set in late 1500s Venice. Wonderful view of the period
• Reminds me of my trip to Italy in 2002
• Attractive main character: Alfeo Zeno

Synopsis:

Alfeo, an impoverished young nobleman, is apprenticed to Maestro Nostradamus in 16th century, slightly alternate Venice. Magic works, otherwise, the setting is fairly accurate historically. The plot is a historic murder mystery that requires Alfeo act as the eyes and legs for Nostradamus, who bears a strong resemblance mystery-solving-wise to Hercules Poirot. Alfeo makes time to visit his beloved courtesan in between sword-fights and visits to the Doge. It is a fantastic romp of a book and I absolutely loved it.

Quicksand by Iris Johansen

This book is much less embarrassing to be seen with than it should be. The cover is great. I love the sand effect. Unfortunately, Ms. Johansen has used this book to tie together her two most popular series: the Eve Duncan books and her paranormal romantic suspense series. The effect was a little bizarre. First off, the Eve Duncan books are incredibly stale. I'm sick of hearing about her search for the body of her dead daughter, Bonnie. So, I definitely sympathize with her husband's desire to have closure and move on with their lives. Adding in a psychic and a South American arms dealer makes the series a little schizophrenic. The epilogue's allusion to Joe gaining psychic powers was just the icing on the cake. I hate to admit it, but I can't wait to read the next book in this new multi-series. It's not that I expect it to be good; I expect a train wreck.

If you have never read Iris Johansen, I highly recommend her earlier work. I especially like the stand alone books that are not part of a series. Dark, romantic suspense books with strong women and hard, rough-trade men who love them. Yummy! These are New York Super Fudge Chunk for the soul!

Misspelled - edited by Julie Czerneda

This book looks about as embarrassing as it is. the whole nude fairy thing on the cover is a bit much. Another thing to bring a blush to my cheeks is that this is an anthology. I love the short story as a format when it is well crafted. I'd say about 60% of these were quite well crafted; the other 40%...not so much!

I'd recommend it for a quick read in the park or as emergency bathroom reading, but that's it. Not the best fantasy anthology, but not the worst either!

Date Me Baby, One More Time by Stephanie Rowe

Full Embarrassment Quotient!

Not only is this book cover bright pink, with cartoon people decapitated at the top, the plot is an immortal guardian of the goblet of youth finds out that she is the daughter of Satan while she deals with falling in love with a pretzel magnate who is trying to kill her. Guest appearance by a nymphomaniac dragon who wears earrings.

A fun romp of a book, with absolutely no redeeming qualities to repay me for the loss of 2 hours of my life. Oh well!

Otherland Series by Tad Williams

Humiliation Scale:

• 1 Tomato Face for being fantasy set in a future Earth

• 2nd for being a 4000 page, door-stopper of a tetralogy

Mitigating Features:

• an excellent series
• I've been wanting to read it for years
• interesting reminder of the !Kung Bushmen; refresher anthro course
• prophetic look at our online, virtual reality lives
• Did the creators of Second Life read this series? I think so!

Synopsis:

A evil cabal of the super-rich have developed a way to cheat death. Unfortunately, this leap forward is at the cost of thousands of children. An unlikely assortment of heroes enter into the Otherland VR simulation in an attempt to rescue their own friends and relatives from the predations of the rogue operating system.

Very very odd. After almost 4 thousand pages, I was very glad to finally finish this series. I did not ever absolutely love it, but this was a very well crafted world with plausible villains and heroes. As a self-referential tribute to The Lord of the Rings, it was enjoyable on that level as well.

I would recommend it to anyone who has a lot of spare time on their hands and doesn't mind investing a couple weeks of their life to this experience.

The shame of not blogging, oh, the shame!

OK, here's how it is. On April 28th, I interviewed for a new job. On April 30th, I left for a 2 week trip to Central Europe. On May 8th, I received a job offer. On May 12th, I counteroffered. May 15th, I received a response to my counter, and accepted the job offer. May 27th was my last day at my job at Google (contract position), and June 2nd was the first day of my new job at San Francisco State University. I've been manically training ever since. Oh, and, another minor life event: in early April, my boyfriend and I set a date to get married, September 27th! During this whole process, I was also making reservations, looking for a dress, etc. etc.

So....no excuse is good enough to excuse letting my blog lag, but if an excuse were an excuse, then I'd have a doozy!

