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All posts for the month October, 2019

THE VANISHING BOX – Elly Griffiths

Posted by Daniel on October 31, 2019
Posted in: MYSTERY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

This is my second venture into Elly Griffiths’ Magic Men Mystery series.  It’s a clever gimmick, combining magicians and the WWII era.

Max Mephisto and his daughter Ruby are headlining at the Brighton Hippodrome, the largest theatre in the city.  It’s a real coup for the aging magician to get a gig like this. Also performing on the same bill, though, is a tableau act with nearly naked women as living statues, recreating famous works of art. It’s daring and risque and not nearly as classy as an act should be at the Hippodrome. Things get even worse when girls go missing and are later found dead, killed and then set up into tableau poses.

I generally like what I’ve read in this series – it’s clever, well thought through, and generally a pretty smooth read. But for those of us who enjoy something just a little bit meatier, it’s also just a tad dull.

For the most part, this is a cozy mystery. This is a genre I’m typically not excited about – I don’t read mysteries to try to figure out who dunnit, but for the thrill of the hunt. The hunt here is interesting and methodical and I absolutely love the background of these characters.  The magician angle is interesting and the living portraits or tableau act is fascinating.  I know that living tableaus were somewhat popular a decade or so ago, here in the U.S., but I’m curious if there was such a thing in Britain in the 1950’s.  If there was, I can imagine the outrage and scandal it might have caused to have women naked or nearly naked in the name of ‘art’ for men to ogle.

This is the sort of series that I might pick up if I’m wandering a bookstore looking for something to read.  I wouldn’t be disappointed, but I wouldn’t be actively seeking out each new book in the series.

Looking for a good book? The Vanishing Box by Elly Griffiths is a serviceable mystery with great characters and settings but just lacks a little something extra that could make it really engaging.

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

* * * * * *

The Vanishing Box

author: Elly Griffiths

series: Stephens & Mephisto Mystery #4

publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

ISBN: 0544750292

hardcover, 358 pages

SCHOOL FOR PSYCHICS – K. C. Archer

Posted by Daniel on October 29, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized, YA. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Teddy Cannon is a smart, intuitive young woman. So much so that she’s been banned from many of the casinos in Las Vegas. Yet the rigors of getting an education and earning an ‘honest’ living never really sit well with Teddy.  She’s always been good at reading other people at the poker tables and that’s where she’s most comfortable. When she is discovered in a casino and about to be forcibly run out, a stranger intervenes.  A stranger who is looking to recruit Teddy.  Teddy, it seems, is not just good at reading people … she’s actually psychic.  The stranger runs a school for people like Teddy, training them to develop their skills and work for a branch of law enforcement set out to help people in a way that only someone like she can.

School has never been her ‘thing’ and she knows it will be a challenge, but the fact that there are others with special abilities, is encouraging and Teddy decides to give it a try.  But there are secrets at the school that Teddy begins to uncover that will continue to change the way she sees those who are supposed to be her friends.

I really had a lot of fun with this book right at the start.  Author K. C. Archer gives us a slightly stereotypical YA female protagonist, but Teddy isn’t a mooning little girl who develops passionate crushes on the cute guy in the book … well, that’s not entirely true.  She does do precisely this. The difference here is that this isn’t the heart of the story.  This is a little side action which sometimes feels included just to have all the bases covered for the YA audience.

Te introduction of Teddy and her introduction to this school for psychics is really well done.  It is engaging and exciting and we get a good feel for the struggles that Teddy faces as she learns about her abilities.  The friends, students, and instructors we meet along the way are nicely fleshed out and this takes on a very nice tone such that it feels quite believable.

But then we get into a new plotline.

Teddy learns some things that muddy her views on the school and those around her.  This new storyline is clearly devised to build a larger story arc that will encompass multiple books.  But somehow this new development is not nearly as interesting as what we were getting in the early stages.  And while it becomes a definite YA novel with a group of students taking on the adults in their world, which is a fairly common trope in YA, it also becomes less believable.   It was definitely a head-smacking moment when the students managed a crime against, and inside the building of, the FBI.

