Category: Authors Page 110 of 123

Helen, a teenage minotaur and Troy, an impossibly above average guy are toiling away at a fast food restaurant until a god decrees they must go on a quest for him — retrieving several magic items, vanquishing various monsters, and generally staying alive.

Nigel, an accountant with a wife he’s scared of, turns to a motorcycle gang filled with other white-collar types looking to fill their humdrum lives with danger and excitement (oh, and all but one of them are oddly unassertive and non-homicidal orcs). Their god assigns them to put an end to Helen and Troy’s quest — by killing them.

Before the climactic battle between the questers and the orcs, Helen and Troy are deputized by a seemingly useless yet ubiquitous government agency that oversees quests. Then they meet an oracle working out of a food truck, some fates, pick up a three-legged dog, visit a nature preserve that’s a dragon sanctuary, and meet all sorts of interesting people and monsters — all while taking a fun road-trip in a classic car.

This is the whackiest, goofiest Martinez novel I’ve read — until the last 40 pages or so, where it gets deadly serious while retaining a sense of the absurd. But while doing so, it has some interesting things to say about things like destiny and fate and body image and stopping outside one’s comfort zone. There’s a touch of romance, a sense of wonder, and a whole lot of fun to be had.

Like every Martinez character, whether a rebellious daughter, a curious child, a would-be orc, a cyclops, or a meddlesome minotaur mother there’s a core of humanity, of decency, to be found. In a day when even Superman is turned into a grim figure, it’s very refreshing to see that.

Yes, it’s an adult book — but it’s one I’d have no problem handing off to my 11 year-old daughter to enjoy (probably her younger brother, too, I just don’t think he’d stick with it). Come to think of it, I will.

—–

4 Stars

Chosen by Benedict Jacka

By HCNewton

On September 26, 2013

In Alex Verus, Authors, Benedict Jacka, F-J, Fiction, Urban Fantasy

Chosen by Benedict Jacka
Series: Alex Verus, #4

Before I say anything about this really good book, let me point you to The Big Idea that Jacka wrote about it over on John Scalzi’s blog, if that doesn’t convince you to try this, nothing I say will. If you read this and are intrigued, go grab the first three books before you read this one. They’re more than worth it.
First off, I want to talk about the non-plot related stuff in the first chapter, but it’s better if you read it yourself — it warmed the geeky cockles of my heart in a way few other books have this year.

The fun is short-lived, of course. Verus is still training Luna, trying to find a place for the former Dark Apprentices, Anne and Variam, that he took in following the events of Taken. While he’s busy, he’s realizing that for the first time in long time, he isn’t alone, he has friends, companions — there’s the three just mentioned, plus the mage Sonder and, of course, Arachne. You start to get the idea that Verus is on the verge on contentment, starting to think about a future in this community he’s building (and not the way he’s known for).

Which is a tried and true signal that things are about to go pear shaped. Which it does, pretty decisively. It’s been clear from the start that Verus’ past is dark, but we’ve never been given many details. Well, that’s over — we get a real clear look at what life was like for Verus while he was apprenticed to Richard Drakh, and what it was like for him as he started to break away. While we’re learning this, Verus himself gets a much clearer view of what was going on back then.

What sets this off is the relative of someone that Verus and his fellow apprentices had wronged (details avoided), years ago has come to town. He’s an untrained adept, and so are his friends — they start off as a vigilante gang attacking Dark Mages. It doesn’t take long before they find their way to their target, Alex Verus.

It takes all Verus’ cunning, guts, and determination to survive this. Everything’s on the line here — his friends learn almost as much as the reader does about his past (and their reactions are complex and ring true emotionally), he barely escapes his first encounter with the gang with his life, and he has to open himself to part of his life he’d rather be done with. And the tactics he has to employ to save his life — and others’ — are morally murky at best.

There was really nothing about this book I didn’t like — Jacka keeps getting better and better (and he started very strong). To say that I’m eager for book #5 is an understatement, it’s going to be great.

—–

5 Stars

Worth Dying For by Lee Child

By HCNewton

On September 24, 2013

In Fiction, Jack Reacher, Lee Child, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Worth Dying For by Lee Child
Series: Jack Reacher, #15

At the end of a harrying week, there’s not much better than settling down to read about Jack Reacher kicking whatever, taking names, and meting out justice.

The last couple of novels have been a little more on the cerebral side for Reacher (not that they haven’t had plenty of violence), which is fine — Reacher’s more than just brawn, he’s got a brain. But by page 43 of this book when the first fight (well, the first real) starts you can tell this us going to be a lot different than the last couple of books, there’s going to be a good deal of violence, and the reader’s blood is going to be pumping a lot. And wow, is there a lot of fighting going on — I haven’t kept notes or anything, but I don’t remember as much hand-to-hand fighting in a Reacher book in ages — if ever. Well-exectued by both Child and Reacher, I should add.

There is a misunderstanding involving one representative of the for parties that Reacher is up against here. The kind of misunderstanding that would make classic sit-com fodder, but here serves to ratchet up the paranoia and mutual suspicions between the parties. I had a lot of fun watching how one chance encounter and a million to one happening unravels something that really could’ve taken Reacher down, particularly in his weakened condition.