In the time since my last post, I must have read 50+ books. Most were crud, but a few wer better than others. Here's a list of those that I remember, in a vaguely chronological order:

• A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin - excellent! much better than A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords. I was ready to give up on this series, but now am onboard for the next couple of books.
• Lonely Planet Budapest - horrible! The worst LP ever. So much was out of date that the guide was useless. I spent half an hour looking for a vegetarian restaurant that had moved locations five years ago.
  
• This Charming Man by Marian Keyes - great book to read on a plane! It was engaging enough to keep me occupied for a long long time. Unfortunately, I now barely remember the plot. It was an physically abusive politician and an assortment of his exes. I love Irish chick lit.
• S.M. Stirling's Dies the Fire Trilogy and the 1st book, The Sunrise Lands, in his new tetralogy (of the same name). Trilogy included: Dies the Fire (great), The Protector's War (great), and A Meeting at Corvallis (great). Of course, those 4 books combines are a good 3-4000 pages of writing. This series is a major time commitment, but I LOVE post-apocalyptic literature, so the time was well-spent. The whole RenFaire vibe gets a little implausible at times. Basically, just keep in mind that these series, especially the first one, are just wish-fulfillment fantasies by a guy that you or I would consider to be a gigantic dork in real life. Go with it!
• The Right to Arm Bears by Gordon Dickson - an excellent collection of three novelettes about Dilbians, a race of giant alien bears whose frontier society poses problems for humans. It is wonderful! I've known and loved the first few books of the Dorsai! series for over a decade, but I never knew that Gordon Dickson also wrote such engaging, humorous fiction as well. I highly recommend it.
• Mindspan by Gordon Dickson - a great collection of short stories about humankind's interaction with other races. My favorite was the Midwestern old maid who, when given superpowers, decides not to reveal them, because they aren't ladylike.
• Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood (The Hurog Duology) by Patricia Briggs - both books were a really fast ready. Formulaic coming of age in fantasy setting, but sometimes, I want to formula! It has been popular enough to become a formula for a reason.
• Magic Burns & Magic Bites by Kate Daniels - excellent! I picked up the 2nd book in the series, Magic Burns, loved it, and had to reread the first book, Magic Bites, just to be sure that I remembered everything. It is rare to encounter such a fleshed out, original world and cast of characters in such a small paperback. The trend is toward 1000 page doorstoppers, so Kate Daniels' books look lightweight by comparison, but there is nothing lightweight about her plot. I love love love this series.
• Vanish, The Mephisto Club and The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen - Vanish was really good. It made me pick up The Mephisto Club which kind of sucked and then The Bone Garden which really really sucked. It is painful when an successful genre author gets tired of his/her formula and tries to branch out. In the case of The Bone Garden, Ms. Gerritsen indulged her desire to write historical fiction rather than contemporary medical mystery novels; the result was not good.
• Many others that I can't even remember.
  

The leaf has turned! I am recommitting my life to blogging as of today!

The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay

Mortification Scale: 1 Tomato Face

• 1 TF for being shelved in the SciFi section

Mitigating Features:

• an excellent account of Viking, Anglo-Saxon and Welsh history as it might have been
• great research on Celtic mythology
• a fairly good story

Synopsis:


A young Viking boy steals a horse that had been dedicated to the funeral pyre of the governor of his island. This leads him to become a member of a band of Viking mercenaries. Another boy goes on a cattle raid with his brother, cousin, and a few friends. This leads to his brother's death and his involvement with the politics of the day. 20 years in the past, another boy hides in the marshes, battling both fever and Viking invaders, until he succeeds in defeating the invaders and reclaiming his kingdom.

Set in the same world as the Byzantine Mosaic and the Lions of al-Rassan, The Last Light of the Sun is set in the barbaric North among the Vikings, the Welsh, and the Anglo-Saxons. It is another epic story involving about 8 main characters with opposing cultures, histories, and goals. This is also one of the more fantasy oriented of Kay's books. Here there are fairies, and ghosts and a great Celtic beast of the forest that reminded me of Michelle West's Hunter Duology.

I didn't like this book as much as the Lions of al-Rassan (which I LOVED), but it was a good book with a great deal of careful research. I'd recommend it!

The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay

Mortification Factors: Null

• This is the first book that evened out as to whether it was a book to brag about or a book that I'm ashamed to be seen with. Its sorting into the SciFi/Fantasy section in both bookstore and library forced its inclusion on this blog, but I am by no means ashamed of it.

