Tag: 4 Stars Page 58 of 83

by Seanan McGuire, Cynthia Hopkins (Narrator)
Series: Wayward Children, #1

Unabridged Audiobook, 4 hrs., 44 min.
2016, Macmillan Audio

Read: November 17 – 18, 2016

When I get to considering my favorites of 2016, there’s no way that Every Heart a Doorway doesn’t make the Top 10 (see my initial post), so when I saw it available on the library’s audiobook site when I needed something to end the week with, I grabbed it, certain I was going to have a lot of fun.

Wow, was that a mistake. The story was just as good, the characters as rich, the world(s) just as fascinating — the writing, the wordplay, the language . . . it was just as good as I remembered. But man, the narration just didn’t work for me at all. The book is creepy, funny, spooky, beautiful — and remains so despite the narration. The jokes don’t land, most of the characters seem to lack affect. Actually, I have a list of problems, but I don’t want to get nasty, so I’ll just leave it at that.

I did pick up a bit of a William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus”-vibe towards the end this time that I hadn’t picked up the first time — but I still like it, regardless. I noticed more details, and appreciated the examination of the ideas of what’s home and what’s real maybe a little more this time, so it wasn’t a wasted effort. But it was a disappointing one.

I do want to make it clear that I don’t think Hopkins couldn’t turn in a good performance — I don’t have enough information to say that. I do think that she was wrong for this project, didn’t understand it, or had an off day. I’m not sure. But a novella as exceptionally good as Every Heart a Doorway deserves the best, and this wasn’t it. So for this audiobook (not the text version), I’ve gotta go with 4 stars (and even that feels a little generous).

—–

4 Stars

Midnight Riot (Audiobook) by Ben Aaronovitch, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

By HCNewton

On November 17, 2016

In Ben Aaronovitch, Fiction, Rivers of London (Peter Grant), Urban Fantasy

Midnight Riot

by Ben Aaronovitch, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Narrator)
Series: The Rivers of London, #1

Unabridged Audiobook, 9 hrs., 57 min.
Tantor Media, 2012
Read: October 11 – 14, 2016

The best part about listening to this was being reminded just how good this novel was — sure, I remember liking it a lot (if for no other reason than I’ve read five more plus a collection of comics), but I didn’t remember it being this good.

Briefly — in this we’re introduced to a probationary constable named Peter Grant who’s approached by an odd witness to an odder (and disturbing) murder. What makes the witness odd? Well, he’s been dead for a couple of centuries. Soon thereafter, Peter’s meets a Chief Inspector who happens to be the last wizard in England. Peter’s transferred to his unit (doubling the size), taken on as an apprentice and thrust into a type of policing he wouldn’t have believed existed a week ago.

The investigation into this murder turns into an investigation for several murders — and a few other assorted crimes. Which, of course, involves diving into the history of London and brokering peace between competing river deities. That old yarn. It’s a great mix of magic and police work, basic Latin and advanced bureaucracy.

Holdbrook-Smith did a fine job with the narration, very engaging, often compelling — capturing the feel of the novel in just the way that everyone wants in an audiobook. I’d be more than happy to hear more from him.

It’s dark, it’s funny, it’s pretty complex — and, in retrospect, — does a much better job laying the foundation for the series than I’d remembered. A good amount of wonder and action combined.

—–

4 Stars

Off to be the Wizard (Audiobook) by Scott Meyer, Luke Daniels

By HCNewton

On November 14, 2016

In Fiction

Off to be the Wizard

by Scott Meyer, Luke Daniels (Narrator)
Series: Magic 2.0, #1

Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hrs, 15 min.
Brilliance Audio, 2014
Read: August 8 – 16, 2016

I’m just going to steal most of what I said about the book before and add a little bit at the end about the audiobook — and Daniels in particular.

The first thing Martin always did when he found some new data file was to search for his own name. It may seem egocentric, but Martin wasn’t worried about that. He had spent a lot of time thinking about himself, and had come to the conclusion that he was definitely not self-absorbed.