There’s a lot of fun here, and I am intrigued, but at the end of the book, I wasn’t as satisfied as I was during the early chapters.  How the stories play out in future books will decide the fate of this series, since the characters and the premise are definitely interesting.

Looking for a good book? School for Psychics by K. C. Archer is an adventurous YA fantasy that has a lot going for it, but falls just short on delivering a strong story.

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

* * * * * *

School for Psychics

author: K. C. Archer

series: School for Psychics #1

publisher: Simon Schuster

ISBN: 150115933X

paperback, 368 pages

SWEDE HOLLOW – Ola Larsmo

Posted by Daniel on October 28, 2019
Posted in: HISTORICAL FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Gustaf and Anna Klar take their three children and leave Sweden for America in 1897.  Their arrival in New York is not the smooth venture they hoped for as Ellis Island is devastated by a fire just after their arrival.  Conditions in New York City also prove challenging to the immigrants with work hard to come by, especially for a man who doesn’t speak the language. And so the Klars move once more, this time to Minnesota, encouraged by someone they befriended on the ship crossing.

They settle in an area known as Swede Hollow. This is a rough community of Irish, Italian, and Swedish immigrants scrabbling for day job that might bring in a few pennies. It is not the sort of life that one easily puts behind them, but the Klars persevere and look forward, not back.

There were a number of reasons that this book appealed to me, mostly having to do with my own heritage. I felt that the struggles that the Klar family went through were not that unusual for immigrants (not then, not now). Imagine, then, how hard things must have been in order to leave the known life for something so uncertain.

Here is the one moment, however, that I felt was unnecessary … creating a dramatic reason for leaving Sweden. As evidenced by books such as The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg, and some of our own family stories, life in Sweden was extremely difficult and the challenges of raising enough funds to take a dangerous journey across the ocean for the possibility of a better life outweighed the conditions at home. They didn’t need the kind of motivation that the Klars had.

The hardships endured feel very real, but I really liked how author Larsmo instilled a stoic sense of perseverance among the family.   They never say out loud “keep your chin up” or motivate one another – it is just who they are. It’s a very familiar sense to many of us who grew up in a Scandinavian-heritage household.

I couldn’t help but make comparisons, as I was reading, to the previously mentioned The Emigrants (and succeeding novels) by Moberg. There are many of the same themes here detailing the struggles of Swedish immigrants in the late 1800’s. I would hope that anyone who might find one of these books interesting would go on to read the other.

This is not a story about the location ‘Swede Hollow’ as much as it is a story about people – the people who made up Swede Hollow … those who persevered and those who struggled continuously.  It is well worth reading.

Looking for a good book? Swede Hollow by Ola Larsmo is a book of historical fiction detailing the immigrant plight and struggles to make a better life in Midwest America at the end of the 19th century.  It is a valuable read.

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

* * * * * *

Swede Hollow

author: Ola Larsmo

translator: Tiina Nunnally

publisher: University of Minnesota Press

ISBN: 151790451X

hardcover, 312 pages

THE BITTERROOTS – C. J. Box

Posted by Daniel on October 25, 2019
Posted in: MYSTERY, Uncategorized, WESTERN. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

I had not read any C. J. Box books before going into this, but a librarian friend recommended Box based on my enjoyment of the Longmire novels by Craig Johnson. And I’m glad she did.

The Bitterroots is either the fourth book in the Cassie Dewell series or the fifth book in the Highway Quartet series … or both.  I can’t quite figure out what Goodreads is trying to tell me. However, it was somewhat apparent through the course of the book that private investigator Cassie Dewell had a history – that she’d previously been involved in other cases that readers had access to.  Sometimes this was pretty strong as we’re led to believe that at least one of these cases might be coming back to haunt her. But despite this, author Box does a great job of providing us with a story that is solid and complete with these hints of previous stories.

Cassie Dewell is a former cop turned P.I. As a single parent, she is also trying to find a way to spend more time with her teenage son when an old friend contacts her and asks for a favor.  The friend, Rachel Mitchell, is a defense attorney with Mitchell-Estrella law firm. Rachel’s latest client is Blake Kleinsasser who’s been accused of molesting and sexually assaulting the fifteen-year-old daughter of his younger brother. As a former police office, Cassie doesn’t like defense attorneys too much and the evidence against Kleinsasser is overwhelming and Cassie just wants the pedophile put away.  Mitchell convinces Cassie that if Cassie can verify all the evidence then Kleinsasser will be urged to take a plea deal instead of defending his claims of innocence.