Mitigating Features:

• Amazing, in-depth recreation of Moorish Spain
• Examines the question of religion and identity from a fresh perspective
• Overriding theme: the ephemeral nature of life and power
• Amazing poetry; use of language
• Fantastic array of characters, many of whom are in opposition
• Set in the same world as the Byzantine Mosaic
• Historically accurate description of early medical practices
  
• Absolutely fabulous!

Synopsis:

Set in Moorish Spain after the collapse of the Caliphate and shortly before the reconquest of the peninsula by the Jaddites (Christians), this magical-realism historical novel focuses on the lives of three main characters and a host of others. The three central figures are Jehane bet Ishak, a Kindath (Jewish) physician; Ammar ibn Khairan, a Asharite (Muslim) warrior-poet; and Rodrigo Belmonte, a Jaddite mercenary captain and lord. These three people meet on a day that becomes a turning point in all of their lives, and in the history of the Peninsula. They spend time in exile together and through the political maneuverings that ensue, they learn to love each other. The central tragedy is that there is no place in the world for people of intellect and tolerance at this point in time: the Kindath are feared and hated universally; the Jaddites long to reconquer the land; and the Asharites are so busy fighting amongst themselves that they are crumbling internally even without the external pressure from the Jaddites.

This book also is written from the perspective of the various kings and leaders of the age and presents them all from their own perspective without an author bias which would label any of them "villain". They strive against each other because it is their nature and the nature of the world in which we live. The political intrigue is gripping and entirely realistic and accurate historically. The religious subtext is fascinating: the Kindath worship the sun and his two sisters, the two moons; the Jaddites worship the sun; and the Asharites worship the stars. By presenting his versions of the three major Mediterranean religions in this format, Kay manages to divorce the reader from his preconceived ideas of what it means to be Christian, Muslim or Jewish. At points in the book, I would stop and make a mental shift to think of Jehane as Jewish rather than as Kindath. The fact that this was a mental shift made me aware of my own preconceived ideas about religion as identity. Also, by re-sorting the religions in this way, Kay makes it clear to the reader that these are all just people who by reason of their geography and upbringing, worship three equally ridiculous celestial bodies. Wonderful.

I love love loved this book. I adore the thoughts that Kay inspired after I read this book. I'm still absorbing it and plan to read the other book set in this same world, The Last Light of the Sun. I highly recommend this book to any thinking individual. Enjoy!

A Companion to Wolves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear

Mortification Scale: 4 Tomato Faces

• 1 for SciFi/Fantasy
• 2nd for being yet another human-animal psychic bond book (think Mercedes Lackey, Jane Lindskold, etc.)
• 3rd for being gay porn
• 4th for being gay porn!!!!! Do NOT read this in public!!!

Mitigating Features:

• Very well-written
• Excellent take on Norse culture (think Mickey Zucker Reichart)
• Doesn't seem like it can be the first book in a series

Synopsis:

Njall defies his father, the Jarl, in order not to bring dishonor down on their family by failing to respond to the call for young men to join the Wolfheall. Rather than continue on as the heir to his steading, Njall goes to the Wolfheall as a prospective brother to a newborn trellwolf. These trellwolves are pony-sized wolves with psychic powers that pick amongst the available boys around age 16 for a brother. It doesn't matter if the wolf is male or female, they pick a teenage boy to bond with. These boys/men are rejected by mainstream society due to the homosexual perversions that they practice. When I first read this, I was thinking that the authors were alluding to the Knights Templar and the unsubstantiated rumors surrounding them. I was waiting to find out that while some men might be lovers, the whole perversion thing was just a fear-based rumor. Nope. Definitely not just a rumor.

Njall, who is renamed Isolfr (they all take new names that have the root "olf" somewhere in there), has bonded to a konigenwolf, a dominant bitch. This means that Isolfr gets to be gang raped by the men who are bonded to the wolves that mate with Isolfr's wolf each time she's in season. Despite being told that "she's worth it", I can't say that I agreed after reading some very very disturbing scenes involving copious amounts of salve, multiple positions, and some intense emotion. Yes, I said scenes, plural. The two female authors really seemed to enjoy the gay sex scenes. I'm not sure why that is, and would prefer not to speculate. There was a "teaching" scene between Njall and a 40 year old man; an allusion to circle-jerks among the tithe-boys; a second heat mating scene with a good friend; a gang-bang scene with 6-8 participants, watched by about 30 other people. Then there was the "choosing a wolf-jarl" three-way. This would be quite educational for any teenager wanting to explore alternate sexuality. I'm not sure if that's evident from the cover art and the back cover, which makes this book sound like what it is...a coming of age story. It's just that the coming of age is more a triple x rated cumming of age. Sorry, I couldn't resist. :)

Overall, this was an excellent book. The story was engaging. The moral themes were good. The heroes were heroic and the villains villainous with just enough humanizing of both to keep it interesting. There was multilevel conflict to overcome and overall, the story was a story, not just something to fill the time between the sex scenes. Very odd. It's more like a book for teenagers mixed with gay porn. I wouldn't know where to shelve this one at a library.