There’s a great temptation — and frequently a rush — when discussing an amusing/funny book in SF or Fantasy to compare it with, well — the name rhymes with Schmouglas Schmadams — this can be damning, because almost nothing can live up to it. So I’m going to resist even saying the name. If anything, I think you could say this was reminiscent of Schmon Schmalzi — only funnier.

Martin Banks is the rather unimpressive hero here — a college dropout, living in a poorly-furnished apartment, working in “a cubicle farm, . . . a fluorescent-lighted, beige-walled abattoir for the human spirit where he had to spend most of his time,” and doing some minor hacking on the weekends, just to amuse himself. He stumbles upon a way to manipulate reality, to change things just a little bit here and there around him. Being human, it takes very little time before he begins using that ability in a way to draw the attention of the Federal Authorities. Which is not all that comfortable, so he heads off to England in the Middle Ages where he figures he can do okay for himself, living as a wizard using these abilities.

That’s when things start to get really entertaining (and I had no complaints up to this point). Anything more I say on this front is a horrible spoiler, so we’ll just leave it with really entertaining.

This is a coming of age tale — and, as it’s about a Millennial, it’s a delayed-coming-of-age story. But Martin’s not one of those protagonists that you have to see mature before you like him — you connect with him right away (or you’re probably wasting your time reading on). He definitely doesn’t mature in your typical way, which is part of the fun. I can’t help comparing Martin to Wesley Chu’s Roen Tan. But without the stakes that Roen had to deal with (and a nicer mentor).

Most of the characters we get to know are met after Martin’s time jump — so don’t worry if you find everyone in 2012 a little shallow and undeveloped. They are, but other people won’t be.

There are several things in the book that won’t hold up to much scrutiny — like his ability to get a smartphone signal in Dover, England in 1150. Adapt the advice Joel and the ‘bots used to give us, “just repeat to yourself . . . you should really just relax.” It’s worth it.

The book is just littered with wit — from the extended jokes, the funny visuals, or little asides like: “The fact that wristwatches weren’t invented yet made it difficult to look impatient, but he managed.” On nearly every page, there’s something to make you chuckle or laugh — or at least grin. I laughed enough that it was annoying to my family — not that I cared, mind you. But it’s not just a yuk-fest, there’s a well-written story here, in a great world with some characters you want to spend time with.

Daniels scores again here — his performance didn’t really remind me of his work on the Iron Druid Chronciles, which, I have to admit I was a little worried about. I got a kick out of his voice choices for Martin and Jimmy in particular — Martin’s voice when he got excited was perfect. I’m not sure I liked his choice of voice for Philip — it reminded me too much of Douglas Reynholm from The IT Crowd (I’m probably the only person on Earth who hears that, so take it with a grain of salt), and I never got used to it. But I loved everything else he did, so who cares, right? If anything, Daniels’ narration helped the material (not that it needed it).

Meyer’s writing holds up to a second-read, even jokes/situations I knew were coming worked pretty well — more than well, actually, judging by my laughter. I enjoyed it as much the second time through as the first, so that’s a pretty good sign.

—–

4 Stars

Washed Hands by Jonathan Charles Bruce

By HCNewton

On November 14, 2016

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

Washed Hands

by Jonathan Charles Bruce

Kindle Edition, 204 pg.
Scarlet River Press, 2016

Read: November 7 – 8, 2016

They were all cheap, terrible beers that screamed more of desperation than any kind of desirability. Not that I could ever really tell the difference between the cheap and quality stuff, except that cheap tasted like unfiltered gutter water and quality usually like uncooked bread juice. People would usually counter that beer was an acquired taste that you get used to before you learn to want it, at which point I would suggest that what they just described was essentially culinary Stockholm Syndrome.

I am a hit at parties.

My appreciation for this one was pretty much ensured within the first page or so — Monica Deimos’s character grabbed me that quickly. I can’t promise you will, but this character’s voice was so strong, so fun. This voice . . . I haven’t clicked with a voice like I did with this since, I’m not sure, maybe Mark Watney? If I quoted every pith/insightful/chuckle-worthy line that I wanted to, I’d probably get sued for copyright infringement. I know, a tough, quippy, self-deprecating, cynical female detective(-ish) character isn’t exactly new, but Bruce just nails the voice on a consistent basis. Monica may not be unique on that front, but she’s really well done.

