What Am I Reading Wednesday, January 27 2016

[hoursgoneby]

What I Just Finished Reading: Magic's Promise, by Mercedes Lackey. This is definitely the strongest book out of the trilogy. It's more plot and less character driven compared to the others, making for a much tighter story, without the major plot elements crammed in at beginning, middle, and end, as the other two books in the trilogy did. You definitely get a sense of the magic and politics of the wider world of Valdemar, which is great, but sadly the momentum won't last.

If I were to edit this, now, I'd lop out most of the first book, keep this one largely intact, trim out about the first half of the third and expand on the last quarter, and print it as a single novel.

Hunter of Demons, by Jordan L. Hawk. I got this as a free book after I signed up for the author's mailing list. (Seems a fair exchange for a couple of emails a month, yes?) You can also download it for free from Smashwords via the link. I liked it well enough - though not as well as Whyborne & Griffin *g* - and will probably pick up the omnibus edition of the 1st series at some point. Hunter of Demons takes place in a version of our world where the paranormal isn't hiding behind a masquerade and there's a government branch (SPECTR) in charge of hunting down demons etc. and watching over normal humans with paranormal talents. (Think Mutant Registration Act, here.) Per Smashwords:

When Caleb is possessed by a vampire spirit named Gray, his only hope lies with hotshot federal exorcist John Starkweather. The only problem? If Caleb can't keep Gray from giving into Bloodlust, Starkweather will have no choice but to kill them both.

There also seems to be an underlying conspiracy theory that's no doubt spread through the rest of the series, and we also Gray's thoughts as he experiences life in a living body (previously he only possessed the dead), two things that honestly interested me more than the story itself.

Magic's Price, by Mercedes Lackey. I wanted to like this much more than I did. I should have, because there are a lot of elements in it that I like, just...Vanyel's moodiness and uncertainties and 'woe is me!' attitude just wore on me. It didn't help that the actual crisis of the novel - of the trilogy - was just kind of crammed into the last few pages and then - fizzled.

I was definitely not happy to have Rape As Drama gratuitously dumped in there. There were at least three ways to avoid Vanyel's capture period and there are just some things I do not like to see dropped in a story purely for shock value, and that's one of the big ones.

Overall the entire series felt like a fanfic - and that's not a shot, god knows that would be hypocritical - where the author wants to explore the characters away from the main storyline and so just uses the main storyline as background. That's not bad: I've read some wonderful stories that do that. It just doesn't work here.

The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black, by E.B. Hudspeth. Would you like a beautifully illustrated horror story that sends cold tendrils creeping up your spine ever so slowly? May I suggest the above. This was amazing! Very impressive, especially considering a powerful story is delivered in roughly 50 pages - the 2nd half of the book is anatomical drawings of mythical creatures - and is one of the best examples of Nothing Is Scarier I've ever encountered. You have just enough information your imagination fills in the rest. Very definitely recommended!

Academ's Fury, by Jim Butcher. I did like this better than Furies of Calderon, though not enough that I'm rushing through the series. It's still in 'fill in the last allotted space of library books I can check out' territory. It didn't feel as unfinished as the first book, but where the first felt like it had more pages than story, this one almost feels like there's too much pressed into it. hamsterwoman suggested it would pick up around book #4, and I'm willing to give it at least that long. I might check out a wiki or TVTropes for info on #3 and just push ahead to 4, even.

Restless Spirits, by Jordan L. Hawk. And this is the book i got in exchange for signing up for the author's mailing list. Spiritualists and debunkers in a haunted castle? I can get behind that. It's set in roughly the same time period as Whyborne & Griffin (late 19th/early 20th century, during the Spiritualist craze) and has a few similarities. Vincent and Henry are distinctly different characters, however. Henry tends to be an ass at times and did a few things I didn't like. (Don't out people. Don't.) He can recognize or be brought to recognize his mistakes, though, so there's a promise of growth. I do like the steampunk-y feel to the book, which actually is in line with the time period. Think Edison's Spirit Phone.

My favorite character in the book would have to be Jo. Technically inclined women? Yes please! :D

What I'm Reading Now: The King of Elfland's Daughter, by Lord Dunsany. Trying to read, anyway. When you keep glancing at the page numbers to see how much further you have to go it's not a good sign. I don't know if it's the language or just that I had higher expectations but this is seriously heading toward the 'abandoned' shelf. Which I don't have, but am thinking of creating, just for this.

What I'm Reading Next: Rosemary and Rue: An October Daye Novel, by Seanan McGuire. I've seen mixed review for this, but I read part of the sample for book #2 in the series and found it hard to tear away, so I'll give it a shot. The blurb on Goodreads doesn't sound terribly original, but you never know.