Marianne, The Magus, & the Manticore by Sheri S. Tepper

Mortification Scale: 3 Tomato Faces

• 1 for SciFi/Fantasy
• 2nd for the cover
• 3rd for the extremely beat up copy that I got from the library

Mitigating Features:

• Really cool cover!!!
• Interesting dreamscape
• Fun to see Sheri Tepper's development as an author

Synopsis:

Marianne lives in a constant struggle for balance. She keeps a careful tally of order vs. disorder, and disorder is winning. Then, she meets a distant kinsman from a magical country who gifts her with one thousand points of order. With one battle being won, she feels safe to confront her older half-brother at a weekend party at her kinsman's estate. This is a mistake. Her brother and his shamanic aunt succeed in sending Marianne into a false reality and from there into one of her internal worlds.

The whole thing is full of crazy imagery: paper cutouts, embassy visas, monsters, books, tea, clothing, etc. etc. As a story, it's extremely jumbled. However, as a trip into the fantastic, it's quite original and refreshing. I don't think that this book is terribly representative of Ms. Tepper's work, but it does show some of her deepest concerns: that of the plight of women in society, and of male-female interaction. I especially liked the part when the hero's sister chides him for spending too much time trying to impress Marianne rather than listening to her and learning who she is. We can all take a lesson from that. Rather than using a conversation as an opportunity to display knowledge, use it to gain knowledge of your conversational partner. Lecture done. :)

Confidence Game by Michelle Welch

Mortification Scale: 3 Tomato Faces

• 1 for SciFi/Fantasy
• 2nd for having a semi-nude woman on the cover
• 3rd for having finished this book

Mitigating Features:

• None
  

Synopsis:

This is an extremely boring book. The back cover tells of disillusioned spies and games of treachery and illusion. The reality is a plodding, dusty pair of BORING people who I actually would like to see die, just for some excitement. Unfortunately, I am constitutionally unable to not finish a book after I've reached a certain point in the story. I waited too long for the book to get exciting, before realizing that it never would and that the two main characters really were the two main characters. Yes, I meant that the way that it sounded. I really couldn't tell that the main characters weren't just bit players until halfway through the book. It seemed unbelievable that this book and its characters really would be this boring. Do NOT get this book. Don't even get it from the library. I'm considering writing the author to demand a refund of the three hours of my life that she just stole from me. Don't be mislead by the cover, that was my mistake. You'd almost think that it's an axiom...not to judge a book by its cover. :) The art imitates Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series, and the storyline sounds slightly similar. However, if this book was intended as a faint homage, it fell short. Sorry. I hate to be so disparaging of a book, but this was really bad.

Wrath of a Mad God by Raymond E. Feist

Mortification Scale: 3 Tomato Faces

• 1 for SciFi/Fantasy
• 2 for embarrassing title
• 3rd for being later Feist

Mitigating Features:

• An imaginative new "explanation for it all" - there's a new one every book or so
• Introduction of the Quor - I sense a future series
• Actually, a fairly gripping plotline. Good pacing, interesting development. Not bad
• Kills off a main character, always fun

Synopsis:

Pug & Pals are still in the Dasati realm and are finding out more about their society and history. I don't want to spoil the surprise (which is heavily hinted at), but the Dark God of the Dasati is not what he appears to be. Meanwhile, Miranda is busily trying to run the Conclave of Shadows in Pug's absence while helping to plan the evacuation of all of Kelewan. She drops a few balls and Kelewan is invaded by the Dasati before an evacuation has begun. Whoops! My mistakes rarely result in the death of at least 10 million people.

There are some nice story threads of some beloved older characters as well as a few who are clearly in development for future books. We have the engaging youngish man James Dasher, the great-great-grandson of Jimmy the Hand and Gamina (Pug's adopted daughter). Nice to see the continuity. Not to mention, Feist has an excuse for using the same character notes, after all Jimmy and James are related. James is just the latest incarnation of the streetwise man darting hither and yon on behalf of the crown.

