Author: HCNewton Page 560 of 625

The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw by Christopher Healy

By

On April 7, 2015

In Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

The Hero’s Guide to Being an OutlawThe Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw

by Christopher Healy

Hardcover, 516 pg.
Walden Pond Press, 2014
Read: April 2 – 6, 2015
I started talking about the last book in this series by noting that it wasn’t as good as the first. So I should start off here by noting that this is at least as good as the first book.

It’s somewhat criminal that after reading 900 or so pages of this before that I didn’t mention Todd Harris’ art work. The covers are great, but the interior art is what seals the deal. It’s the perfect match for tone and content of writing. Not since Mary GrandPré decorated the Harry Potter books (maybe you’ve heard of them), have I enjoyed illustrations in a book so much. He’s at his best in these pages.

Following the events of Storming the Castle, our friends have scattered, (for the most part) returning home and to their lives as they knew it. They’ve had a rough go of things the last couple of years and have earned a little normalcy.

Until bounty hunters show up hunting them. Which tends to shake things up.

So it seems that that Brair Rose is dead — killed. And who else would anyone suspect but the League of Princes and the Princesses so closely associated with them? So large bounties were put on their heads, and they’ll need all the skills, courage, panache and dumb blind luck they can muster to evade capture and find the people truly responsible.

Meanwhile, the villains that the League, etc. were sure had died at the end of the last book? Yeah, well . . . maybe not. Put the two of these storylines together, add in some pirates, bards and a ghost and you’ve yourself a heckuva read.

Like the best kids’ entertainment, this includes a few reference and jokes fit for adults while sailing right over younger heads (without slipping into innuendo). My favorite example was when the (however temporarily) imprisoned Princesses met the imposing woman Val Jeanval who stole a baguette in order to use it as a weapon.

I started to list off all the goodies this book contains, when I realized my list sounded like someone else’s, so I’ll just borrow Grandpa’s: “Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love . . . ” throw in pirates, ghosts, and witches and a lot more royalty than that other book, and you’ve just about described this. It was a fun series, with a fittingly great end. Grab it for your kids, and when they’re not looking (if they won’t share), give it a read yourself.

—–

4 Stars

Today in MYSTERY HISTORY

By

On April 6, 2015

In Books, Calendar Items, News/Misc.

This post, 4/6/1950 Nero Wolfe lurches toward the Reichenbach, was shared on one of the Rex Stout/Nero Wolfe Facebook groups today. I really like this kind of post — it’s the kind of thing (at least in the ballpark) I’d like to be doing along with the review-y things, I just can’t find the time to work on them.

Anyhow, check it out, and enjoy this piece of Wolfean history.

Saturday Miscellany – 4/4/2015

By

On April 4, 2015

In Books, News/Misc.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

    This Week’s New Release that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:

  • The Diamond Conspiracy by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris — Books and Braun and the rest of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences are back, tho’ it doesn’t look too good for the Ministry. Which means good things for readers.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Man of many thoughts for following the blog this week.

Dead to Me by Cath Staincliffe

By

On April 3, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

I really didn’t mean to do TV related books in a row, it just worked out that way. Yesterday was from a series that’s the basis of a TV show — this one’s going the other way.

Dead to MeDead to Me

by Cath Staincliffe

Hardcover, 393 pg.
Minotaur Books, 2012
Read: March 27 – 31, 2015Cath Staincliffe, award-winning novelist and TV writer, brings her talent to an adaptation of ITV’s Scott & Bailey, telling the story behind DC Rachel Bailey’s introduction to the MIT and planting seeds for stories that would shape the first two series (at least — that’s all I’ve seen, maybe there’s more).

Staincliffe captured the voice of the characters so well — I could see them all playing clearly in my mind. The case was nothing spectacular — wasn’t the death of a major political figure, a celebrity, or anything particularly gory. It was a simple stabbing of a poor drug addict, yet this team throws everything at the case. Precisely the way that Harry Bosch or John Ceepak would — I’d like to think that actual police work as hard as their fictional counterparts, hopefully that’s true.

There are plenty of suspects, plenty of red herrings, and plenty of obstacles to Rachel becoming a member of the team and earning her new boss’ trust (and plenty of times Rachel shot herself in the foot in the process of both). It’s not all about Rachel (as viewers know), but she’s the entry point here. There’s plenty about DC Janet Scott and their boss, DCI Gill Murray — both professionally and personally.

I liked the parallelism of Janet trying her best with her kids and the victim’s mother repeatedly saying the same. It’s not a revolutionary idea by any measure, but Staincliffe handled it deftly. Later on, she did the same when Gill deals with a minor emergency involving her teenage son. Rachel doesn’t have a motherhood parallel, hers is on the other end. All of it, really well done and none of these get to the point of beating a dead horse.

