Category: Reviewing

Book Review: Cetaganda by Bujold (4 Stars)

Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold

3.75 out of 5 stars

Read in October 2009 as part of the omnibus edition Miles, Mystery & Mayhem

Miles and Ivan travel as diplomatic representatives of Emperor Gregor to the home world of the Cetagandan Empire for the funeral of the Empress. A ten-day trip to observe and enjoy social customs (and parties) quickly turns sour when Miles become embroiled in a mystery and suicide/murder that threatens to frame him, and by implication Barrayar, for a treasonous usurpation plot.

Miles, being Miles, convinces himself, and Ivan, that only he can save Barrayar’s honor and salvage the Cetagandan society from destruction or evolving into a more aggressive and expanding threat to Barrayar. Miles manages to unravel the tangled web of political intrigue, gender and caste mores and sidestep his own ImpSec watchdogs.

Of the five Vorkosigan Saga novels I’ve read, Cetaganda is probably my second favorite, right after Barrayar The mystery muddled me, the bioscience intrigued me and the Cetaganda society bemused me. I didn’t roll my eyes or suspend my belief at Miles antics or the situations he found himself in. I can’t say the same for Ivan, but then he’s a healthy young male besieged by breathtakingly beautiful women and succumbs to the obvious.

Cetaganda also stands alone very well. I can comfortably recommend this to anyone who loves a good mystery in a space opera setting.

Book Review: Young Miles by Bujold (4 Stars)

Young Miles (omnibus edition) by Lois McMaster Bujold

4 out of 5 stars

Read in August 2009

The Warrior’s Apprentice

3.75 stars

Read as part of the omnibus edition Young Miles

I warped through this novel in record time, finishing almost before I realized it, because it was so much fun to read. I returned to the world of Barrayar and the Vor to pickup Miles at age seventeen. And how much trouble can one 17 year old “cripple” get into in say four months time? An astonishing amount apparently.

I am grateful that I first read Cordelia’s Honor so I had the back stories and histories of some of the supporting characters and I fully understood Miles’ disabilities.

Miles makes up for his physical disabilities with intelligence, logic and grace seemingly far beyond his years. My only small quibble with the story was Miles maturity – he felt more like a 37 year old than a 17 year old.

I will refrain from a synopsis to avoid spoilers. If you love space opera, pirate-like adventure or Robin Hood-esque escapades and secret/alternate lives and identities, then you’ve come to the right novel.

The Mountains of Madness

3.75 stars

This novella was sandwiched between Warrior’s Apprentice and The Vor Game in the omnibus edition entitled Young Miles.

It occurs three years after the end of Warrior’s Apprentice. Miles has graduated from the Imperial Service Academy and is home on leave before receiving his first assignment. A back country woman from the Dendarii mountains has come down to the lowlands demanding justice, as is her right, from her Count in the murder of her “mutant” infant. Miles’ father deputizes him as his Voice to investigate and dispense justice. Miles’ disabilities make him uniquely and ironically qualified to flush out the murderer.

Not much science fiction or space opera in this story, but plenty of mystery and hillbilly conservatism and ignorance. Miles excels at the logic and deduction necessary to uncover the culprit. He also find a justice that speaks to all the generations of the Silvy Vale.

The Vor Game

3.5 stars

I read this as part of the omnibus edition Young Miles.

We return to Miles while he and Ivan are collecting their first duty assignments after graduating from the Imperial Security Academy. Miles yearns for ship duty. Ivan receives his orders stationing him in the capital at ImpSec HQ. Miles orders send him to the farthest reaches of the Barrayar arctic as the weatherman for Kyril Island. Miles questions his assignment, especially since he only took one perfunctory meteorology course his first year of academy. He learns the duty assignment is a test to see if he can work with, lead and be led by common (not Vor) soldiers. If he passes, his carrot is ship duty on the newest ship-of-the-line, the Prince Serg.

Miles’ insubordination plays a major them in this story. He stumbles into the most improbable situations and then believes only he is capable of finding a way out of it, ignoring the advice and orders of his colleagues and superiors. It doesn’t help that he actually does succeed in saving the day.

I enjoyed the action and intrigue, including more space opera elements, especially in the climactic space battles for control of various strategic wormholes. Parts of the story bogged down, though, especially after Miles removal from the arctic and subsequent detention. And I almost stopped reading when I had to suspend belief almost completely regarding the unlikely scenario of Miles finding Gregor off-planet and working as slave labor on a space station.

It was a fun read, but not as fun as Warrior’s Apprentice, yet it won the Hugo in 1991. To date, I’ve read four novels in Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga. I recommend this book as well as the series to all loves of space opera.