There's also some interesting developments in the theological underpinning of the whole Fantasy Universe. It actually annoys me that every couple of books, Feist rewrites his explanation as to the history of the universe and how things came to be so screwed up. Also, there were a couple of bloopers in this one that showed a failure in editing. For example, speaking of Eric von Darkmoor, this book states that he never married and lived a lonely life in service to the crown. Does no one remember Kitty? Hello?

That's it. These three books were back to Feist's usual formula and away from the (in my opinion) failure of the Talon of the SilverHawk style. Ugh. It's a relief to get the Feist I expect, but I would mind another collaboration with Janny Wurts to get something about New Kelewan. Wouldn't that be fun? I would cautiously recommend this book to a long-time Feist fan.

Into a Dark Realm by Raymond E. Feist

Mortification Scale: 3 Tomato Faces

• 1 for SciFi/Fantasy
• 2nd for embarrassing cover
• 3rd for being one of Feist's recent, not as good work

Mitigating Features:

• For anyone who loved his earlier work, you just have to keep reading. It's like a soap opera. More Pug!
• Love the reintroduction of Macros the Black

Synopsis:

Something is wrong in Midkemia. I know, this is shocking news for those of us long used to a series of greater and greater crises in Midkemia. Remember back when the Tsurani were going to end life as we knew it? Then, the moredhel, followed by the Pantathians and the Saur. Then there was the Nameless One. Now, we've got beings from another realm of reality. Not just otherworldly beings, but beings from the first hell, the Dasati, are the current threat facing Pug & Pals on Midkemia and Kelewan.

To find out more about the new threat, Pug, Nakor, Magnus & Ralan Bek all travel to the Dasati realm in search of answers. This realm is a collection of 12 worlds ruled by a culture so obsessed with death that they hunt down and kill their own children. They are violent and crazed and find nothing funnier than someone else's pain and death. Interesting. It's a nice twist, as far as I know, this is an original fantasy culture. This book ends with the 4 humans meeting a reincarnated Macros the Black. Hmm. During this time, there has also been 3 other main plotlines running through the book, including Miranda on Kelewan searching for a mad magician; the 3 boys off at school in Roldem; and the story of a Dasati warrior just emerged from the Hiding -all children must hide until puberty, otherwise any male would kill them.

Overall, this is not anywhere close to as good as his original 5 or so books, plus the 3 Kelewan books (Daughter, Servant, & Mistress of the Empire). However, it's better than nothing, and does drag out my immersion in the storyline. I'd recommend it to fans, but would hesitate to recommend it to anyone new to Feist. I think that they'd be lost.

Millennium 3001 edited by Martin H Greenberg & Russell Davis

Mortification Scale: 4 Tomato Faces

• 1 TF for scifi/fantasy
• 2nd for anthology
• 3rd for sucking
• 4th for embarrassing cover

Mitigating Features:

• A couple of good stories
• Short - doesn't waste much of your time
  

Synopsis:

The premise is that the time is 3000 AD. What is up with humankind? These 13 takes on the future range from the tedious to the revolting to the very good. I wouldn't give any an excellent rating, and in all now regret the loss of my life that was devoted to reading this anthology. The best of the lot were Landscapes by Kevin J. Anderson; Bitter Quest by Jim Fiscus; In His Own Image by Mickey Zucker Reichert; and Geometry by Robert A. Metzger. A few were actively BAD, but most of the other stories were just blah. I used to love anthologies because they introduced me to new writers whose books I would then buy. Now, I'd rather just take a chance and get the book. I'm sure this won't be the last anthology that I read, but I'm already embarrassed for my future reading choices. :)

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Mortification Scale: 1 Tomato Face

• 1 TF for the fantasy novel

Mitigating Features:

• Winner of the 2002 Hugo, Nebula & Bram Stoker awards
• Excellent insider's experience for anyone interested in world religions/mythology
• Really really good story
• Has some major ick factor
  

Synopsis:

Shadow has had a bad run of luck. First, his partners in a bank robbery (he was the getaway driver) decided to cut him out of his share. Then, when he tracked them down and beat the hell out of them, they prosecuted him for assault. After serving 3 years of his 6 year sentence, Shadow is due to be released on parole when his wife, Laura, and his best friend, Robbie, die in a car crash caused by Laura distracting Robbie with a blow job. Ouch. So, Shadow is released a couple of days early so that he can get to his wife's funeral. On the way there, he runs into an annoying old man who wants to hire him for a job. That old man is Odin, the All-Father from Norse mythology. He also happens to be Shadow's actual father, though that isn't revealed until closer to the end of the book.