This was a solid read, strong enough to justify reading a second book in the series (even without the show) — and likely more by this author, just to see what she can do with her own characters.

—–

3 Stars

Kindness Goes Unpunished by Craig Johnson

By

On April 2, 2015

In Authors, Craig Johnson, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Walt Longmire

Kindness Goes UnpunishedKindness Goes Unpunished

by Craig Johnson
Series: Walt Longmire, #3

Paperback, 336 pg.
Penguin Books, 2014
Read: April 1, 2015
3.5 Stars
I hate covers that are just images for TV/movie adaptations, don’t you? Blame my local library for this one.

It’s a sure sign that I need to spend more time reading Johnson than watching the show based on this series in that I’m consistently surprised at how funny these books are. Sure Henry Standing Bear’s dry wit is there, Vic is brash and inappropriate — amusing enough — but the narration, Walt himself? I chuckled a lot.

So, Walt and Henry (and Dog!) are off to the City of Brotherly Love to visit Walt’s daughter, Cady, meet her boyfriend, and for Henry to do something at a museum (just an excuse to see Cady). Oh, and conveniently enough, to meet Vic’s family (three police officers, one former police officer, and one attractive mother). After arriving in town, Walt doesn’t even get to see Cady before she’s brutally attacked and hospitalized.

Naturally, Walt stumbles upon the one person in Philadelphia who’s more knowledgeable and interested in Indians than Henry. It’s that interest (obsession?) and his connection to Walt that makes Walt the best man to track down the man who put Cady in the hospital (and other assorted nefarious acts). That’s a level of coincidence that you just buy — like Gideon Oliver vacationing somewhere that a set of bones surprisingly shows up; Nero Wolfe needing information from someone who’s a sucker for orchids; or that every falsely accused murderers that Andy Carpenter stumbles upon happen to own a cute dog.

There’s enough twists, turns — and one seeming unnecessary but entertaining diversion (that turns out to be not so ancillary) — to satisfy any mystery reader. Even out of water, this fish can swim. There’s some very interesting things that go on in the character’s personal lives that should make things interesting down the road (and that I can’t talk about while remaining spoiler free) — enough to make this more than a tale of a father’s vengeance.

The first chapter (only one in Wyoming) is great — Walt totally failing to connect with an elementary school classroom, a fun and prototypical Absaroka County shootout, and other things that make up a typical day for Sheriff Longmire on the eve of his trip.

I’ve enjoyed each of these Longmire books — but I’ve taken a really casual approach to them, I think one a year so far is my rate. Kindness Goes Unpunished has convinced me that has to end, I’m pretty sure I’ll catch up with Johnson before the year is up.

—–

3.5 Stars

Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire

By

On March 31, 2015

In Authors, Fiction, InCryptid, Seanan McGuire, Urban Fantasy

Pocket ApocalypsePocket Apocalypse

by Seanan McGuire
Series: InCryptid, #4


Mass Market Paperback, 341 pg.
DAW, 2015
Read: March 14 – 17, 2015

Airplanes: essentially buses that fly, and hence have the potential to drop out of the sky at any moment, spreading your insides — which will no doubt become your outsides sometime during the collision — across whatever you happen to have been flying over. Since we were flying mainly over ocean, I was sure the sharks would appreciate our sacrifice.

So where, pray tell, are Alex and Shelby flying off to? Her home country of Australia, to help out her family and the cryptozoologist group/alliance/whatnot they’re part of deal with the continent’s first outbreak of the werewolf virus. Unlike everyone else there, Alex has dealt with werewolves before, and he’s a Price — that has some benefit (although how much is debatable, as he soon learns). He’s also going to meet Shelby’s family for the first time. It’s pretty unclear which of these two items are the most hazardous to his health.

We’ve had a lot of exposure to the idea that the Price family isn’t like the Covenant — in motives or means. Now we’re introduced to the Thirty-Six Society, who aren’t as nasty as the Covenant is to cryptids; but nowhere near as interested in understanding and cooperating with them as the Prices are. Also, they’re not so sure that the Price’s are all that different than the Covenant (which is really odd to think about from the point-of-view of the reader). So, all told — they’re not to interested in a know-it-all Price coming in from the U. S. to tell them how to take care of a problem. Particularly when that Price is sleeping with one of their own, and perhaps leading her away from them.

I did tire a bit — more than a bit, to be honest — with the way that Alex and various members of the Tanner family had the same conversation over and over about his allegiances, intentions toward Shelby, and methods. I realize in Real Life™ that you do repeat yourself, but so much of these conversations were essentially “second verse, same as the first,” and got pretty darn tiring. It would’ve been better if Alex wasn’t quite as right as he was all the time, too.