Deimos works for this firm called Washed Hands, who are break-up specialists. If you want to/need to end a relationship with someone who just may flip out, get violent, refuse to listen, whatever — you hire them and one of their rejection counselors will make sure that everything works out. Monica Deimos is about the best they have — until one day she enters a client’s home to find the soon-to-be-dumped very murdered. Monica then finds herself very framed for this murder. Things get rolling from there.

She’s on the run from the cops (almost getting nabbed a few times), dead tired and with few people she can trust. She decides that the IT guy from Washed Hands, Jasper, is trustworthy (probably) and could help out. So the two of them team-up to find out the real killer’s identity and to clear Monica before tis’ too late.

Jasper is almost a stereotypical nerd — but there’s a little more to him. Some of the others in the office are probably just what they appear, but you can’t be too careful. Or so Monica thinks. She’s abrasive, socially awkward, and desperate enough to try anything — the frame job was good, and she’s pretty sure that she can’t beat it. Thankfully, Jasper has faith enough for both of them. I really liked him — actually, I really liked Monica, too, beyond the voice. There weren’t a lot of other characters developed that well (little time for that with Monica on the run), but there was potential with all of them.

This novel was very well constructed and plotted — enough humor and enough excitement to keep you engaged. I guessed the whodunit pretty early, and came close to the motive, too. But I wouldn’t have figured the how until about 2 or 3 sentences before Monica did. Bruce pulled off some very clever storytelling there.

Things I would enjoy seeing in future novels, if that’s what Bruce is thinking: More at Washed Hands — I can’t believe he’s got this great concept and uses it so little; More with Jasper (perhaps independently of Monica); More Monica — with Jasper, at Washed Hands, without Jasper, after Washed Hands, I don’t care, I just want to read more of her.

I don’t think I can say much more without reveling too much, so I won’t say much more at all.. Clever story, good characters, told in a way to keep me glued to the page, and a conclusion that I almost saw coming but couldn’t come close to predicting. Really can’t ask for much more.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this from Scarlet River Press in exchange for this post and my honest take on the book — thanks, Scarlet River!

—–

4 Stars

Cyber World by Jason Heller and Joshua Viola, eds.

By HCNewton

On November 8, 2016

In Fiction

There’s a soundtrack to this anthology, and I’ll be posting about that tonight — short version: if you like music that shares the same roots as these stories, you should check it out.
—

Cyber World: Tales of Humanity’s Tomorrow

by Jason Heller, Joshua Viola eds.

Kindle Edition, 250 pg.
Hex Publishers, 2016

Read: October 26 – 31, 2016

Heller insists in his Afterword that this is not a collection of Cyberpunk stories, and who am I to doubt him? Although it feels pretty punk to ignore the Editor/The Man. It sure feels like Cyberpunk — but I’m also pretty sure that it doesn’t matter what I call it, as long as I say that it’s good, strong, creative, mind-bending, and occasionally mind-blowing. I can’t summarize this anthology better than Hex Publishers did:

Cybernetics. Neuroscience. Nanotechnology. Genetic engineering. Hacktivism. Transhumanism. The world of tomorrow is already here, and the technological changes we all face have inspired a new wave of stories to address our fears, hopes, dreams, and desires as Homo sapiens evolve—or not—into their next incarnation.

Cyber World is a collection of this new wave of cyber-inspired tales, that should appeal to a wide audience. There’s part of me that wants to write a paragraph or two on each story — well, most of them — but I don’t have the time for that, and I can’t imagine many of you would read it. So I’ll opt for brevity. As I read through this collection, I noticed that my notes had a theme, I’d consistently remark on three aspects of the stories: 1. The Premise/Cyber-Conceit; 2. The Story/Characters; 3. The Language Used/Way of telling the story. Now, this actually sounds like a pretty decent strategy to approaching these, but I’m not clever enough to do that deliberately, apparently. Almost every story here nailed two, if not three, of these aspects.

