Books 2008, the 'I sat by the fire and ignored the weather' edition

Books 2008: 153-158

Notice: Spoilers included free of charge.


153. Jim Butcher, Princeps' Fury.

In the Codex Alera series thus far, Butcher has provided reasonably juicy entertainment. Princeps' Fury, alas, is possibly the weakest of the series thus far, involving a lot of sound and fury, and very little Actual Character Development (tm). The sections concerning Isana, the mother of the main character, Tavi, are perhaps the strongest and most interesting - most true to the tone of the series thus far. Unfortunately, they also take up the least amount of space.

Tavi, now recognised as Gaius Octavian, and the Princep's grandson, sets sail for the land of the Canim to help his Canim allies/enemies do battle against the Vord, a scary monstrous danger introduced in previous volumes. When they get there, they discover matters are worse than they thought: the last Canim state is almost overrun. But, meanwhile-back-on-the-ranch, the Vord have invaded Alera. Oh noes! Tavi's uncle Bernard and his wife, the former Cursor (crown agent) Amara, are pushed back into service to discover why the Vord can now wield furycraft - Aleran magic. In the third strand of the narrative, Isana must convince the Icemen and an Aleran High Lord to declare a truce, so that more legions can be devoted to the fight against the Vord.

Matters play out a mite predictably. I will be reading the next in the series, but I will not be in half as much a hurry to get my hands on it, and I hope Butcher manages to wrap things up (or freshen things up) in the next book or two, because otherwise, I fear, this will start to be wearying.


154-156. Kat Richardson, Greywalker, Poltergeist, and Underground.

There's a very nice lady from somewhere Down Under who works in Hodges Figgis. Practically every time I encounter her in the shop, she points out another book or author she thinks I might find fun. This time it was Kat Richardson. And man, was she right.

Harper Blaine is a private investigator. Due to an accident that left her dead for a couple of minutes before the EMTs revived her, she can see ghosts. Among other things. Blaine is not exactly thrilled with this, and the books manage to balance her initial discomfort/disbelief with and in her newly acquired abilities with a gradual development towards being more comfortable with them.

This is urban fantasy, it's true, but despite Greywalker having vampires, it has several major good points:

1. No hot werewolf boys. In fact, no werewolves at all. 2. Vampires have bad breath and are scary, not sexy. 3. Blaine spends a lot of her time out of her depth and irritated. 4. There are (potential) relationships, but no love triangles. Especially not with vampires. 5. There is eerieness and creepiness and atmosphere.

Poltergeist has a psychology experiment gone wrong. Underground has zombies(!) and an indigenous monster, and lots of really cool worldbuilding of Seattle. Although Greywalker's a little jumpy to start, they have pace and good tension and interesting characters, and pretty good atmosphere, too. I like them. Quite a bit.


157. Tamora Pierce, Melting Stones.

Tamora Pierce's books are second to none where my comfort reading is concerned. I found them late, and only wish I'd had them when I was nine or so. Melting Stones is her latest, and it stars a young stone mage, the heart of a mountain, and a volcano about to blow. I liked it a lot, and, in fact, I'd love to get my hands on the audiobook version. Oh, well. Some year.


158. Karen Traviss, Star Wars: Republic Commando: Order 66.

Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire trilogy was my introduction to science fiction. Traviss's Republic Commando novels are the only halfway decent thing to come out of Lucas's prequels Star Wars universe. They're grim uncompromising books about special forces operations and the ethics of running what is essentially a slave army, not your warm fuzzy space western heroics.

In short, in Traviss's view of Star Wars, the Jedi are the bad guys. And instead of a Dark Side and a Light Side, there's a whole lot of grey.

Order 66 is the bleakest of the lot to date, but it's still a damn good read.

Books 2008, the 'I sat by the fire and ignored the weather' edition

Books 2008: 153-158

Notice: Spoilers included free of charge.


153. Jim Butcher, Princeps' Fury.

In the Codex Alera series thus far, Butcher has provided reasonably juicy entertainment. Princeps' Fury, alas, is possibly the weakest of the series thus far, involving a lot of sound and fury, and very little Actual Character Development (tm). The sections concerning Isana, the mother of the main character, Tavi, are perhaps the strongest and most interesting - most true to the tone of the series thus far. Unfortunately, they also take up the least amount of space.