That weakened condition is one of the best things about this book — there’s a strong link between Worth Dying For and 61 Hours, the strongest since Tripwire and Running Blind — 11 books back — and, from what I’ve learned from a couple of TV interviews, this link continues in his latest, Never Go Back (further incentive, not that I need it, to catch up with this series). His body is still recovering from the trauma endured, and his mind is set on the officer who’s taken his old position. I really appreciated that, it’s good to see that these aren’t just random adventures, but there’s some continuity at work here, even if the novels are completely stand-alone in nature.

The villains at the center of this mess are probably the vilest that Child has yet cooked up — and that’s saying something. Once everything about their criminal activities is revealed, you’re more than ready for Reacher to do his thing. Which he — naturally — does with aplomb and efficiency.

Take your blood pressure meds, get in your comfy chair and kick back for a heck of a read.

—–

4 Stars

Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

By HCNewton

On September 21, 2013

In Authors, Fiction, Janet Evanovich, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Stephanie Plum

Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich
Series: Stephanie Plum, #17

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the best Stephanie Plum novel in quite a while. Yes, absolutely, the mystery was a piece of cake to figure out — the herring wasn’t red, it was crimson. But you know what? It worked for me. People looking for clever, twisty mysteries that leave the reader stumped shouldn’t be reading Plum novels. You read these because when Evanovich is on her game, there’s a lot of fun to be had.

Vincent’s office being run out of Mooney’s RV is good, great comedy fodder. As is having Connie moving around between temporary work spaces. Most importantly to the success of a Plum novel: Grandma Mazur and Lula weren’t too crazy.

I’m not crazy about the state of the Joe-Stephanie-Ranger triangle, but what else is new? Time for something interesting to happen to at least one of the guys, if not a permanent resolution to this.

The bad guy this time was creepy as all get out, yet he fit very well into this sit-com world.

Not a lot to say about it, I guess, but it entertained me.

The Great Way Kickstarter

By HCNewton

On September 19, 2013

In Authors, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, News/Misc.

Harry Connolly, writer of the criminally underselling UF series The Twenty Palaces, has moved on to Epic Fantasy. This project sounds great — watch the video, read the Kickstarter page, toss some money at the guy.

Robert B. Parker’s Damned if You Do by Michael Brandman

By HCNewton

On September 19, 2013

In Fiction, Jesse Stone, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Robert B. Parker

Robert B. Parker’s Damned if You Do by Michael Brandman
Series: Jesse Stone, #12

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

At least half of one of those stars is due to loyalty to the fine men and woman (pretty sure there’s just one) of the Paradise Police Department.

Brandman knows Stone. He knows Suitcase (though you’d have a hard time proving it based on the evidence here) and Molly. He has a decent handle on the city, and the supporting characters.

What he doesn’t know is how to write a mystery. Or a police procedural. Possibly not a novel — maybe he should stick to scripts.

There are two cases that Jesse’s working on in this book — one he stumbles onto when helping a friend, he develops a hunch about conditions in a local retirement home. He talks to two citizens about it — both of whom serve mostly as exposition dumps and confirm his hunch. Jesse proceeds to harass and bully his way through bringing the retirement home in line. There’s no challenge for him here, there’s no struggle, there’s no effort, really. It does allow Brandman a chance to talk about some real problems, cite some statistics about a social ill and move on.

There’s a murder mystery also — he detects a little here. Mostly he susses out one clue, and the rest is delivered to him by Gino Fish and Vinnie Morris. Always nice for a small town cop to have a mobster and a shooter to call on for answers.

If this took me any time at all to read, I’d probably be more upset. The Stone novels for years were the best things that Parker produced. Towards the end, there was a resurgence in the quality of the Spenser novels which seemed to result in lesser Stone novels. But we’d still occasionally get one worth reading. Brandman has consistently fallen far short of even Parker’s worst. It’s really sad to see such a good franchise ruined like this.

Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire

By HCNewton

On September 18, 2013

In Fiction, Seanan McGuire, Toby Daye

Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire
Series: Toby Daye, #7

My rating: 4.75 of 5 stars

Seanan McGuire is a writing monster — she’s pumping books out like crazy — she’s got the Toby Daye books, the InCryptid books, the Indexing serial, other short fiction — plus the stuff she puts out under the name Mira Grant. And they’re all really good (well, I assume the Grant ones are — not my taste — but based on reviews/awards, etc. they’re just as good). It’s really not fair. But I’m not complaining. As much as I’m enjoying Indexing and the InCryptid books are just plain fun, neither are in the same league as the Toby Daye books — and somehow, I forget just how good that series is between novels. I’ve been hooked since, maybe Chapter 3 of Rosemary and Rue and the addiction just grows each time.

Chimes starts off with Toby looking into the Goblin Fruit trade, seeing what she can do about it. It turns out that the situation is worse than she thought it was, and so she decides she needs to take it to the Queen. Which makes sense, unless you think about how well things go between those two, but Toby does her duty — and things go from bad to horrible (skipping right over “worse”) in a New York minute.

