Book review – Page 63 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Review: ‘Reading The Dead: The Sarah Milton Chronicles’ by J.B. Cameron

Sarah Milton is a criminal profiler with the LAPD’s Violent Crime Unit; she’s helped solve several serial killings, and when she was a child she had an imaginary friend called Anna Nigma. Anna disappeared when Sarah’s mother was murdered.

During a trip to get some dog food Sarah is shot; a trip to the afterlife provides a clue to her mother’s murder, and then, when miraculously Sarah survives, Anna has returned. Sarah believes she’s going mad, until an old friend, in the course of investigating another serial killer ‘Raithe’, sends her to an old Chinese mystic, who collects ancient books. There’s a surprise in store for Sarah, and Anna.

Sarah, with Anna’s assistance, tracks down Raithe and his incorporeal accomplices. She goes to investigate, alone. Which is a big mistake. Her colleagues arrive a little too late.

I quite enjoyed this novel; the characters are engaging and the plot kept my interest. I especially enjoyed the development of the relationship between Sarah and Anna. Anna is a great character; she pulls pranks, is gobby and obnoxious, prone to temper tantrums, loves Sarah unconditionally and likes to play Scrabble. There’s a lot of potential in this series of books, especially for the development of the damaged Sarah, and her relationship with Ryan (a colleague), and the solving of her mother’s murder. Hopefully, Anna will eventually find out who she is as well.

I try not to judge harshly, but I do have a couple of criticisms. I found some of the characters too convenient and predictable – Meghan the trust fund baby, who just so happens to be the owner of a rare and ancient book collection, just when Sarah needs such a friend. I hope she’s developed as more than just helpful scenery in the rest of the books. Sarah needs a friend. Sarah’s dad is also a bit of a caricature of the distant father/politician. Unfortunately I found myself guessing the plot about half way through. It was obvious that Anna’s a ghost and that Raithe is murdering people as revenge for the already dead. I was only mildly surprised when I discovered that the same already dead were pulling his strings – it’s in his name, after all.

It’s possible I’ve read far too many supernatural and crime novels and I’m being picky; it doesn’t matter that this means I can predict a plot with a decent amount of accuracy because I can still enjoy a new story. I look forward to reading the next in the Sarah Milton Chronicles ‘Fidelis In Æternum’.

Review: ‘A funny thing happened on the way to heaven’ by Corey Taylor

2013
Ebury Press

This second book by Stone Sour and Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor follows on from Seven Deadly Sins in a round about way. He is again pondering the mysteries of life and death while sprinkling the whole with memories. This time it is his experiences with ghosts. Ever since he was young he has had encountered the paranormal and lived in various haunted buildings. People have told him their own ghost stories; they are gathered here with the express intention of starting a conversation.

Corey Taylor is an articulate and intelligent, if uneducated, man and has clearly thought his ideas through. Whether the reader believes the stories he tells or agrees with his hypothesis of ‘intelligent energy’ is up to them. He won’t tell you what to think, only to think.

I’m not sure whether I agree with much that he has written, except that people need to use their intelligence and not let ignorance and dogma control them. He clearly believes and feels strongly about the subject. It shines in his writing. The writing style is conversational, he goes off at a tangent regularly, but that is not necessarily to the detriment of the work.

An enjoyable and interestting look in to the mind of an important member of the Metal music fraternity.

Bye,

Rose

Review: ‘Bright Young Things; Life in the Roaring Twenties.’ By Alison Maloney

2012

Virgin Books

Described in the blurb as a ‘sweeping look at the changing world of the Jazz Age, as life below stairs vanished forever, loose morals ran riot, and new inventions made it seem anything was possible’, this book gives an entertaining glimpse in to the lives of the Bright Young People, the wealthy young Mayfair set who ran riot in London in the Nineteen Twenties. Presented in a gossipy tone, with first-hand accounts from those who were part of the group of friends dubbed the ‘Bright Young People’ by the popular press, and the generation of ‘Bright Young Things’ they led and inspired. The central cast of aristocrats and artists loom large in a playful narrative of all night dancing, freak parties, treasure hunts through London, immodest fashions and heavy drinking. The more staid members of their age group and class, the debs, and the attitudes of their parents to the antics of the hedonistic set are also covered.

The focus is primarily on London; however there is some reference to the United States and Paris. As Jazz was a large part of the lifestyle of the Bright Young Things, this isn’t surprising. The spread of this form of music from the southern United States across the Atlantic to London and the on into Europe is fascinating, although the author doesn’t go in to a great deal of detail.

Also covered in the book are references to changing sexual attitudes, and the growth of consumer ‘labour –saving’ goods as more people had access to electricity and servants became rarer.

While this book is subtitled ‘Life in the Roaring Twenties’ it doesn’t really give much of an insight in to life for those who weren’t wealthy and educated, and living in London. Bare mention is given to the lives and aspirations of working and lower middle class people, who presumably had ambitions and needs as well. It’s very gossipy in nature, relying on published diaries, letters and autobiographies/biographies for much of the detail. The ‘flapper’, her dress, attitudes and occupations are a recurring feature of the book.

I didn’t feel that the author really put meat on the bones of the subject, although the origin of certain terms originating in, or associated with, the decade are explained and there is a decent bibliography at the back. I’d say this was quite a good book for GCSE students wanting a bit more information about the Twenties, and those wanting an overview of the decade. At the very least it’ll get people started and then they can move on to more detailed studies of the decade.

Review: ‘Alexander At The World’s End’ by Tom Holt

Abacus 2000
This edition printed 2011

Originally published by Little, Brown and Company, 1999

This is one of the books I got from the library a couple if weeks ago. I’ve read a few of Tom Holt’s comic fantasy novels but I hadn’t known he’d also written historical novels. It was a pleasant surprise.

‘Alexander At The World’s End’ tells the tale of Euxenus son of Eutychides, who started life in Athens and ended up as governor if Alexandria-at-the-End-of-the-World, in Sogdiana (otherwise known as Iskander, 50 miles NE of Tashkent). When he was a youth his father arranged for him to be apprenticed to a philosopher so that he could learn a trade. Unfortunately he choose Diogenes, the Yapping Dog, the Cynic, the man who told Alexander the Great to get out of his light.

Under Diogenes’s tutelage Euxenus learnt Yapping Dog philosophy, and politics. He made a good living at it in Athens, the the assistance of an invisible snake in a jar. Unfortunately Phillip of Macedon is making a nuisance of himself, and Euxenus is one of the lucky, lucky ambassadors sent to Pella to discuss the matter. It went badly.

But not for Euxenus, who managed to make the acquaintence of young Prince Alexander while rounding up bees, gain Queen Olympias’s favour (her snake obsession came in handy for a change) and get a job tutoring the Prince and his Companions.

Completely ill equiped for such a position, Euxenus throws himself into his work with all his usual dedication until Philip decides to send Euxenus and a couple of thousand Illyrian mercenaries he no longer needs off to Olbia on the Black Sea to found a colony.

After many years and assorted adventures Euxenus returns to Athens and settles down on the old family farm. Time passes, Euxenus becoming the good farmer his family always assumed he’d never manage to be, until his once pupil, now king of the known world, sends a couple of soldiers for him.

Alexander needs a governor for his newest city, in Sogdiana, so Euxenus must once more go travelling, this time across Asia, because when Alexander wants something, Alexander gets. In his new home Euxenus once again tries to build the Perfect Society and write his History, which is very difficult for a man constantly looking the wrong way when important events are taking place.

Funny yet poignant, this novel explores the difference between who we really are, who we believe ourselves to be and how the world sees us. It’s really quite sadly beautiful. It’s also a grand history lesson and philosophy primer. Written with the deft touch of a great storyteller, gripping from first to last and full of detail, I would heartily recommend this novel.

Rose

Review: ‘The Science of Discworld IV Judgement Day’ by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen

Ebury Press
2013

I had plans for this afternoon, then I thought ‘I’ll just read a bit, I need to finish it before Thursday’; the afternoon disappeared. If that’s not the best compliment to a book I don’t know a greater one.

This is the forth installment of the ‘Science of Discworld’ books, the first was published in 1999 and as the authors point out things have changed in the last 14 years.

Theories have been tested in new ways and been modified as new information had been made available. And that is the central argument of this book. Science is uncertain and ever questioning. Faith does not question, it merely ignores data that doesn’t fit.

Interweaving this discussion with a short story about Roundworld, the pretty bauble accidentally made when the Wizards of Unseen University made a booboo in the first Science of Discworld book, the authors illustrate their arguments using the best method possible when trying to explain concepts to Pan narrans : storytelling.

A radically fundamental sect of the Church of Om demands that the wizard hand over Roundworld. The Patrician decides to hold a tribunal into the matter. Into this milieu comes Margery Daw, librarian of Four Farthings, London, England, Earth. Highly educated and intelligent, with a firm belief in truth, and also the best runner at Roedean in her day, Margery has been transported to Discworld by the Unseen University’s Great Big Thing. Purely accidentally.
Continue reading “Review: ‘The Science of Discworld IV Judgement Day’ by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen”

Review of several e-books

I had a bit of a foray in to Amazon the other day and found several free e-books (thanks to the freebie page at http://www.everythingbooksandauthors.com) and read them quite quickly. Most were short stories but one,‘Georgiana Darcy’s Diary’, is probably more of a novella. Since I took the time to read to them I thought I should probably review them.