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

Glad to hear Alera is working a little better for you. Book 3 was a low point for me, I think, but I did thing it got better from there, yeah, so hopefully you'll find it the same. I'm trying to remember if anything really important happens in book 3 that you would miss out on if you did the Wikipedia thing... There's a reveal that happens in this book, which you may or may not have already guessed, so it might be fun to read just to see that happen in situ. Actually, two reveals, apparently, or a reveal and a realization. (Which is a reason you may want to not go looking for it on Wiki/TV Tropes, if you don't want to be spoiled for stuff prematurely.)

Rereading my write up of the book, it looks like the beginning wasn't doing it for me, but it picked up for me towards the end. So maybe check it out but feel free to skim the first part? The first part is heavy on Ehren and Amara, so if you like those characters, you may enjoy it more than I did (I did come to like Ehren a lot, eventually, but wasn't there yet in this book). But more fun characters show up towards the end. Lots of Isana, too (which was a negative for me, but might not be for you).

So basically I think I'm suggesting you should read it after all, just because it makes for a good building block for book 4. But feel free the skim the boring/annoying bits :)

I'm looking forward to your thoughts on Toby Daye. I have mixed feelings about this series myself -- I keep reading it, but almost always come away from the installments with some degree of frustration. It is exactly the sort of thing I should love -- urban fantasy + mystery blend, urban fantasy with faeries, set in San Francisco -- and yet I don't LOVE it, I'm not even sure I like the series half the time. (Partly it might've been overhyped to me before I started, and maybe it would work better for me if I'd come to it cold?) But anyway, there's one secondary character I really love, and a couple of others who are a lot of fun, and a couple of nicely set up reveals.

Book 1 is not bad though definitely not without flaws; book 2 is, I think, the weekest of the bunch by far -- the setup is very neat, but the resolution is... not, IMO -- but they start picking up from there.

[hours-gone-by.livejournal.com]

I blow hot and cold on Isana. I can't quite put my finger on why. I should like her, but there's just something that puts me off a bit.

Sounds like there's more to it than I'd get using TVTropes or a Wiki then. Well, I have a library card and time, if nothing else! :) I keep expecting Tavi to have some sort of revelation and wind up with, like, super-control over furies or something. That could be The Last Herald-Mage bleeding through, though.

So far I think the book's leaning too heavily on fae-related references, and that Dresden Files and Wicked Lovely did blending with the real world better. But the protagonist just stopped being a fish, so we'll see.

[hamsterwoman]

I don't like Isana much (though normally I love healer characters), partly for spoilery reasons, partly for the way I feel she (and some other 'good guys' characters) get to kind of... have their moral cake and eat it, too, if that makes any sense -- like, the world Butcher set up is one with shades of gray, but a few characters are allowed to take the moral high ground and the narrative actually makes it so they do not suffer any negative consequences for it. Or when they don't take moral high ground, they still get to come across as good and moral. But anyway!

But the protagonist just stopped being a fish, so we'll see.

LOL, it does pick up after that :) But in general, I agree. I like the integration of fae and real world in Wicked Lovely better, on the whole, and I think Dresden Files does a much better job with the mystery/PI aspect. I do think the Toby books are doing something unusual as far as urban fantasy-with-faeries goes, in that Toby is not an outsider narrator but someone steeped in the fae side of life (even though, as a changeling, she doesn't fully belong there either). But that choice has added challenges for the writing, and it doesn't pay off as well for me as I would've hoped. (Speaking of urban fantasy with faeries, have you read Holly Black's Tithe series?) That's another one that I like (YA, like Wicked Lovely).

[hours-gone-by.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I've read anything by Holly Black, actually. (Long story short, money and my bank account were not friends for a long period of time, and the library's fantasy section isn't great, so I'm badly behind on a lot of modern fantasy.) I'll add Tithe to my 'want to read' shelf though. Thanks! :)

[hamsterwoman]

If you are open to reading YA, which it sounds like you are, Holly Black is really, really good! I would say anything by her (except maybe the midgrade books, which are very midgrade -- not a criticism of the quality for the target audience, necessarily, but they didn't hook me as an adult reader) is worth checking out if your library has it. I haven't read her latest yet, but here's what I have read:

- Tithe -- 3 loosely connected books (same world, overlap in characters, but two different groups of protagonists), urban fantasy with faeries; sequels: Valiant, Ironside

- Curseworkers -- trilogy with young con artist protagonist, set in a world where magic is done by touch and is illegal, some fraction of the population has magic, different types of magic, each of which has a very real drawback. Dysfunctional family, boarding school, interesting unreliable narrator. The books are White Cat, Red Glove, Black Heart, and I think these are the best of Holly Black's books -- very highly recommended.

- The Coldest Girl in Coldtown -- standalone, interesting take on vampires, with a female protagonist I like a lot.

There's also a collection of short stories, The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, and that one's good, too.

[hours-gone-by.livejournal.com]

I read YA, yes. I didn't confine myself to that age range when I was in it, I don't see why I should exclude myself from it now. :)

Thanks!