Early on Cassie is warned that the Kleinsasser family is highly dysfunctional and control nearly all of the town. She also learns that Blake, the eldest son who stood to inherit the most, was disowned by the family when he left for the East Coast to make his own fortune.  That the family isn’t happy about his return visit would be putting it mildly. That they don’t trust his reappearance would be closer to the truth.

Even though Cassie is looking to confirm the evidence and allegations in order to put Blake away for the rest of his life, her investigation appears to rattle some of the locals and soon she is a target for the Kleinsasser-controlled police and some unidentified attackers.  Against her own instincts and wishes, Cassie begins to feel that Blake may have been set up.

I love the character of Cassie.  She’s knowledgeable and strong but also a worried parent, trying to balance of life with her dangerous career and looking after a teen boy (that alone can be a challenge!).  Character can really make a difference in a mystery like this and Cassie is one of the better ones I’ve come across!

The supporting characters mostly stand out, unique (I had some trouble remembering which Kleinsasser’s were which) and came across as real people and not just stock characters for a book.

The story moves along swiftly with the mystery unfolding at just the right speed to keep the reader interested and in the know.  There’s plenty of action and danger and there are some twists and turns along the way, which is always fun in a book of this sort.

There was one moment of the investigation that changed things for Cassie late in the story, which was suggested or hinted at early on.  But the suggestion (and bit of evidence) was obvious enough for me, even then, to want to pursue that line of research.  I felt that someone with Cassie’s abilities would have, or should have, jumped onto that line of investigation. But of course, if she had, the book would have been over much sooner.  Still, it did detract just enough for me

Overall, I really enjoyed this and would look forward to another C. J. Box book.

Looking for a good book? The Bitterroots by C. J. Box is a delightful Cassie Dewell mystery that is quick to read, with a strong central character, and a mostly well-developed mystery.

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

* * * * * *

The Bitterroots

author: C. J. Box

series: Cassie Dewell #4; The Highway Quartet #5

publisher: Minotaur Books

ISBN: 1250051053

hardcover, 310 pages

THE BODY LIBRARY – Jeff Noon

Posted by Daniel on October 23, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

First we had Franz Kafka, writing early in the 20th century, then we had Philip K. Dick and Harlan Ellison some fifty years later keeping readers on edge and on their toes with fiction that shattered our perception of reality.  And now we have Jeff Noon.

John Nyquist has a mystery to solve.  He wakes up in a room to find a dead body near him. But finding the killer might be the easiest part of navigating in the city where everything is just part of a larger story.  Literally.  And I mean, literally.

I had been impressed with the first book in the series, A Man of Shadows, and looked forward to this volume, but I couldn’t come close to imagining how deeply inventive this was going to get.  I knew, though, that I was in for a wild ride as I read the last paragraphs of the opening chapter:

“They’re moving,” she said. “The words are crawling on his skin.”
Marcus didn’t believe her at first; he thought she must be mistaken. But he knelt down at Andrea’s side and saw the truth, and he felt sick. Neither of them spoke for a while. The only sound in the library came from the pages of the books as they rustled on the shelves.
All the empty pages.
Among them lay a man covered in stories.

If part of what makes for a fun, adventurous read is, as Bruce Coville once said, the “Cool Things Per Page” quotient, then this book jumps right to the head of the pack. From words moving on skin – a person literally part of a story – to the idea that “the pages of a book can be burned and the smoke inhaled … it has an effect on the reader,” to ‘Alphabugs’ – “they make their nests out of paper … the paper has to have words on it, and then the larvae hatch out and they eat the words.”

But no matter how great or creative an idea is, there still has to be character and story and Noon has that here in spades as well. Nyguist is a Sam Spade in an Alice in Wonderland world. We have no doubt that he will succeed in his goal, but the journey here is everything and this journey is about stories (“In this city you’re nothing unless you’re in a story”) and Nyquist has to sort out not only the murder but the stories surrounding him as well. “I don’t know where I am,” he says at one point. “I don’t know what story I’m in.” Together, Nyquist and reader will figure it out.