But that’s the backdrop, really. The very real likelihood that Australia is going to be overrun with werewolves in the coming weeks is the main concern (although I’m not convinced the word count would reflect that). With so much exposure to Patricia Briggs and Carrie Vaughn (not to mention Jim Butcher, Kim Harrison, Kevin Hearne, and so on) it’s easy to forget that werewolves used to be a horror movie staple. Leave it to McGuire to remind me that werewolves are generally thought of as monsters. These werewolves are pretty monstrous, and what they do to their victims isn’t pretty.

We don’t see as many of the native cryptids as we get hints of them — the couple that we do see are pretty interesting, but I could’ve used more. As with any inCryptid novel, you have to talk about the Aeslin mice. If for no other reason than they’re fun. This is probably their best showcase yet — they’re more than comic relief here, they help out — in a way that Alex could never have predicted. Some of the raw-est emotion (and not just joy and rapture over a new religious observance) comes from these little guys. I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever tire of these mice.

Occasionally, the humor feels forced — as if McGuire’s done a word-count since the last quip and shoves one in. This is typical for the series, and still occasionally works, oddly enough. But McGuire’s narrative flows better — and is funnier — when she allows the humor to flow naturally (as much as anything as crafted as one of her books is “natural”) and not imposed on the text.

This novel contains the word “denuded” more than I can recall ever seeing in a single work — there was one chapter, in fact, that nailed that record — but “denuded” showed up later, too. It doesn’t matter one way or the other, but it showed up so frequently (and so rarely anywhere else) that it couldn’t help but make an impression.

I don’t know why, but it took me forever to really “get into” this one. From page 1 it looked interesting and entertaining, but I kept putting it down after a half a chapter or so. When it did pick up, I didn’t take the time to jot it down because I didn’t want to stop reading, but I think it was a little after page 100. From that point on, I was into it the way I expected to from the get-go, and it kept my interest to the end. I think I like this more than the others (maybe Discount Armageddon was as good), and really look forward to the next one — it’ll be good to see Verity again.

—–

4 Stars

Saturday Miscellany – 3/28

By

On March 28, 2015

In Books, News/Misc.

Just a few odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye — and not one word about Harper Lee (phew!). You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:


Dorothy Parker Drank Here by Ellen Meister

By

On March 25, 2015

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

Dorothy Parker Drank HereDorothy Parker Drank Here

by Ellen Meister

Hardcover, 336 pg.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2015
Read: March 9 – 10, 2015
Meister’s previous novel, Farewell, Dorothy Parker, was an enjoyable though fairly predictable but well-executed tale with characters I appreciated. While I intended to track down more by Meister, I hadn’t yet. One thing I didn’t expect was to see a sequel — there was really nothing in the it to make me think one was forthcoming — or necessary. So I didn’t read this with any great sense of anticipation, mostly just hoping that it wouldn’t be worse than Farewell.

Well, it wasn’t worse — it was actually better.

Ted Shriver is a — was a — literary star. A novelist of a stature and fame that every MFA student dreams of — until plagiarism scandal a few decades ago ruined that career and turned him into a recluse. He’s currently residing in the Algonquin Hotel, which is where the same hotel that the ghost of Dorothy Parker is spending as much of eternity as she can. Enter Norah Wolfe, a young producer about to be out of a job when the talk show she works for is going to be canceled. She’s got this crazy idea, though — if she can get her hero, Shriver, to come on the show and be interviewed for the first time since the scandal, she just might be able to keep the show on the air. And a certain ghost decides to join the cause, as soon as she convinces Norah that she’s really there.

I know, outlandish, right? An appearance by a novelist is going to save a TV show —puh-leez. (the ghost tied to a guest book is completely believable by comparison).

I do think (but haven’t compared the two in order to examine), that this time, Dorothy Parker isn’t as much fun — either in antics or dialogue. But she’s more flawed, more regretful over the past, more self-reliant, lonelier. — basically, she’s a more well-rounded character reflecting a lot of the less snarky, less quotable Parker. Shriver was believable (and a self-pitying jerk), I think the story could’ve used more time with him as an active character, not just the person everyone is reacting to (even when he’s nowhere to be seen). Norah is our Point of View character — she’s likable, driven, damaged (in a pretty obvious way), and it’s not long before you’re wanting things to work out for her. There are a few other notable characters — and a few that are little more than one dimension, but on the whole you are left with the impression that they could easily be more than that.

I did wonder at the lack of any mention of the events of the previous novel or its protagonist, even in passing. Which means you can read these independently of each other, or in whatever order you wish.