There was a story that only scored on one front for me, but I’m not going to mention which one, because I know others will strongly disagree with me — I might even disagree in 6 months — so I’m not going to focus on it. Even those stories that didn’t do much for me, I can absolutely see where others would say that they’re a favorite. Usually, when I read a bunch of short stories I don’t see where people would have much appreciation for some of them (I mean, I know tastes vary, but sometimes you just don’t get why people like stuff). Not here — tough to ask for more than that. The writing is on point — lean, terse, quick-moving — with the occasional appropriate exception. There’s something that made me smile about all but one of the stories. The voices are strong and individual — yet pretty much clearly belong together.

I do want to talk about a few of these — sorry, no one really wants to read about how I write these things, but I think this says something. I wrote that fragment, and then took one more look at my notes, trying to find 3 or 4 stories to focus on and I came up with four in a row and stopped myself before things go out of hand. Again, this speaks to the strength of this collection. I still wasn’t able to restrict myself to 4, though:

Mario Acevedo’s “Reactions” is maybe too-brief, but a compelling look at remote warfare drugs and the effects of both of those on the brain/soul. Just enough zag to his pretty obvious zig to make this a keeper.
“The Rest Between Two Notes” by Cat Rambo contains this line:

But this is New York City, and there can be traffic jams or terrorist threats or flash plagues to contend with…

“flash plagues.” I love that concept. There’s just so much — probably a novel if someone wanted it, in those two words. The rest of the story was pretty weird and disturbing, and though provoking on its own, but those two words (for me) sealed it as a favorite.
“The Faithful Soldier, Prompted” by Saladin Ahmed reflects the international flavor of this book as well as featuring an odd mishmash of spam emails and religious revelation. Something only Ahmed could probably pull off.
“Staunch” by Paul Graham Raven pushed just about every stylistic button for me — mix of bio/technical/cyber/genetic fiction, plus political/economic commentary — and a whole bunch of other stuff — while telling a tight story.
“Will Take Care of Our Own” by Angie Hodapp is probably the most accessible, closest to mainstream story in this batch. Which doesn’t stop it from being a great story about politics, with some interesting commentary on contemporary issues — just what SF is supposed to be about — with a good fallible protagonist.
Minister Faust’s “The Ibex on the Day of Extinction” felt very different from most of these stories, and I don’t know how to talk about it without spoiling the whole thing, but I wanted to focus on how good it was.
“The Singularity Is in Your Hair” by Matthew Kessel — can I use the word “sweet” about one of these? Probably not, but this tale about VR helping a person with a debilitating disease experience more than many people is very close to it.
“A Song Transmuted” by Sarah Pinsker just blew me away several times.
“It’s Only Words” by Keith Ferrell — is almost a counter-point to the worlds the rest of these take place in — a dash of Thoreau to rebut the rest.
“The Bees of Kiribati” by Warren Hammond was just freaking chilling — a police interrogation to a heinous crime, becomes so much more. I want a book in this world, now. Just without the creepy killer (it can have another creepy killer, I just don’t want anything to do with this one again).

Heller (and I read his book Taft 2012 before starting this blog, so you can’t read all the nice things I thought about it at the time) and Viola did a bang up job with this collection. They might not love the label cyberpunk (but someone neglected to tell those who wrote blurbs, or the promotional material I read), and perhaps it’s not the most accurate — but if these stories aren’t Cyberpunk, they’re the result of evolution from Cyberpunk. Cyber World is a direct descendant of Mirrorshades — a couple of these stories could’ve easily been included in that collection (but some require more current cultural/technological input).

Don’t read too many of these in one sitting, it takes away some of the impact — but you’ll have a hard time stopping once you start. One of the best collection of stories I’ve read in forever.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for this post and my honest opinion. I thank them for this.