I haven’t enjoyed this kind of a read – speculative fiction – in a long time (other than the previous Nyquist volume) and it was an absolute delight to be here.

Looking for a good book? To use the words of one of author Jeff Noon’s characters from the book itself, “The Body Library is a novel, a book, and a rather special one at that.”  If you miss reading creative fiction of the sort that was produced so well by authors like Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Harlan Ellison, or Philip K. Dick, then you must read Jeff Noon’s The Body Library.

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

*All quotes from an Advanced Reader Copy and may not reflect the final, published version of the book.

* * * * * *

The Body Library

author: Jeff Noon

series: John Nyquist #2

publisher: Angry Robot

ISBN: 0857666738

paperback, 384 pages

THE SISTERS MEDEROS – Patrice Sarath

Posted by Daniel on October 21, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Once one of the wealthiest merchant families in Port Saint Frey, the Mederos family are now disgraced. Sisters Yvienne and Tesara Mederos are convinced that something, or someone, sinister has been at work to bring down the The House Mederos and they are determined to restore the family name and the riches due, and exact revenge. But their plans take off too well and move on beyond their control and they may be forced to take actions that they themselves find reprehensible. But Tesara is holding on to a secret thought that perhaps it was her fault – her magic – that resulted in the loss of the family’s fleet.

I was really drawn into this book quite well early on. These characters are strong and independent and I really liked that. I found the characters to be quite real and interesting, which is usually important for me to be pulled into a story.

Our setting is (or appears to be) around early 1800’s Italy and the fact that we have these strong women taking action and not needing to rely on men to finish things for them, or to open the way for them, is really refreshing. They each have skills that they use to get them what they want (and it isn’t just feminine charms).

But while I liked this book at the start it really wore down.  I felt that the story drew on and on, repeating itself and this bored me. Rather than a story unfolding, revealing information gradually along the way, we get a big dose of information early, and then we wander around for awhile before getting back into the story.

I was a bit frustrated by Tesara’s magic.  I never quite figured out if this is something rare in this world, or common. And we don’t really learn anything about the source of her magic – is this inherited? A gift?

There was enough here to have me interested and want to read more, but not enough here to have me offer up a recommendation.

Looking for a good book? The Sister Mederos by Patrice Sarath starts out well and offers strong female characters, but the story wanders and doesn’t really hold the reader’s interest.

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

* * * * * *

The Sisters Mederos

author: Patrice Sarath

series: Tales of Port Saint Frey #1

publisher: Angry Robot

ISBN: 0857667750

paperback, 368 pages

BEFORE MARS – Emma Newman

Posted by Daniel on October 18, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Somehow, author Emma Newman has not been on my reading radar at all. That needs to change. Looking her up on Goodreads I see that I have read a book by her previously, but had not been impressed. But a lot can happen in six years … my reading tastes can change, an author’s work might grow, a different editor might have a real impact.  For whatever reason, this Emma Newman book was definitely a more memorable (in a positive way) experience.

The story: Anna Kubrin has arrived on Mars. She’s a geologist, hired by the billionaire running the Mars compound to do some studies of the area.  She is also an artist, painting in oils during her free time.  But Anna is met with frowns by those currently living on Mars.  The need for a geologist is done, they assure her, and they are convinced she is really only there to do paintings for the billionaire’s personal collection. But because she’ll be using precious resources while there, the others do not welcome her.

Anna is good at fending for herself but when she is out getting photos and making sketches for some of her paintings, she discovers a man-made structure in an area that should be free of human interference.  When she tries to report this, she is shut down, and the compound’s Artificial Intelligence seems to cover up what Anna thinks she has seen.  When she wants to go out again, Anna is informed by the AI that there is a severe dust storm that makes going outside a danger. But when the dust storm lasts unnaturally long, Anna suspects that there are forces at work trying to prevent her from making another trip to the outside. The truth will rock not just her world, but that of everyone on Mars.

This was just a wonderful, fast but engaging read.  I was pulled into the story immediately with Anna’s enthusiasm for arriving on Mars and her wide-eyed innocence at what she’d find there. We are introduced to the other characters as Anna meets them, and thy all stand out, unique characters easy to identify, even though our perceptions of them will change through the course of the book.

The plot rolls out nicely, though I do think that the ‘surprise’ can be seen a fair ways off and the moment I read that the AI warned of dust storms my reaction was immediate, whereas our characters were much slower in suspecting something was amiss.

The book does leave the ending quite open for a follow-up book, but what really surprises me is that this is actually the third book in Newman’s Planetfall series. There were only a few moments when something was mentioned to have happened, but I never suspected that this was a section of a longer series.

I enjoyed this a lot and really look forward to reading the earlier books as well as whatever comes next.

Looking for a good book? Before Mars by Emma Newman is a fast-paced adventure and a good deal of fun to read.

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

* * * * * *

Before Mars

author: Emma Newman

series: Planetfall #3

publisher: Ace Books

ISBN: 0399587322

paperback, 340 pages

LITTLE CREATURES – Ana Gerhard

Posted by Daniel on October 17, 2019
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, ENTERTAINMENT, MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

When you can educate a child while you are entertaining her or him, then you’ve succeeded.  Little Creatures, by Ana Gerhard does this with gusto.

Introducing a child to an art form, especially something in the ‘classics’ (i.e. classical music, art, literature) is often a challenge (typically because a child is exposed to so much pop culture in everyday life) but what Gerhard does is select a subject that children can identify with … animals and insects. Fortunately there have been a few composers and compositions that draw inspiration from the animal kingdom from which Gerhard has to choose.

Some of these selections are fairly obvious – “Flight of the Bumblebee” by Rimsky-Korsakov and “The Frog” by Hayden and “Two Insect Pieces” by Britten – and some much less so – “Israel in Egypt” by Handel, “Bardic Sounds” by Mertz, and “Sensemayá” by Revueltas.

Each selected piece (there are twenty) gets one brief description and a double page spread of artwork (beautifully and wildly created by Mauricio Gómez Morin). In the description, we typically learn a little about the animal selected, how the composer uses that animal’s sound in the selected audio piece, and maybe a little bit about the composer.

Selected musical terms are highlighted and there is a glossary at the back of the book that is quite helpful.

While targeted to a child, unless the adult reading this to/with the child is quite familiar with the classical music world (I am not) then there is plenty for the adults to learn here as well, and this book seems to cater to we adults almost as much or more than to the youngsters.  There is a section of the book with a mini biography of all the composers included in this volume, as well as a timeline of the composers’ lives and the period of music in which they composed.

The book comes with a CD with sections of the selected works (and a listening guide inside the book). I have to admit that there were a few selections in which I simply could not hear the animal represented, but I recognize that this may not be true for all readers/listeners.  I would have liked longer works on the CD, but I recognize the many challenges with that.  Certainly most of the selected works can be found with a couple of quick online searches or by visiting a library with CD selections.

There is a lot to like about this book and it will be great to have on the bookshelf, but at the same time it feels like it is missing just a little something more.  For me, it’s the lack of story to draw the child in. Non-fiction is okay for children – it can be great! – but I still feel like for a child to sit and listen to someone reading to them they need to be drawn in by more than just the pictures, and the two or three paragraphs about each selected work just isn’t captivating enough for the multiple readings a picture book usually provides.

Looking for a good book? If you are looking to encourage your child to appreciate classical music, or even if you want to learn more yourself, Little Creatures: An Introduction to Classical Music by Ana Gerhard, with art by Mauricio Gómez Morin, is a splendid choice. But the lack of a catchy narrative surrounding each piece may have some youngsters grow bored during the reading. This may be better for the older reader, despite the picture book format.

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

* * * * * *

Little Creatures: An Introduction to Classical Music

author: Ana Gerhard

artist: Mauricio Gómez Morin

publisher: The Secret Mountain

ISBN: 2924774551

hardcover (with CD), 62 pages

THIS TENDER LAND – William Kent Krueger

Posted by Daniel on October 16, 2019
Posted in: OTHER, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

It would take some effort to be a Minnesotan working in some form of book-related occupation (seller, librarian, reviewer, etc) and not be familiar with William Kent Krueger. He is best known for his Cork O’Connor mystery series … known for this enough so that it’s quite noteworthy when he comes out with a book that isn’t part of the series.

I’m not among Krueger’s legion of dedicated fans – I’ve only read a few of the Cork O’Connor books and I’ve enjoyed them well-enough but I don’t wait eagerly for each new book (though I know people who do) – but I do enjoy his work, so I do request his books when I see them available for review.

This Tender Land also takes place in Minnesota, like many of his other books, but it takes place during the Depression era of the 1930’s in rural Minnesota.    Our narrator is a young orphan, Odie O’Banion, who, along with his brother Albert, lives in a home/school that is meant for Indian children. The caretakers of the home are vile humans who steal the money sent to the children by families, beat the children regularly, and cage them in inhumane conditions for often made-up infractions.

Odie and Albert have had about as much as they can take and when Odie accidentally kills a worker (in self-defense), they decide it is time to run away.  They take a number of their fellow children with them and have many strange encounters on their journey as they try to avoid capture.

I had three very strong reactions as I read through this.  The first two I believe have been commented on in other reviews of the book by other reviewers: 1) there is a strong sense of this being a Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn-style adventure or retelling; 2) the the sense of this being a retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey is not just strong but sometimes hit-over-the-head overt (Odie’s name is short for Odysseus); and 3) sometimes this book was so depressing I wasn’t sure I wanted to finish it.

Krueger is a powerful writer and he really sucks you into his stories. His characters are painfully real – “painfully” because we experience their fears and anger and trauma right along with them.  And given the abysmal conditions our protagonists grow in, we have a lot of trauma to experience.

The story unfolds remarkably well.  Again, you expect nothing less from a storyteller like Krueger. And this was a story that, even while I was too often uncomfortable and feeling some anxiety over what was happening, I couldn’t help but keep reading.

There were moments when The Odyssey angle was just a little too much for me.  It’s seems to be in vogue to retell The Odyssey and I’m not sure I need that anymore, though at least Krueger does it well. But when the retelling is so strong that the reader consciously makes the connection, then why not read the original?

This is a powerful story, often uncomfortable, and possibly not for everyone.

Looking for a good book? This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger is a slight departure for Krueger as this literary novel retells The Odyssey story with an orphan boy in the Great Depression as our main protagonist.

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

* * * * * *

This Tender Land

author: William Kent Krueger

publisher: Atria Books

ISBN: 1476749299

hardcover, 464 pages

ASH KICKERS – Sean Grigsby

Posted by Daniel on October 14, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Author Sean Grigsby has done done something here that I don’t think I’ve seen very often in the world of sequels … using a different character’s point of view (a character that was prominent in the first book – while the main protagonist from the first book is still prominent here) and dialing up the action, and the threat level.

Tamerica Williams is a smoke eater. Smoke eaters are sort of like firefighters with the bonus that they can breathe normally even when in a room full of smoke.  Smoke eaters don’t fight fires … they fight dragons. But since the events of the previous book, smoke eaters aren’t supposed to kill dragons any more, they’re supposed to capture them.  Dragon blood can be used to sure all sports of maladies (it is also what gives a smoke eater the ability to breathe smokey air).

At the start of the book, Tamerica is doing everything she can to provoke the dragon she’s been sent to capture. She can kill a dragon if it’s in self defense. But old habits die hard and Tamerica wants this dragon to die harder.

Things happen quickly and Tamerica’s partner is nearly killed, the dragon is dead and explodes in a rush of flame that she’s never seen happen before. Chief Brannigan has every right to kick her out of the force for endangering her partner the way she did, but instead of kicking her out or even placing her on unpaid leave, he promotes her to Captain status. (A good play, as it turns out, as she becomes hyper-aware of what her teammates are doing and if they’re following the book.)

If we thought that the ghosts and dragons that we saw in the first book were terrifying (and they were!) the smoke eater battles are about to get exponentially worse as the intense fires are a result of a conversion in which a phoenix rises from the dragon ashes.  And a cult of phoenix worshipers are going to give the smoke eaters some extra trouble.

