HEROINE’S JOURNEY – Sarah Kuhn

Posted by Daniel on December 7, 2018
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized, YA. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

With this book I have now read the Heroine’s Complex trilogy. I’ve had real mixed feelings about the previous two books (you can search for my reviews on my blog) but I am so happy to note that this is the strongest book of the series (and it will be a continuing series, according to Ms. Kuhn).

Bea Tanaka is the little sister to Evie Tanaka, the sometimes partner, sometimes sidekick to superhero Aveda Jupiter. Bea is just beginning to discover that she might have superhero powers of her own – the ability to plant suggestions in other people’s minds (think Jedi mind tricks). And along with these powers are visions of her and Evie’s mother who has been presumed dead for some time.

Bea wants desperately to join forces with her sister and Aveda and become a member of the superhero team to help stave off the demons from the portal that is sometimes open over San Francisco. But Aveda and Evie can’t see Bea as anything more than Evie’s little sister – one who needs protecting rather than as a protector. On her own then, Bea follows her mother into the portal and the realm of the demons where she hopes she can help her mother return to San Francisco.

One of the things I liked so much about this book was the plotting.  We have here a well-thought-out story: device, contrivance, character, motivation, conflict, sub-plots, surprise, resolution.  I didn’t feel that way about the previous book, which felt more like a character story with the plot being secondary.

I really liked getting to know more about demon portal. This being the prime source of conflict for the series it was nice to have it come into play in a big way.  Bea’s description of the portal to Evie and Aveda is so concise and easy to understand that I smiled and noted in my kindle “brilliant.”

The previous two books were marred, in my opinion, by graphic sex scenes that felt out-of-place – something from an erotic romance rather than a YA sci-fi/fantasy novel. There is still some sex here, for those who want it, but it’s much more subtle (with only one word standing out as inappropriate in the context and a little jarring).

It’s great to finish the trilogy on an up note and definitely makes one want to continue reading the series.

Looking for a good book? Heroine’s Journey by Sarah Kuhn concludes the Heroine’s Complex trilogy with a strong story and characters that will make you believe in superheroes in San Francisco.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Heroine’s Journey

author: Sarah Kuhn

series: Heroine’s Complex #3

publisher: DAW

ISBN: 0756414415

paperback, 373 pages

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SHAKESPEARE SAVED MY LIFE – Laura Bates

Posted by Daniel on December 6, 2018
Posted in: ENTERTAINMENT, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Dr. Laura Bates had been told that maximum-security prisoner are beyond rehabilitation and Bates, an English professor and believer in the power of Shakespeare’s plays, took that as a challenge.

Bates holds classes in Shakespeare’s plays with prisoners who sign up to take the classes.  She begins regular meetings in a detention ward with maximum security prisoners being held in solitary confinement with one of the most notorious inmates – Larry Newton who was sentenced to life without parole at age 17 for murder. What comes from the classes surprises Bates, who anticipated a struggle to get prisoners – many of whom had little education – to understand Shakespeare, much less discuss it intelligently. But what Bates (and most of us reading this book) forget is that this is, literally, a captive audience.  These are men with nothing but time on their hands to think about what they are reading.

One of the surprises that comes through is how these men associate some of Shakespeare’s characters as imprisoned, usually by their own thoughts and deeds, much as these students are imprisoned physically. Clearly some of these insights can only come from someone who is incarcerated.

This is definitely an interesting read and for those who believe in the power of Shakespeare to speak about what it means to be human in a way that everyone can understand, this would seem to be more proof of just that. And what Newton and the other inmates have to say about Hamlet and Macbeth and the other characters and plays addressed truly is insightful, yet the book starts to grow repetitive and Bates appears to understand this and begins to add more personal information about how she came to begin this program, the dangers, and the rewards. This becomes more of a memoir than a Shakespeare study (note that the cover as depicted above reads “a memoir”) which is too bad because it’s the Shakespeare study that is most fascinating. The problem with most memoirs is that the memoirist remembers his or herself in the best of light.

I am glad that I read this and I will probably recommend this to friends who might find this sort of book interesting, but with a few caveats.

Looking for a good book? Shakespeare Saved My Life by Laura Bates is a fascinating look at the power of the Bard’s words, even to hardened criminals, but the memoir portion of the book surrounding the Shakespeare insight, pales slightly.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Shakespeare Saved My Life

author: Laura Bates

publisher: Sourcebooks

ISBN: 1402273142

paperback, 291 pages

THE VIKINGS – Martyn Whittock & Hannah Whittock

Posted by Daniel on December 4, 2018
Posted in: MYTHOLOGY, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Although this book is subtitled “From Odin to Christ” and is ostensibly a book about the ‘Christianizing’ of Scandinavia, the truth is that this is a really phenomenal, brief history of the ‘Vikings.’  I put a quote around ‘Vikings’ because, as the Whittocks explain, ‘Viking’ is something you did (you went viking) and not something you were.

The research here is tremendous and although the presentation feels somewhat brief, there’s a strong sense that the information behind the presentation is accurate.