Shadow ends up traveling all around America meeting gods from the Egyptian, Slavic, Anglo-Saxon, Hindu, and many other pantheons. The book is a combination of Americana and intro to mythology. All the while, Shadow is occasionally met by his dead wife, Laura, who he accidentally raised from the dead with a gold coin he won from a leprechaun. She's still dead, and rotting, but is ambulatory and still his wife. Shadow has many experiences and runs across some genuine mysteries, all culminating in his being tied to the world tree for nine days, dying and being resurrected (alive) by the goddess Eoster. After that, Shadow has the wisdom to stop the war between the old gods and the new gods (media, internet, etc.) that was started as an elaborate grift by Odin and Loki in order to strengthen themselves on the death of gods.

This is an elaborate book that never seems urgent, yet is rarely boring. I like that there is a theme of mystery (as in mystery novel -crime solving) along with the greater theme of the Mysteries (religious terminology). Cute. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about religion or about the United States as well as anyone just looking for a good book to spend a few hours in. Make sure to read Anansi Boys after you finish American Gods. It's not really a sequel, but is set in the same world with one of the same characters.

Gibbon's Decline and Fall by Sheri S. Tepper

Mortification Scale: 2 Tomato Faces

• 1 TF for SciFi/Fantasy
• 2nd TF for really over-the-top feminism

Mitigating Features:

• Excellent discussion of anti-woman events and feelings
• Another original work
• A few good scientific ideas
  

Synopsis:

This was actually my third time reading this book, and I didn't like it quite as much as I had at the first and second reading. After finishing The Awakeners, I wanted to read more Tepper and picked this one.

My reading of this book is that it is Sheri's take on the typical women's subgenre of the college group book. You know, the book where the group of women meets in college and then we follow their lives over the course of the next 20-50 years? It's a fairly popular formula, most famously exemplified in The Group, which was made into a film with Candice Bergen, etc. This is the story of one of those groups if the central member of the group happened to be a member of a parthenogenic alien race sent on an anthropological mission. :)

Between the radical lawyer, the fashion buyer turned philanthropist, the molecular biologist, the sculptor, the nun and the doctor (the 6 human members of the group), it's a fairly representational and impressive group. Together they take on the legal defense of a young girl who was gang-raped and then dumped her resulting offspring in a dumpster. The group also tracks down their friend Sophy's hometown and discover the truth about who she was. That is when they discover the force behind the systematic oppression of women that has been going on for a thousand years.

This book is a little less engrossing than Ms. Tepper's other works, mainly due to the Earth-now setting. Some things are a little different, for example, sleep pods for criminal offenders, but most of the setting/world is the same as this world. I do really like a few of the characters. I admire the author's ability to write admirable and unlikable characters. The nun drives me crazy, and in the act of wanting to shake her, I'm falling into the reality of the book. Interesting. This book is not for everyone, but I give it 2 thumbs up!

The Awakeners by Sheri S. Tepper

Mortification Scale: 1 Tomato Face

• 1 TF for SciFi/Fantasy novel

Mitigating Features:

• Amazing, original world that is fully developed with history, flora and fauna, politics, religion, etc.
• Over 10 main characters with individual motivation, and growth over the course of the book

Synopsis:

I've read enough Sheri Tepper by now to know not to try to figure out the plot of her books in the first few chapters. With each of her books, I just sit back, relax, and know that eventually, everything will make sense. Sheri drops the reader into a complete new world without the standard long narrative paragraphs to explain what is going on. Rather, the reader and the characters go on a voyage of discovery together. In this world, a literal voyage of discovery.

Humanity landed on this alien planet a thousand years ago. After fighting a long battle with the resident harpy-like alien race, humans and the Vraish settled into an interesting arrangement. The Council, led by the Protector of Man, agreed to let the Vraish eat all of humanity's dead. They would also supply 1-2 live bodies per month from each village, for the elite of the Vraish. In return, the Vraish would leave humans alone and supply the Council with an elixir to extend life. The current Protector of Man is about 500 years old.

To prevent most people from realizing what is happening, all sorts of religious beliefs have been encouraged, the most strict of which is that people could only move west, never east. There is a river that circumnavigates the entire world. The whole thing can be traveled in about 13 years. There is a Northshore that is inhabited and a Southshore that is never seen. There really is a reason behind this, a fairly gory reason at that.

This is an excellent book with a lot of thought-provoking events. This is Tepper from her early years, I think '89? I can see echoes of her main themes, but here she has not developed any sort of formula, yet. I highly recommend this book.