The series grows by a few new characters, most of whom I fully expect to see returning often, if not in every book from now on — all interesting, powerful, and I want to know more about. The stakes are higher than normal here, which is saying something, because they’re usually pretty high — and the long-term ramifications of the possible (and actual) plot developments are significant. You can feel the significance of the choices Toby’s making on almost every page, she’s pushed to new limits and deals with them in her own inimitable way.

A couple of highlights for me: I swear at one point at the end of Chapter 5, Toby channels Leverage‘s Nathan Ford, which was a lot of fun to read, and says a lot about the improbability of what Toby’s trying to pull off. Also, we’re introduced to a new Sidhe — the Cu Sidhe (the canine equivalent of Tybalt’s Cait Sidhe) — and it might be my favorite thing ever that Maguire’s created. Sure, I’m a sucker for well written dog characters, and the way she introduces and uses this particular character? Magic.

The only quibble I have here is how quickly things are resolved — to get the ending that we do, I’d expect another 70+ pages of action, maybe even another book before we get to the conclusion we have here. I don’t want to say that McGuire rushes or hurries through things here, because I see (I think) how and why she did what she did. It just seems to be that it’d have been better to spend more time on it. Then again, considering the tension I felt during the last 100 pages or so, maybe it’s better that things went they way they did.

McGuire calls this this start of the second stage of Toby’s adventures, and in retrospect, I can see an element of closure in Ashes of Honor. Based on the shake up in royalty, the deals Toby has to make to get things done and save those she cares about, and the revelations about one particular character — there’s plenty of fodder for a great second stage, even without whatever new ideas she has in store.

I cannot wait.

Wisp of a Thing: A Novel of the Tufa by Alex Bledsoe

By HCNewton

On September 17, 2013

In Alex Bledsoe, Authors, Fantasy, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Tufa

Wisp of a Thing: A Novel of the Tufa by Alex Bledsoe
Series: Tufa, #2
My rating: 4.75 of 5 stars

Back in 2011, I tried a new book by Alex Bledsoe with a bit of trepidation — it clearly wasn’t the same kind of thing as his Eddie LaCrosse novels that I’m a big fan of, and what I’d read about the book as a whole seemed kind of vague. But I gave it a shot, and ended up reading one of the best books I’ve read this decade (no review on my part to link to here, I couldn’t come up with anything to say that seemed to rise to the level of the book). So when I saw that Bledsoe was releasing a sequel, I was excited and filled with a new sense of trepidation, tinged with dread. I just didn’t see how he could equal The Hum and the Shiver, much less top it.

And honestly, he didn’t. But he got close — so, so, close. A Herculean feat unto itself, so I count that as a win.

In this novel, we see what happens when real outsiders come into the land of the Tufa*. There’s the honeymooning couple — the husband who finds out a bit more about his heritage than he bargained for, and his wife who has other things on her mind than genealogical research. The central figure this time is the other outsider, Rob Quillen, a reality television star trying to recover from a very public, heartbreaking tragedy. So desperate for healing, he comes in search of a song that will erase his pain — as difficult as that is to believe, he has to take the chance.

Sadly for Rob, his search puts him in the middle of a struggle that goes back centuries — if not longer. He has to risk his life, his sanity, and that of others to find his song — and then just to survive.

The characters and conflicts that shaped The Hum . . . are still there, this is just a few months later, but they’re not quite as prominent while Rob and his new friends and foes settle their business.

There’s beauty here, determination, battling against (and trying to understand) fate and destiny. And ultimately, hope. Hope tainted with real loss and real pain, but hope and healing nonetheless.

Do yourself a favor and grab this one.

—
* Don’t know what a Tufa is? That’s fine. Go put down whatever you have in your hand, get a copy of The Hum and the Shiver. Go ahead, I’ll wait. It’s about music, and magic, and community, and place, and tradition, and family, and the magic of music . . . and it’s just good.

Dusted Off: Taken by Benedict Jacka

By HCNewton

On September 16, 2013

In Alex Verus, Authors, Benedict Jacka, F-J, Fiction, Urban Fantasy

Taken by Benedict Jacka
Series: Alex Verus, #3

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

really don’t know what to say about this one…good read. Another good read in a string of ’em. Jacka’s got this down–Verus and co. are back and better than before.

I really like the way that these characters are growing and the world is being built.

I feel like I should have more to say, but I don’t. Ready and waiting for the next one!

Dusted Off: Cursed by Benedict Jacka

By HCNewton

On September 16, 2013

In Alex Verus, Authors, Benedict Jacka, F-J, Fiction, Urban Fantasy

Cursed by Benedict Jacka
Series: Alex Verus, #2

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jacka did a great job following up his first Alex Verus novel. Fated. introduced us to Verus’ world, and Cursed lives in it. With the universe so well established, Jacka can focus on this particular adventure, building on Fated.

This makes for a more exciting read–more action, more character development, more of everything we liked in the first book.

Jacka’s got us all hooked now, we just have to wait for the next hit.