Although I have long been interested in Scandinavian history, this book reveals some very interesting information – so much so that I can’t say what it all is without repeating so much of the book.  Suffice it to say that I was not aware that we knew so much about which groups of Norsemen (those from Denmark, Norway, or Sweden [or at least what is now referred to as these areas]) invaded which areas.  I was not aware that the Norsemen vikinged so far east and southeast – I thought they worked primarily in Great Britain, Iceland, and points west.

I knew I was in for an educational treat early on when the Whittock’s write:

There is also another factor that may have prompted the start of Viking raids. The late-eighth-century Danish attacks on the Frankish Empire and the British Isles coincided with changes occurring in the far off Middle Eastern Islamic Caliphate from the 740s onwards, as the Umayyad dynasty lost out to the new Abbasid dynasty and the centre of political power shifted from  Damascus to Baghdad. These distant political and economic changes disrupted the flow of silver to Scandinavia. For some time Islamic merchants and their middle men had brought silver to northern Europe to trade it for the products of the north: slaves, furs, amber. However, the violently shifting politics within the Caliphate were followed by its fragmentation and a decline in central authority. As a result of this, in the late ninth century the Caliphate lost control of the silver mines in what is now  Tajikistan. This precipitated a crisis in Scandinavia. Scandinavian economies began to falter as trade with the Islamic world  declined. It was now harder for (suddenly silver poor) Scandinavian elites to engage in traditional gift-giving which cemented social bonds. Raiding offered an alternative method of obtaining both precious metals and slaves.

And while I was certainly aware that there were a good many Viking raids on Ireland I absolutely loved that there was a poem written in the upper margin of a manuscript in a monastery of St Gall (written c. 845-850):

Bitter is the wind tonight
It tosses the ocean’s white hair
Tonight I fear not the fierce warriors of Norway
Coursing on the Irish sea.

The book does address the adoption of Christianity by the Scandinavians and we get just as thorough a documented history of the rolling conversion from paganism to Christianity as we did the rest of the book. From noting that “women in the Icelandic context seem to have played an important role in the conversion” to recognizing that “A new deity was not the issue: it was the exclusivity of Christianity that was the challenge” this book covers a lot of ground and unlike the history books of my school days, this is presented extremely well.  The almost conversational writing style makes this very easy to read.

My only down-side to my Kindle ARC is that the footnotes are not hot-linked so I couldn’t read the notes or check the resource while reading this.  For that reason, this is my holiday wish list because I am confident I will want to refer to this book again and again.

Looking for a good book? The Vikings by Martyn Whittock & Hannah Whittock is a well-written, well-researched book that will appeal to lovers of history, Christianity, Scandinavian culture, Norse mythology, and anyone who just enjoys a good non-fiction read.

note: quotes are from an advanced reading copy and may not accurately reflect the published edition
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Vikings: From Odin to Christ

authors: Martyn Whittock & Hannah Whittock

publisher: Lion Hudson, Ltd

ISBN: 0745980201

hardcover, 286 pages

EARTHRISE – James Gladstone & Christy Lundy

Posted by Daniel on December 3, 2018
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, NON-FICTION. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

If I still had children of picture-book age, this is most definitely a book I would have and that I would read to them as often as I could.

In thirty-two keenly illustrated pages, author James Gladstone and illustrator Christy Lundy manage to not only tell the story of Apollo 8 and the famous, iconic photo called “Earthrise” of the Earth with the gray, lifeless moon in the foreground, but also subtly capturing the mood of America at the time. It’s hard to describe how they manage to do this, but the opening paragraph and the style of art here serves as a reminder that this all happened a long time ago.

The book is not just easy to read, but would make for a fun book to read aloud. It is quite amazing how much Gladstone manages to say with so few words.

The key to this book, beside the subject matter, is the art by Lundy. There is just the right amount of picture and subject on each page to share with the young child, without being overwhelming. It has a style that is reminiscent of the 1960’s. And it has a high proportion of people of color (when we’re not seeing these early astronauts or NASA control center). It is a truly wonderful way to bring readers of all colors into a history that was admittedly pretty white.  But the whole purpose of the photo, Earthrise, was, after all, to show that we’re all one people.

One aspect of the book, the art, has to do with one two-page spread that shows the Apollo capsule “speeding the crew off to another world.”  It’s a very simple page with mostly a starry background and the Saturn V engine falling away from the capsule. But the stars in the background have faint lines connecting them to show familiar constellations.

It looks like a star-finder or constellation sort of book.  But of course there are no visible lines connecting stars out in space and I haven’t decided how I feel about this in a children’s picture book that is otherwise quite accurate.  The picture would admittedly be a little boring without this, but on the other hand, it would also show just how small we are when compared to the cosmos.  I’ll keep thinking about this, but it will bring my rating of the book down just a little.