—–

4 Stars

The Lost Child of Lychford by Paul Cornell

By HCNewton

On November 7, 2016

In Fantasy, Fiction, Paul Cornell, Urban Fantasy

The Lost Child of Lychford

by Paul Cornell
Series: Witches of Lychford, #2

Kindle Edition, 144 pg.
Tor.com, 2016

Read: November 2 – 3, 2016

It’s been a few months since Reverend Lizzie Blackmore, Judith (the elderly witch), and Autumn (now her apprentice and her employer) fought off the supernaturally corrupt megastore (and probably mundanely corrupt, too, come to think of it) and life has moved on in a relatively normal way. The three have forged some sort of alliance — easy for Autumn and Lizzie, already close, but learning new things about each other; not so easy for Judith to be accepted and to accept them, I don’t think. Autumn’s learning from Judith, while getting some help in her shop (which seems like a small town version of Atticus O’Sullivan’s and Alex Verus’ shops combined). Judith’s got something to do, a way to pass on her knowledge, and Lizzie is super-busy with pre-Christmas activities in the church.

But given everything we learned about Lychford, it’s not terribly surprising that things won’t stay that way, it’s just a question of what kind of other-worldly strangeness will come calling first.

In this case, it’s a ghost — or ghost-like apparition — that came to Lizzie at church. A small child looking frightened and worse for wear, with a simple request of: “No hurting.” Now, our trio can’t all agree on what the apparition is, but they can all get behind the idea of “No hurting.” They just have to figure out if that’s something they can stop — and then they’ll worry about the how. Neither piece of that plan works the way that it’s supposed to, but it seems these three are pretty good at improvising. Autumn, in particular, seems particularly adept at that.

I appreciated the fact that each of these women make one significant mistake (and probably some smaller ones) — two that come from inexperience, one that proves that experience doesn’t equal infallibility. They’re all believable, they do more than just advance the plot, they are honest with the characters and situation. Too often in novels you’re left wondering why a protagonist would be so stupid as to do X — when really it comes down to they have to do X or the really cool Y thing can’t happen at the end. That doesn’t happen here — sure, the attentive reader might be able to see the blunder coming around the corner, but there’s no reason to think that our protagonists should until it’s too late. Because while these three are fictional characters, Cornell imbues them with a genuineness, a substantial-ness that’s fitting for a real person (sadly, not always present with them, however).

Man, I had to use DuckDuckGo a lot to get all the cultural details in these pages — I know next to nothing about Anglican Christmas festivities, and less about British Christmas Pop Music. I’m not sure how much I’ll benefit long-term from this research, but it was interesting. I might have been better off not knowing anything about Greg Lake and his song, though.

If there was such a thing as magic, it wouldn’t look like anything from Harry Potter, Harry Dresden or some other fantasy series starring a Harry. It’d look like this, I wager. Quiet; shadowy; right out in the open, yet somehow unseen. All substance, no flash. Oh, yeah, and creepy — can’t forget creepy and inexplicable. Which is pretty much everything that happened in this book — up to and including most of the things the trio does to prevent things from getting really out of hand. It’s hard to talk about realism in a fantasy novel, but Cornell’s one of those that make you do that.

The Witches of Lychford was thoroughly entertaining and did a great job of establishing this world. This novella took full advantage of that to tell a more compelling story. I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to read Witches first, but it’d help a lot. “I Believe in Father Christmas,” notwithstanding, I thought The Lost Child of Lychford lived up to its predecessor and left me eager to return to this little village.

—–

4 Stars

Time Siege by Wesley Chu

By HCNewton

On October 24, 2016

In Fiction, Science Fiction, Wesley Chu

Time Siege

by Wesley Chu
Series: Time Salvager, #2

Hardcover, 341 pg.
Tor Books, 2016

Read: August 15 – 16, 2016

This is, in a sense, one of the most pointless posts I’ve done. If you’ve read Time Salvager, then I can’t imagine you needing to be convinced to read Time Siege, maybe you need convincing to move it up on your TBR, or just a reminder that this is out there. If you haven’t read Time Salvager, you shouldn’t read Time Siege yet because it won’t make all that much sense. But I’ll try to say a little about the book.