This book was just hot fun.

I liked the first book a lot, though I was disappointed with the teen-boy attitude of the mature Brannigan. Tamerica doesn’t have that same issue, but she is just a little bland – which is strange, since in her off time she’s a DJ. Still, Grigsby creates a really spectacular world (ghosts, dragons, and a phoenix?!) and moves the story along swiftly. The characters could be a little more nuanced, but I would continue to read stories set in this world.

Looking for a good book? Ash Kickers, by Sean Grigsby, is a fun, energetic urban fantasy. The characters might not capture your interest, but the story and world definitely will.

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

* * * * * *

Ash Kickers

author: Sean Grigsby

series: Smoke Eaters #2

publisher: Angry Robot

ISBN: 0857667971

paperback, 368 pages

IGNITE – Sara B. Larson

Posted by Daniel on October 11, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized, YA. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

In my early days of requesting books for review I didn’t pay much attention to whether or not a book was a later part of a series – which has often been frustrating. Ignite, by Sara B. Larson, is the second book in her Defy series. A series I haven’t read prior to this.

Alexa is dedicated to Damian who has been newly crowned as King of his realm.  Alexa vows to guard him and to help him rebuild his territory (known as Antion). But a new threat to Damian and Antion arises and Alexa suspects that it’s not as clear-cut as it might seem on the surface. She needs proof of her theory however, which might leave Damian alone and undefended. To complicate matters, Alexa is in love with Damian but she doesn’t want him to know or it might negatively affect their professional relationship.

My basic reaction while reading this was that there was nothing here that felt particularly original.  Bearing in mind that this book is more than five years old now, perhaps it was slightly more original when it first was published.

What we have is a strong young woman, good with some old-fashioned fighting (notice the bow and arrow on the cover?), who must be a leader and must be tough even when under extreme adversity. But she’s also feminine, with longings for a particular man. It’s classic YA fantasy in the age of Hunger Games – capitalizing on a specific character type and some general fantasy world-building.

And that’s really what this boils down to, for me. This felt like something I’ve read before. On multiple occasions. I didn’t find too much new here, but if I had read this book before any number of other YA fantasies, then perhaps this would be the one to stand out. It was a fine read, but I suspect I won’t remember much about it this time next year.

Looking for a good book? Ignite, by Sara B. Larson is the second book in her Defy series, and if you like YA fantasy with strong young girls who won’t admit they’re in love with the lead male in the book, then you’ll enjoy this.

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

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Ignite

author: Sara B. Larson

series: Defy #2

publisher: Scholastic Press

ISBN: 0545644747

hardcover, 304 pages

G. K. CHESTERTON QUOTES – Bob Blaisdell

Posted by Daniel on October 10, 2019
Posted in: NON-FICTION, OTHER, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

I really don’t feel that there is a whole lot to say about a book of quotes. I enjoy quotes (as evidenced by the recurring blog posts featuring quotes I’ve culled from the books I’ve been reading).  A good quote captures a larger moment and condenses it to the essentials. Or perhaps it’s captures the humor of a moment, or the honesty of a situation. It typically speaks volumes.

Editor Bob Blaisdell has pulled together a good collection of quotes from noted author G. K. Chesterton and has arranged them by topic, making it easy to look for something specific … and I am that person who will look for a specific quote.

This is not the sort of book one sits and reads for the story. It is a reference book … something to have on the shelf and refer to when looking for a specific quote. Or it is bathroom reading – something to occupy a little time but that can easily be put down.

Overall, I enjoyed reading through these quotes, but there were very few that actually had any sort of impact for me, and none of them were powerful enough for me to add to my own collection (although, in part, it never feels ‘right’ to take someone else’s found quote).

Looking for a good book? If you enjoy looking through collections of quotes, then G. K. Chesterton’s Quotes, edited by Bob Blaisdell, is a book you’ll want to have on your shelf.

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

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G.K. Chesterton Quotes

editor: Bob Blaisdell

publisher: Dover Publications

ISBN: 048679380X

paperback, 160 pages