Georgiana Darcy’s diary: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice Continued

Anna Elliott, with illustrations by Laura Masselos

2011

Wilton Press

It’s 1814 and the war with Napoleon is coming to an end, Elizabeth and Darcy have been married a year, Georgiana is 18 years old and still living at Pemberley with them, and their Aunt De Bourgh has organised a house party. She’s trying to marry Georgiana off too some suitable gentleman.

Georgiana feels the need to start writing a diary again, and starts writing about her life. Sick of the fawning fortune hunters, Georgiana is in love with her cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam. Unfortunately rumour tells her he is engaged to someone else, and when he returns to Pemberley to recover from a wound taken at Toulouse she is determined not to give in to her feelings.

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young lady of rank and property will have packs of money- or land-hungry suitors yapping around her heels like hounds after a fox.‘

In the interests of not giving the whole plot away, all I’ll say is the denouement of the storyline is fairly obvious. I mostly liked the story but was slightly unsatisfied by it. I would be interested to read the other two books in this Pride and Prejudice Chronicles, Pemberley to Waterloo, and Kitty Bennet’s Diary.

3/5

Cait the Cat Burglar (55 Portobello Road)

Christine London

2013

Cait is a waitress, stranded in London as she tries to earn money to send home to her sick mother and sister in America. Bribed and threatened in to becoming a thief by the sinister Rothwell, Cait tries to steal the work of an Australian musician. The first time she fails miserably. There were croquet hoops involved.

At work the next day her target comes in for a meal and Cait finds herself questioning her resolve.

This short story is entertaining, although I found it a little too soppy for my taste and too much ‘fairy-tale ending’. I’m not sure I’d bother to read the series of books that this short story is a part of.

2/5

How to talk to girls at parties, A short story

Neil Gaiman

2006

Headline

Originally published 2006 and republished as an e-book 2013 with an exclusive first chapter from Neil Gaiman’s new book, ‘The ocean at the end of the lane’, due out mid-June. Vic and Enn are going to a party Vic heard about from his friend Alison, unfortunately they end up at entirely wrong party with interesting consequences. It’s a fun little story, but then I like Neil Gaiman’s work, having read a couple of his books. He’s a truly original writer.

4/5

A Little Bit of Everything for Dummies 20th Anniversary Edition

John Wiley & Sons, Inc

2011

This book is exactly what it says on the cover, a sample of their published work since the first …For Dummies book in 1991. Covering everything from Windows 7 to Puppies to Sex, this book is an interesting one to flip through.

3/5

And that’s the lot for now.

Bye,

Rose

Review: ‘Etiquette & Espionage’ by Gail Carriger

Finishing School Book the First
2013
Atom

Fourteen years old and not at all ladylike, thats Sophronia Angelina Temminnick. She’s the youngest of the Temminnick girls and a terrible bother to her mother. After an incident involving a dumb waiter and a trifle, Sophronia is packed off to finishing school.

But Madam Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality is not quite what she expects. After an eventful journey she arrives to find a werewolf waiting and no obvious way aboard.

Making several new friends and learning to be ladylike, Sophronia becomes embroiled in a plot which sees her clambering around engine rooms, confronting thieves and setting fire to her mother’s gazebo. She also learns how to curtsey properly and to dance.

Set several decades before the author’s previous series, ‘The Alexia Tarrabotti Series’ and featuring characters from that series as children, this book is an admirable addition to her body of work and suitable for YA readers. The characters are interesting, well-rounded and develop as the novel progresses. The plot is engaging and mystery elements intriguing.

I enjoyed Gail Carriger’s earlier books and would recommend this new series. Now I just need to get the next book in the series.

Bye

Rose

Review: ‘Irenicon’ by Aiden Harte

Irenicon

The Wave Trilogy Book 1

Aiden Harte

2012

Jo Fletcher Books

Sofia Scaligeri is Contessa of Rasenna, or she will be when she turns seventeen. If she lives that long. Her inheritance, the once great city of Rasenna, is divided. It is divided by jealousy, petty rivalries and old vendettas. It is also divided by the Irenicon, an unnatural river blasted through the city when the Engineers of the Concordian Empire sent the Wave to pacify the fractious city. Divided and weak, the people of Rasenna have retreated to their towers, leaving only to send raids into enemy streets.

When a young Concordian Engineer is sent to Rasenna to bridge the Irenicon the locals are suspicious, and the habitual violence blossoms into the opening stages of a civil war. Opposing Towers circle each other, probing for weaknesses and delaying the bridges construction.

But the bridge must be built or the city will be destroyed once and for all when the Twelfth Legion arrives at the end of summer. Somehow Sofia, Giovanni the Engineer, and the Small People of Rasenna must find a way to unite the city before that happens. They are hampered by the suspicion and violence that inhabits the hearts of their people. They must have Faith in a world of Reason in order to succeed. Victory has it’s price and they will all have to pay it; Rasenna, and all of Etruria will have to change. But everyone has their secrets and not even love might be able to save them.