This book really could just be the next chapters of Salvager. It’s just taking the story to the next step — yes, there are distinct plot and character arcs, but on the whole, it’s just what should come next. Making it hard for me to know what to say. Some things that I thought were pretty well resolved in Siege are dealt with again, and hopefully resolved (or closer to it) now. Some characters come back in ways that I couldn’t have expected, some in ways that were exactly what I expected.

One thing that’s crystal clear now — and has been evident all along, really — is that Wesley Chu can write a fight scene. Whether it’s single combat or larger forces, he delivers. The scenes are suspenseful, intense, and believable. He captures what I imagine both the chaos and order of a battle would be like for those involved and those behind the lines.

Somewhere along the line, I got the impression that this was a duology, not a trilogy. So I spent most of the book thinking that this could be a dark, yet satisfying ending. Definitely not an “Everybody Lives happily every after” ending, but one that wraps things up well. Then the satisfying part became untenable (possible, but not likely) . . . and thankfully, it quickly became clear that it was going to be a trilogy. That said, everything is hanging in the balance here at the end of Time Siege, and it’s going to take a lot of heroics for there to be even a chance for an ending that doesn’t involve the doom of humanity. Even with a lot of heroics, that’s a distinct possibility — part of me wants that to happen, just to see how Chu pulls it off.

I remember liking Salvager more than I did, but whatever — the sequel did everything it needed to do to push the story forward into the third book, with heightened action, more investment in the characters and what happens to them. Chu accomplished everything he needed to here and more. I could really use a time machine now to get my hands on the concluding volume.

—–

4 Stars

Madam Tulip and the Knave of Hearts by David Ahern

By HCNewton

On October 19, 2016

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

Madam Tulip and the Knave of Hearts

by David Ahern
Series: Madam Tulip, #2

Kindle Edition, 355 pg.
Malin Press, 2016

Read: September 29 – October 1, 2016

After the dramatic events at the end of her first experiment as Madam Tulip, Derry puts away her costume and fortune-telling apparatus, focusing on something safer — like theater. Which works up until the roof caves in after her big opening night. So now she (and her friends) are without jobs, the theater’s existence is in danger, and Derry’s mother is just waiting for a chance to pounce and force her into a “real” job.

Derry and her pals organize a charity auction (with some help from her mother) to help the theater — Derry also ends up working for her mother in a temporary capacity (only one of them actually believes that part) — we see a different side of her, on e that makes you believe she has options outside of acting if she wants them. I like seeing her character rounded out — I also liked the little flash we had of her acting ability outside of Madam Tulip.

Marlene comes to the rescue as well — she has a friend from a titled family, who is throwing an extravagant engagement party and wants Madam Tulip to be part of it. This will give Derry a needed infusion of cash and the family will make a contribution to the theater’s fund as well (there’s a family connection). Bruce also picks up some work, which is convenient for Derry — and for Ahern — always handy to have your ex-SEAL buddy character nearby if things go bad. And they do, naturally — Derry has visions of an unhappy bride, body parts start showing up in the mail (don’t worry — this doesn’t get gruesome), and rumors of other family problems surround Derry. It’s up to her, her clients (featuring a spunky dowager), and Bruce to save the day.

It might just be me, but there’s a larger supernatural feel to this one. Last time, you could almost get away thinking that Derry was just good at reading people and doing the card thing as a lark. But in this volume, there’s no denying that she has some sort of “sight.” While the supernatural is more evident here, it’s not like Charlaine Harris took over, it’s still pretty much the same feel. Also, I should add that Derry putting the pieces together at the end isn’t all due to her gift — the practical side, her mother’s influence, that has as much to do with her success as anything else.

There’s a bit of a romantic storyline here, I liked this one better than the previous book’s foray into that part of Derry’s life. It was less complicated and more believable. Sure, I liked the guy from the last book more than this one — but the story worked better with this interest.

