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Books 2012: too hot to think
Aug. 7th, 2012 07:09 pmBooks 2012: 138-141
138. Kari Sperring, The Grass King's Concubine. DAW, 2012.
Reviewed for Ideomancer.com, expect to see it in the September issue. It is a lovely book, and I recommend it unreservedly.
139. Michelle Sagara, Cast in Peril. Luna, 2012.
Out in September. Reviewed for Tor.com. Very similar in vein to previous books in the series. Recommeded if you like the preceding volumes, but the payoff rather lacks in some essential quality of awesome.
140. Pierre Pevel, The Cardinal's Blades. Gollancz, 2010.
An English translation of a French fantasy. I wish I had a copy in French, though I strongly suspect my mauvais francais would not be up to the task of properly enjoying it. Think The Three Musketeers, but with dragons and magic. And better female characters. The rhythm is very French: it seems the translator has hewed closely to the rhythm of the original prose. Which is all to the good. It swashes and buckles, leaps around, races, has magnificent fighty bits, and makes me want to see it as a goddamn television show. Formidable, M. Pevel. Vraiment formidable.
141. Mary Robinette Kowal, Shades of Milk and Honey. Tor, 2011.
I have conflicted feelings about this book. On the one hand, it is an immensely well-done, quiet Austenesque romance, with a touch of magic. It is a domestic fantasy, and I strongly believe the genre needs more of those, simply for variety's sake, if nothing more. On the other hand, it replicates unfortunate models of classism: the servants are invisible, mere furniture. I believe only one of them is even named, and the problems of actually managing a household do not appear to cross the mind or attention of Jane, our protagonist. In the same vein, even the apparently-unsuitable artist for whom Jane conceives an affection turns out to be of good family.
It's a very middle-class domestic fantasy. I rather feel that the attentions of the gentry class of the 18th and early 19th century thought rather more about the servant problem than is apparent here, and my inner socialist disapproves of the invisibility of the lower classes. The poor you will always have with you.
On the gripping hand, it's decently written, an easy, undemanding read, and I won't turn my nose up at the sequel. So. There you have it. Conflicted.
Athens is hot. I am not succeeding in getting lots of work done, thanks to temperatures breaking 38 degrees Celsius. I come from a land of high summer being 20C! This is... difficult for me to cope with.
138. Kari Sperring, The Grass King's Concubine. DAW, 2012.
Reviewed for Ideomancer.com, expect to see it in the September issue. It is a lovely book, and I recommend it unreservedly.
139. Michelle Sagara, Cast in Peril. Luna, 2012.
Out in September. Reviewed for Tor.com. Very similar in vein to previous books in the series. Recommeded if you like the preceding volumes, but the payoff rather lacks in some essential quality of awesome.
140. Pierre Pevel, The Cardinal's Blades. Gollancz, 2010.
An English translation of a French fantasy. I wish I had a copy in French, though I strongly suspect my mauvais francais would not be up to the task of properly enjoying it. Think The Three Musketeers, but with dragons and magic. And better female characters. The rhythm is very French: it seems the translator has hewed closely to the rhythm of the original prose. Which is all to the good. It swashes and buckles, leaps around, races, has magnificent fighty bits, and makes me want to see it as a goddamn television show. Formidable, M. Pevel. Vraiment formidable.
141. Mary Robinette Kowal, Shades of Milk and Honey. Tor, 2011.
I have conflicted feelings about this book. On the one hand, it is an immensely well-done, quiet Austenesque romance, with a touch of magic. It is a domestic fantasy, and I strongly believe the genre needs more of those, simply for variety's sake, if nothing more. On the other hand, it replicates unfortunate models of classism: the servants are invisible, mere furniture. I believe only one of them is even named, and the problems of actually managing a household do not appear to cross the mind or attention of Jane, our protagonist. In the same vein, even the apparently-unsuitable artist for whom Jane conceives an affection turns out to be of good family.
It's a very middle-class domestic fantasy. I rather feel that the attentions of the gentry class of the 18th and early 19th century thought rather more about the servant problem than is apparent here, and my inner socialist disapproves of the invisibility of the lower classes. The poor you will always have with you.
On the gripping hand, it's decently written, an easy, undemanding read, and I won't turn my nose up at the sequel. So. There you have it. Conflicted.
Athens is hot. I am not succeeding in getting lots of work done, thanks to temperatures breaking 38 degrees Celsius. I come from a land of high summer being 20C! This is... difficult for me to cope with.