It took me a while to get in to this book, but once I got past the first dozen or so pages and managed to make sense of what was going on I couldn’t put it down. Sofia’s story of self discovery and personal evolution – from thug being given orders by her guardian to self-aware leader, and Rasenna’s concurrent transformation from divided, poor, violence ravaged, once-great city into a peaceful, wealthy and united community, is an interesting study in politics. There’s something of the polemic to this novel – we can only make things better if we build bridges and end violence; but ignore that if you want and enjoy the story. The characters are well written and sympathetic; their growth as characters explained sensibly, and the story line is good. A mix of historical adventure and fantasy, and an AU reworking of the Middle Ages where Rome was defeated by another Empire and Jesus died during Herod’s Massacre of the Innocents leaving the distraught Mary to pass on the message, and the water has it’s own consciousness. This novel entertains and provokes thought. 3/5

The next part ‘The Warring States: Book 2 of the Wave trilogy’ is out this month; the library is ordering it for me. I’ll let you knoiw what I think.

Review: The City’s Son: Book 1 of the Skyscraper Throne

Tom Pollock

Jo Fletcher Books (Quercus)

2012

I picked this up in the library about two weeks ago and it’s taken me a while to get through it. I think it’s meant to be a YA fantasy, but I had trouble deciding who the target audience were. The main characters were certainly adolescent, but it could as easily be read by adults.

Set in contemporary London the story follows the adventures of teenage graffiti artist Beth Bradley and her best friend and poet of the streets Pen (Parva Khan) as they get drawn into the war between the Urchin Prince, Filius Viae, and Reach, the Crane King.

Switching between the viewpoints of Beth and Filius the story tells of the midnight encounter with a railwraith by Beth and her involvement with Filius, as Pen is fighting her own battles. Betraying her only friend after one particular night of artistic revenge on a bullying teacher, Pen loses Beth to the hidden London. Beth’s father goes in search of her and Pen comes along to help. Unfortunately they are ambushed by Reach’s minion ‘The Wire Mistress’ who takes Pen as her avatar.

Meanwhile Beth and Filius are trying to build an army while waiting for his Mother, the Goddess of the Streets to return and help them; an army of statues, and lamp people, and one homeless Russian. Plus a person made of rubbish.

In fighting the war many battles are won and lost, lives lost and choices made. Sometimes you have to make a deal, and pay the price in the end. But the price of victory might not be worth paying. Beth has to decide as she becomes Filia Viae to Filius’s Filius Viae.

Although it took me a while to read this, I enjoyed it and will probably read the next one. The book feels allegorical; do we allow skyscrapers and things of glass and steel to destroy the life found in old city streets, is it progress or the killing of a place to change it? Renewal or ripping away of life? These are clearly pressing matters to think on and a balance or compromise has to be found, as Beth does. We have decisions to make, will we choose right, strike the right bargains and are we willing to pay the price for our choices?

Bye, for now

Rose

Review: The wisdom of the Shire: A short guide to a long and happy life

Noble Smith

Hodder & Stoughton

2012

As I said yesterday, I don’t read self-help books but I got sucked in by the Tolkien canon concept. There’s a reason for this; I get the feeling that the authors of such books are a bit smug. They might not be, but why would you write a book telling people how to live, or reach enlightenment, or how to pull, if you don’t believe that you know it all already and are kindly dispensing your wisdom to the world? So I’m a bit cynical; I don’t care how long you’ve been a Tolkien ‘enthusiast’, otherwise known as a fan, have you got something new to say, or are you just taking advantage of the fact that the ‘Hobbit’ films are popular at the minute?

As it turns out Mr Smith has nothing new to say on living a good life: sleep when you’re tired, only take what is sufficient to life, don’t be greedy or grasping, be a good neighbour and friend, treat the earth with respect and be a part of your community. None of this is new, but using the characters from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as his exemplars is. Much of the information asterisked as footnotes are obvious, irrelevant to the main text or things already known by those who are fans of Middle Earth.

All that being said, Mr Smith is passionate about the subject and that is obvious from his writing and the personal examples included affected me. His plan for a small ‘Hobbit garden’ is an interesting extra, he missed out Sam’s nasturtiums though :D. Most of all it has pushed me back to my copy of The Lord of The Rings, which sits accusingly on my bedside table, demanding to know when I am going to carry on reading it? The answer is, later, after I’ve made my pack up for work tomorrow.

I wouldn’t particularly recommend this book as weekend reading, but if you happen to see it in the library and like Middle Earth it would be a new approach to the works of Tolkien.

Bye,

Rose