The whole gang is back for this go ’round. We didn’t get a lot of Bella, less of Marlene than I expected, and less of Bruce than I wanted (but he’s there when he needed to be) — but the just the right amount of Jacko (who was a lot of fun) and her mom. The new characters were okay, I didn’t get the sense of connection to them that I did with everyone last time — they were clearly invented just for this adventure, ready to be replaced by another group in need of her talents.

This is a fun, light mystery — great for readers of David Rosenfeldt or Janet Evanovich, who don’t mind a touch of something beyond this world. I really liked the first book in this series — I’ve even put my money where my mouth is and given it as gifts. I liked this one almost as much, but in many ways it reminded me about what I’ve heard many TV writers talk about — writing the pilot is hard, but the 2^nd episode is worse — it’s basically retelling the pilot in a slightly different way. On many fronts, that’s what this felt like: a slightly tweaked version of the first book (and as soon as I wrote that, I thought of at least a half-dozen ways I was wrong to say it). I hope book 3 (assuming we get one) is a little less like these two. But I’m still going to be there, because these characters and Ahern’s voice are right up my alley and I want to spend more time with both.

—–

4 Stars

Pub Day Repost: The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by David Rosenfelt

By HCNewton

On October 18, 2016

In Andy Carpenter, David Rosenfelt, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas

by David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter, #15eARC, 336 pg.
Minotaur Books, 2016
Read: August 27, 2016

I’m not a big fan of holiday-themed installments of long-running series (see the Holiday Plum novels or the Silent Night Spenser novel as glaring examples of how bad these can be). But you know I’m a completist — and if I could make it through the aforementioned books, I could handle this. Thankfully, this was pretty light on the Christmas theme (sure, there are trees and gifts and whatnot, but it’s not really that different from your standard Andy Carpenter novel. So, if you think like I do — don’t worry. If you don’t mind/like a little holiday cheer — don’t worry, you’ll find it.

A friend of the Tara Foundation, “Pups” (so-called because she takes care of stray puppies until they’re old enough to adopt out, and might be pickier than Willie when it comes to worthy humans). Is facing eviction because of the large number of puppies she has in her home, and a new neighbor is complaining. Pups isn’t really what you call “friendly,” “polite” or someone who “should be allowed to interact with people.” She’s crabby, opinionated, blunt and has no patience for fools — particularly fools that seem intent on messing with her and her puppies. So Pups has said a few things that make it sound like she’d be happy if the neighbor stopped breathing.

Which, naturally, means that he ends up killed and that someone did a really sloppy frame job on ol’ Pups. The frame job is actually bigger than just this one killing, but you can read that for yourself.

Why prosecutors continue to play hardball with Carpenter clients, I just don’t get. I never understood why Hamilton Burger insisted on taking Perry Mason’s clients to trial, and I can’t understand why New Jersey’s prosecutors don’t just dismiss charges the instant that Carpenter and Hike show up on the other side of a courtroom. But they don’t, which means we get to watch Andy do his thing, fret about his jury deliberation superstitions, and annoy a judge. Who could ask for more?

I really think the mystery, the culprit and the way things unfold in Twelve Dogs is better than the last few books in this series. Everything’s clicking just like it should in these pages. This may be some of the best Marcus material in quite a while — the way that the gang leader acts around and talks about “Mr. Marcus” tells you more about Marcus than anything that Andy could possible tell us. The book would be worth reading just for that.

Minor spoiler: and hopefully once the book is published, this’ll be taken care of. It was a shame to see Andy betting since he and Ricky and just made a promise to stop doing that about a third way through the last book (I’m too lazy to look up page number, an approach Andy would probably endorse) — and Laurie made it clear that he was expected to keep that promise. It’s a minor note that I probably only caught because I read the two passages in the same 24-hour period.

It’d be really hard to rank Carpenter books in terms of happy and/or sweet endings. But if you were bored/ambitious enough to take on that task, I’m pretty sure that this would find itself close to the top. A great addition to one of the more entertaining mystery series around.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Minotaur Books via NetGalley in exchange for this post — thanks to both for this.