Looking for a good book? Earthrise by James Gladstone and Christy Lundy is a really tremendous picture book of an important moment in history and just in time as our space program is poised for more big events as these children grow.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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Earthrise: Apollo 8 and the Photo That Changed the World

author: James Gladstone

artist: Christy Lundy

publisher: Owlkids

ISBN: 1771473169

hardcover, 32 pages

A MAN OF SHADOWS – Jeff Noon

Posted by Daniel on November 30, 2018
Posted in: MYSTERY, SF/FANTASY. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

The one sentence, attention-getting note on Goodreads before the book description reads: “The brilliant, mind-bending return to science fiction by one of its most acclaimed visionaries.”  Now I can’t say that I’ve read anything by Jeff Noon before this, so I can’t speak to this being a ‘return’ to science fiction or his being a visionary.  I will say, however, that this book is indeed mind-bending.

John Nyquist is a private detective and not a particularly discriminating one. He takes on a case of tracking down a missing teenager. His search takes him from the comfort and safety of Dayzone to the dark, often frightening streets of Nocturna. Meanwhile, a serial killer has been killing his way through the area, invisible and with tremendous speed – giving him the nickname ‘Quicksilver.’ But as Nyquist gets deeper into his search for the missing teenage girl, he begins to suspect that she may have a connection to the Quicksilver murders, but getting more information about the possible connection will take Nyquist into Dusk – a shadowy zone that no one wants to spend much time in.

This book is … well, to go back to the Goodreads quote … mind-bending.  Imagine Time as not just a concept that we measure and pretend to know with things like clocks and calendars, but as an actual, physical commodity that can be taken away or controlled, the way we can with money or currency.  Hard to grasp the idea?  I understand. But Noon’s novel works on this premise – where time in one area isn’t just measured differently, it actually works or moves differently.

This was a hard concept for me to visualize, I’ll admit.  I’ve read a fair number of time-travel books (this is NOT a time travel story), so I’m not new to stories that work with the concept of time being fluid, but this was definitely on a new level for me.  And while I may have been confused, it was very clear to me that in Noon’s world this made sense and I trusted the storyteller to keep it as clear as possible for me.  And he did.

The mystery itself is very well done.  We’re led down a couple of false paths and the discovery Nyquist makes isn’t a complete surprise – Noon gives us the same clues – but the storytelling…!  Getting there is so much fun in this world!

I highlighted a one sentence description that Noon gives us as we meet a character: “The mother of Eleanor Bale was a living ghost of a once startlingly beautiful woman.” This simple sentence is so beautiful and gave me such a vivid picture of the character.  This sort of writing is why we pick up fiction and let ourselves get carried away.

This book is what we once called ‘Speculative Fiction’ crossed with a classic noir mystery and it’s extremely well done. This definitely makes me want to seek out Noon’s previous works and stay tuned for further adventures (especially those in John Nyquist’s world).

Looking for a good book? A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon is a brilliant, richly dark sci-fi/fantasy mystery that will engage and challenge the reader.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

A Man of Shadows

author: Jeff Noon

series: John Nyquist #1

publisher: Angry Robot

ISBN: 085766669X

paperback, 384 pages

THE RAVEN BOYS – Maggie Stiefvater

Posted by Daniel on November 28, 2018
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, YA. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Although I mostly read ARCs (Advance Reading Copy) these days, I’ve noticed that too often I come into a book series halfway through and I don’t enjoy the book quite as much because I’m not already familiar with the characters. When I think ahead enough, I will do a little research on my ARCs and see if it’s part of a series and then see if the earlier books are available at my local library.  One of those books on my ARC reading list is Blue Lily, Lily Blue, the third book in The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, and so I decided to start at the beginning … The Raven Boys.

For as long as Blue Sargent can remember, she’s been warned that she will cause her true love to die. Now a young girl experiencing an interest in boys that warning begins to haunt her.  Blue’s mother, a clairvoyant, each year stands and watches the soon-to-be-dead as the walk past her.  Blue has never had this vision … until now.  A boy, named Gansey, walks out of the woods and speaks directly to her. Gansey is a student at Aglionby – a private school for the wealthy.  Blue has always avoided the boys from Aglionby (known as Raven Boys) because they are trouble.  But she can’t help but be drawn to Gansey.  He’s rich, very good-looking, has family and very strong friendships and yet he’s seeking something more and he’s drawing some close friends, and now Blue, into his search.

This is not a light read.  This story is dense with character development and story progression. In fact, I first listened to the audio version of this on my drive to/from work after checking out the CDs from my library, but I realized that I needed more concentration on this to really absorb what was happening, and so checked out the book instead.

The story is really interesting and I look forward to getting deeper into the larger story, but at the same time I felt that this moved at a very slow pace. It became clear to me that this is primarily a set-up novel, giving the reader a lot of information about the characters, so that (presumably) future novels can get into more of the stories.

I’ll likely skip over book two in the series to get to my ARC and hopefully I won’t have missed too much.

Looking for a good book? The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater is a set-up novel, establishing characters and the world, which shows some promise of interesting stories to come, but this makes for a slow-moving first story.

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The Raven Boys

author: Maggie Stiefvater

series: The Raven Cycle #1

publisher: Scholastic Press

ISBN: 0545424925

hardcover, 409 pages