Book Review: And Then There Were None by Christie (4 Stars)

And Then There Were NoneAnd Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

(aka Ten Little Indians)

4 out of 5 stars

Read in December 2008

I don’t read mysteries very often, but perhaps I should pick them up more frequently. And Agatha Christie is definitely one of the masters of the mystery writing craft.

I could not put this book down. I just had to know what came next. I was even a bit confused after finishing the epilogue and still not knowing for sure who had orchestrated the elaborate scenario that resulted in ten murders and one suicide. But like nearly all serial killers, the murderer craved recognition and left us a message in a bottle.

Ten people stranded on an island a mile off the coast all of whom have skeletons in their closets. A nursery rhyme rewritten as a prophecy (self-fulfilling in more than one case) of doom. Mix the ingredients and let it bake in the August sun for two to three days and wallah! No survivors and many unanswered questions.

Definitely a must read for any mystery aficionado.

Book Review: Master and Commander by O’Brian (4 Stars)

Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian

4 out of 5 stars

Read in March 2009

Warning: Spoilers

This is the first of twenty novels in the Aubrey/Maturin series where we meet Jack Aubrey, master and commander of the sloop Sophie and Stephen Maturin, ship’s surgeon of the same vessel. Their friendship has a rocky start and seems perplexing to me. Stephen is a scientist and a naturalist, exceedingly curious about avians and reptiles, and agrees to embark as the Sophie’s surgeon with the understanding of furthering his research and studies. Jack Aubrey, on the other hand, has his sights set on attaining a promotion to post captain as quickly as possible. While he is at ease on the deck of his sloop, Jack often stumbles while ashore, committing social gaffes that inhibit his political prospects.

The Sophie is missing several sailors and a key officer when Jack is awarded her. The Admiralty assigns James Dillon as his lieutenant. Surprisingly, Stephen knows James from the United Irishmen, a rebel uprising they were both involved in. This shared background also causes tension and a point of honor issue for Dillon about midway through the tale. Dillon is forced to choose between loyalty to the Irish and loyalty to his captain and it very nearly tears him apart.

The first third or so of the book is devoted to getting the crew, officers and sloop in top running order. At first, the flood of nautical terms was nearly too much for this landlubber, but with the help of Wikipedia, I managed to make sense of them. By the end of the book, I was becoming quite enamored of them.

The Sophie is cruising around the Mediterranean intent on take prizes – other ships that are French or allied with French – and has a great run of luck initially. But Jack falls afoul of an Admiral thwarts Jack’s headlong rush to post captain. As a direct result of the Admiral’s severely limiting orders, Jack finally meets his match against three French ships-of-the-line. After throwing the guns overboard and all the stores in a vain attempt to out run the French ships, the Jack strikes the colors of the Sophie and surrenders her.

It’s almost anticlimactic after this point. Jack and his officers, including Stephen Maturin, are held as prisoners and are eventually sent to Gibralter for a prisoner exchange, after which Jack will face court-martial for losing his ship. The trial and the verdict are the ending of the novel.

The author claims to have taken many of the battles and engagements directly from the naval log entries from the Napoleonic period. Again a case of truth being strange or at least more interesting than fiction.

I enjoyed this nautical adventure. I can’t say that I was drawn to any of the characters – I didn’t feel their pain or anger or despair – but I did enjoy the ride.

Book Review: The Quiet Invasion by Zettel (4 Stars)

Quiet Invasion by ZettelThe Quiet Invasion by Sarah Zettel

4 out of 5 stars

Read in August 2010

Great first contact story. Zettel’s vision of Earth’s political evolution and expansion to several colonies on nearby planets and satellites painted a grim future for civil rights and personal liberties. My only small quibble with the aliens stems from their mental motivations, which seemed similar to human beings. Besides that, I couldn’t put the book down, especially that last hundred pages or so (which I need to re-read to make sure I didn’t inadvertently skip something in my mad dash to the finish).

Update May 2013:  I met Sarah recently at a convention book fair and she assured me the ebook for Quiet Invasion would be released very soon.  Her Isvalta series was recently released to ebook as well.

Book Review: Furies of Calderon by Butcher (3.5 Stars)

Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

3.5 out of 5 stars

Read in July 2010

The first half and the end (last chapter or two) reminded me strongly of young adult fantasy fiction. Only the core of the book dealt with mature adult choices and consequences. World building sacrificed to action for the most part. No one character grabbed me. Of the cast, Tavi and Isana rose to the top.

The burgeoning romance between Bernard and Amara stretched my belief. Why would a widower, a decade celibate, pine over a young teenager? Otherwise, Bernard proved to be a steady, upstanding, heroic figure for the plot.

I also became annoyed by video game-like healing and non-death. Basically, if you didn’t lose your head (think Highlander), you could survive even the most fatal of wounds, thanks to the water fury crafters. Without a real death threat for any of the main characters, I quickly became jaundiced to their fates.

Tavi, being fury-less, journeyed the farthest as a character, having the most obstacles to overcome by his wits, skills and strengths alone.

With respect to the Aleran Empire, which bears a shocking resemblance to the Roman Empire even down to the use of Latin names and words, I did not feel the political corruption at a visceral level, like I did in Gardens of the Moon or A Game of Thrones. The epic quality for this fantasy series didn’t manifest for me in this first volume of Codex Alera.

The vilest elements involved the backwater steadholder secretly torturing slaves right under the noses of his neighbors. I’m thankful Butcher restrained himself from showing or telling overmuch about Kord’s obsessions, leaving my imagination to fill in the horrifying blanks.

I may read the next volume, or not, depending on if it falls into my hands easily enough (like, say, through a swap or a mooch). I’m not compelled to follow Tavi through school at the Academy (yet another YA aspect I’m not fond of). The fate of another empire hinging on the seemingly untalented (magically speaking) young ‘chosen one’ lost it’s shine a couple of decades ago with Eddings’ Garion.

Book Review: The Diamond Throne by Eddings (5 Stars)

Diamond ThroneThe Diamond Throne by David Eddings

5 out of 5 stars

Originally read in 1990 (but re-read many times since)

Besides Terry Brooks, David Eddings is the only fantasy genre author I can get my husband to read. Who could resist dialogue dripping with sarcasm and wit and satisfying action adventures? I read Eddings when I want a respite from deep-thinking convoluted epic fantasy. Eddings makes me laugh and always provides a rollicking romp through strange lands on a heroic quest to save the world. All very predictable but also very enjoyable.

The Diamond Throne has one of my all-time favorite characters – Sparhawk. He’s a curmudgeon of a knight who should have retired years ago but is too stubborn to stop. And no one else has the heart or gumption to tell him otherwise.

May 1, 2013 Update:  I decided to relocate this review to my blog from GoodReads on this specific day because today, May Day, is my husband and I’s anniversary.  This book was published and I read it at least two times before we celebrated our fifth year together.  Twenty-seven years later, this series is still just about the only fantasy fiction I could get Terry to read.  Sadly neither of us will ever read anything new from David Eddings again, since four years ago this June, he passed away.

Book Review: The Book Thief by Zusak (5 Stars)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

5 out of 5 stars

Read in April 2009

This book is outstanding and well deserving of its many awards. Even better, it is classified as young adult fiction. And I hope one day, soon, The Book Thief is read and taught in classrooms around the world … because everyone should read this book.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to grow up and come of age in Nazi Germany during World War II? Not as a Jew, but as a German citizen – a foster child recently bereft of her younger brother.

Lisa’s coping mechanism is to steal books. In fact, her first theft occurs at her brother’s funeral. One of the cemetery workers drops The Gravediggers Handbook in the snow and Lisa snatches it up. Later, her new “papa” teachers her to read using this stolen book.

Her most daring theft occurred at a Hitler Youth Rally book burning. She rescued The Shoulder Shrug right out of the bonfire!

The story is narrated by Death who is the ultimate book thief. He stole Lisa’s autobiography when he collected her soul many years after the war. He has read her story so many times, the pages are crumbling in his hands. He admits at the end of the story that he no longer needs the pages because he’s memorized it from re-reading it so often.

I hope you will follow in Death’s footsteps and steal this book and remember it always.

Book Review: The Gods Hate Kansas by Millard (4 Stars)

GodsHateKansascoverThe Gods Hate Kansas by Joseph Millard

4 out of 5 stars

Read in June 2008

Even though this story was at times corny and a bit dated scientifically, it was a fast and enjoyable read. Only took me a couple of hours, but it was time well spent.  In fact it took me much longer to acquire a copy to read, through interlibrary loan.

Originally published in 1941 (and I didn’t read the original version that appeared in a science fiction magazine), this alien body-snatching story had a few new twists to what some may consider old and cliche.

Now I’ll have to add the 1967 move They Came From Beyond Space to my Netflix queue to see how well this novel was adapted.

Besides, I felt compelled to read a book about my home state — Kansas!

Ad astra per aspera!

Latin for “To the stars through difficulty!”