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4 Stars

The Rise of Io by Wesley Chu

By HCNewton

On October 4, 2016

In Fiction, Science Fiction, Wesley Chu

The Rise of Io

by Wesley ChuA
Series: Io, #1

eARC, 352 pg.
Angry Robot, 2016

Read: September 27 – 29, 2016

“Stick with me, kid ,” he said. “We’ll introduce you to a bigger world with all sorts of new people who will want to kill you.”

Let me start by saying that while this is a sequel to the Tao Trilogy (taking place a couple of decades after The Rebirths), you don’t have to have read them to enjoy this. You’ll miss some nuances, not understand some references and will spoil events in books that you’ll end up wanting to have read. But, it’s not essential — and this would be a great jumping-on point. If you’ve read the Tao Trilogy, let me assure you that this is a worthy successor, just as fun — a part of the same series, but it feels fresh enough that you don’t feel like you’ve read this book before.

Ella Patel lives in an Indian slum — in part of the world hardest hit by the war between the Quasing factions and their human allies (while I feel bad for these fictional Indians, I’m so glad to see alien combat not centered in the U.S.). She lives on her own, orphaned by circumstance and a Gengix attack — between her small size, quick wit and almost all-consuming greed she lives life on her own terms, two steps ahead of the law and one step ahead of criminals she’s wronged. I could’ve read at least 100 pages more of her antics before we introduced a single Quasing from either side and been entirely content (not a complaint about when we got Quasings, however), Ella’s just instantly likeable in a way that no one in these series has been (with the possible exception of Cameron).

Io’s host is in India doing some off-the-books investigating into one of the Gengix’s most ambitious projects yet. That investigation doesn’t go so well and suddenly Io needs a new host — there’s the impetuous woman who tried to help her host nearby (and a much better option than anyone else), so Io makes a choice and the Queen of the streets becomes so much more. Their relationship defines rocky initially (see Tao and Roen, but worse).

It should be obvious (but isn’t) that not every Quasing will have had as illustrious existence as Tao — Io’s haven’t developed a martial art, conquered legendary kingdoms, etc. Which isn’t to say that Io didn’t leave her mark on history — for example, I trust the name “The Maginot Line” rings a bell.

As the minutes ticked by, Io clarified some of the dreams of her glorious career inhabiting humans. If anything, it comforted Ella that the Quasing weren’t all-knowing and powerful, that they were just as culpable and mistake-prone as any human.

Nevertheless, just by having existed for a few millennia on earth, Io’s got a lot of wisdom and experience to pass on to her new host. Slowly — and with several appeals to her mercenary streak — Io convinces Ella to begin training to become a Prophus agent. Eventually, Ella begins to make a sort of peace with her new life partner and something approaching friendship begins to develop.

Incidentally, Ella’s not the only one comforted by a not-all-that-perfect Quasing.

Meanwhile, a couple of Gengix Adonis agents are vying for control over India — with the citizenry of the slum (and the nation, really) acting as pawns. Shula is one of the more lethal women you’ll come across — both politically and physically. She’s not one you want to cross in almost any situation — but that doesn’t stop many.

At some point, Prophus agents come to town and everything gets turned upside down — Ella finds a desire to help the Prophus, Shula seized the opportunity for personal power, and Io has her chance at doing something that’ll leave her mark on history.

The fight scenes (training and otherwise) are up to Chu’s pretty high standards, the humor is crisp, the characters (including a couple of old friends) are just right, and the plots are among his best — I just don’t know how else to put this. The book was a solid winner and had me eager for the next installment, and then Chu hits us with one of the best Epilogues that I can remember, making me more than eager for whatever’s next (not really sure what the word for “more than eager” is, eager squared?).

Great characters, twists, suspense and grins — I dug this one so much. He keeps the magic of the Tao books, reinvigorates it and expands it. I expected Chu to deliver just what fans wanted without it being a case of “second verse, same as the first,” I just didn’t expect it’d be this good. Get on this one, folks.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Angry Robot via NetGalley in exchange for this post — thanks to both for this.
N.B.: As this was an ARC, any quotations above may be changed in the published work — I will endeavor to verify them as soon as possible.

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4 Stars