Tavi, now recognised as Gaius Octavian, and the Princep's grandson, sets sail for the land of the Canim to help his Canim allies/enemies do battle against the Vord, a scary monstrous danger introduced in previous volumes. When they get there, they discover matters are worse than they thought: the last Canim state is almost overrun. But, meanwhile-back-on-the-ranch, the Vord have invaded Alera. Oh noes! Tavi's uncle Bernard and his wife, the former Cursor (crown agent) Amara, are pushed back into service to discover why the Vord can now wield furycraft - Aleran magic. In the third strand of the narrative, Isana must convince the Icemen and an Aleran High Lord to declare a truce, so that more legions can be devoted to the fight against the Vord.

Matters play out a mite predictably. I will be reading the next in the series, but I will not be in half as much a hurry to get my hands on it, and I hope Butcher manages to wrap things up (or freshen things up) in the next book or two, because otherwise, I fear, this will start to be wearying.


154-156. Kat Richardson, Greywalker, Poltergeist, and Underground.

There's a very nice lady from somewhere Down Under who works in Hodges Figgis. Practically every time I encounter her in the shop, she points out another book or author she thinks I might find fun. This time it was Kat Richardson. And man, was she right.

Harper Blaine is a private investigator. Due to an accident that left her dead for a couple of minutes before the EMTs revived her, she can see ghosts. Among other things. Blaine is not exactly thrilled with this, and the books manage to balance her initial discomfort/disbelief with and in her newly acquired abilities with a gradual development towards being more comfortable with them.

This is urban fantasy, it's true, but despite Greywalker having vampires, it has several major good points:

1. No hot werewolf boys. In fact, no werewolves at all. 2. Vampires have bad breath and are scary, not sexy. 3. Blaine spends a lot of her time out of her depth and irritated. 4. There are (potential) relationships, but no love triangles. Especially not with vampires. 5. There is eerieness and creepiness and atmosphere.

Poltergeist has a psychology experiment gone wrong. Underground has zombies(!) and an indigenous monster, and lots of really cool worldbuilding of Seattle. Although Greywalker's a little jumpy to start, they have pace and good tension and interesting characters, and pretty good atmosphere, too. I like them. Quite a bit.


157. Tamora Pierce, Melting Stones.

Tamora Pierce's books are second to none where my comfort reading is concerned. I found them late, and only wish I'd had them when I was nine or so. Melting Stones is her latest, and it stars a young stone mage, the heart of a mountain, and a volcano about to blow. I liked it a lot, and, in fact, I'd love to get my hands on the audiobook version. Oh, well. Some year.


158. Karen Traviss, Star Wars: Republic Commando: Order 66.

Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire trilogy was my introduction to science fiction. Traviss's Republic Commando novels are the only halfway decent thing to come out of Lucas's prequels Star Wars universe. They're grim uncompromising books about special forces operations and the ethics of running what is essentially a slave army, not your warm fuzzy space western heroics.

In short, in Traviss's view of Star Wars, the Jedi are the bad guys. And instead of a Dark Side and a Light Side, there's a whole lot of grey.

Order 66 is the bleakest of the lot to date, but it's still a damn good read.

out here on the prairie any speed is too slow

Shortest day. Longest night. Happy Solstice, and roll on spring.

The weather is mild, though the daylight was fleeting: 11 degrees Celsius, rain, and lowering grey clouds that lifted just enough when I went out for a walk on the beach earlier to do the scudding storm-cloud thing and show a tiny strip of blue.

It was a long walk. I managed five minutes worth of jogging, despite the wheeze in my throat and this tired cough. I don't get out enough, nor spend enough time under the sky. It improves many things, including my mood.

Dinner was melt-in-the-mouth ham, mash potatoes and carrots and parsnips. I have a coal fire and a stoned cat, if he'll ever come back inside. Now I must dig motivation out from somewhere and file college paper, if I want to get on track, ever.

out here on the prairie any speed is too slow

Shortest day. Longest night. Happy Solstice, and roll on spring.

The weather is mild, though the daylight was fleeting: 11 degrees Celsius, rain, and lowering grey clouds that lifted just enough when I went out for a walk on the beach earlier to do the scudding storm-cloud thing and show a tiny strip of blue.

It was a long walk. I managed five minutes worth of jogging, despite the wheeze in my throat and this tired cough. I don't get out enough, nor spend enough time under the sky. It improves many things, including my mood.

Dinner was melt-in-the-mouth ham, mash potatoes and carrots and parsnips. I have a coal fire and a stoned cat, if he'll ever come back inside. Now I must dig motivation out from somewhere and file college paper, if I want to get on track, ever.