This wasn’t a perfect novel — there was one subplot that was largely unnecessary and a little annoying (but in the end, Meister used it effectively, but she could’ve found another way to achieve the same ends). Other than that, compared to its predecessor, I thought the characters were more complex, the emotional stakes were richer, and the book was about more than just the pretty straight-forward plot. A pleasant read, give it a shot.

—–

3.5 Stars

Saturday Miscellany – 3/21/15

By

On March 21, 2015

In Books, News/Misc.

A little note first: As far as possible, I find the original source of infographics, stories, memes, etc. that I post and/or link to. Occasionally, I miss. One such time was back in September with the handy infographic, How Long Will It Take to Read? I received an email from someone from the site I should’ve linked to the other day asking to fix that — which I gladly did, and figured they deserved another link or two in return. It’s a nice site, which deserves all the clicks and views I can send their way.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

    This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:

  • The Stolen Ones by Owen Laukkanen — this is sitting on my library’s reserve shelf for me, and I’m literally* salivating.
  • The Deception Artist by Fayette Fox — It was the cover that caught my eye and made me take a look at this — kudos to the designer — looks like an interesting read.
  • The Last Days of Video: A Novel by Jeremy Hawkins — this looks like a lot of good, odd fun.
  • Less Than Hero by S. G. Browne — this one looks appealing, too. Read a little — not enough — of Browne before. Need to read more.

* And by literally, I mean figuratively.
Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to K. L. Register for following the blog this week. Big, big thanks to Jennifer Reed/bookjunkiez for the reblog/signal boost!

Image credit: Grammarly

The Witches of Echo Park by Amber Benson

By

On March 20, 2015

In Fiction

The Witches of Echo ParkThe Witches of Echo Park

by Amber Benson
Series: The Witches of Echo Park, #1

Paperback, 294 pg.
Ace, 2015
Read: March 18 – 19, 2015
So, you have a coven of witches (who don’t like to be called that) who connected to some global network of covens that are under attack. We’re not given much information on that part — just enough so that the threat of violence is real, if shadowing (and mostly so far removed as to not be a looming presence). The local leader of the coven –the last of a generation, it seems — is dying of cancer, and she recruits her great-niece (or something), Lyse, to take her place. Lyse had no idea her great-aunt (or something) was a witch — or in Lyse’s point of view, she had no idea her great-aunt was a little crazy, not full-blown insane, but unhinged enough to believe in magic. But she goes along with her dying wish, and is initiated into the coven. At which point in time, enough crazy stuff starts happening that Lyse has to admit that, yeah, there’s something to that magic stuff.

We don’t get nearly enough time with the rest of the coven to really connect with them — this is about introducing us to the world, about Llyse and Eleanora, and connecting Lyse to everything. It’s only in retrospect that I noticed that I didn’t get to know everyone as well as I wanted to. Lizabeth was close — but I think it’d take 200 pages devoted to her for me to have enough. I wouldn’t need as much time with the others, but, well, trust me on this — Lizabeth is one to watch. They all seem fun and interesting, but no one else comes close.

I’m really light on details here, because the novel’s an introduction to the series — so the details about characters and the tiny bit of plot are all there really is. Which is fine — for this book, not for #2 in the series. I did spend most of the last 50 pages thinking the ending would be unsatisfactory, but she pulled it off — again, for the first book of a series, not for anything later.

This is so different than Benson’s last series, the Calliope Reaper-Jones novels. Honestly, they don’t even seem like they were written by the same person. The characters, the world, the emotions at play, even the magic system feels more grounded, more realistic (if you can say that).

Most Urban Fantasy reads like a Detective/Mystery novel with Magic/Supernatural elements mixed in. This one felt like a Chick Lit (meaning that in the nicest possible way, and just to describe things) book flavored with magic. Which makes it stand out from the pack — by quite a ways. The cover reflects that, I think. Lyse (I assume) doesn’t look like she’s ready to kick butt and take names, she looks like someone who could be my neighbor in the middle of bad day. This is not going to appeal to every UF reader, but I dug it.

On the one hand, it doesn’t take too many pages before you’re pretty sure you know what kind of story this is, how things are going to go. It’s solid stuff, don’t get me wrong — nor is it predictable. It’s just a certain type of story. Yet even knowing that (and I was right, more than I was wrong, anyway) the way that Benson unspooled things drew me in further and further. She set the hook well.

By page 55 I was prepared to call this Benson’s best by a mile — and I only became more convinced the further I read. Friendship, family, devotion, screwy-beliefs, a touch of romance, and magic — Benson brings it all. If you’re up for an Urban Fantasy that doesn’t read like every other one you’ve read, give it a shot.

—–

4 Stars

Page 560 of 625

Previous

Next

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén