Book 55

Book 55 was The Road, by Cormac McCarthay. I honestly don't know what is is with me and depressing books this year. This one was grim. Father and son travel through post apocalyptic world, making their way to the ocean and more "good" people. 

I just had to take a deep sigh. I like this book, and it read very quickly (I got through it in 4 hours). But wow, it was harsh. There was death, and cannibals, and slaves and other craziness. Not only do you have all of that loveliness, but the dad is getting quite sick as they make their way east. 

I did like the book, but I kept feeling as though I should be getting more of out of it than I did. I got "Wow, it sucks to live after what seems like an atomic bomb dropping. If I live, I am moving into Barnes and Noble (preferably one with a Starbucks in it) until the cannibals get me." I don't think that was supposed to be the message. I am pretty sure it was "disaster makes good people do morally gray things", or " having someone to love can get you through a lot of bad shit", or "being a good parent is hard, even in a wasteland with no one around" or "don't bomb people".  All good messages, only my personal one is the loudest.

I will read more Cormac McCarthy books. I will just make sure I sandwich them between nice, fluffy books.

The Road

Cormac McCarthy

who cares/55

Book 54

Look at the progress I am making! Woot!

Book 54 was Heart of Light, by Sarah A Hoyt. This is a sort of mystery, sort of quest, sort of romance novel. It's set in a Victorian world with magic-and flying carpets! The flying carpets were possibly one of the best elements in the book.

Heart of Light wasn't a bad book-just uneven. The romance part was handled pretty deftly, as you were kept unsure of who would be with who until the very end. The mystery was kind of silly and predictable-I knew what was going on before any of the characters in the book did, and that was sad. The quest was better, if a bit stale. Our heroes and heroines need to collect a magic ruby that can redistribute magic and get it to Queen Victoria before some horrible heathens get it.

The book really excelled when it was examining the class differences in the Victorian world. The reason the ruby needs to get to the Queen is so that the magic left in the world can be given to those who are "worthy" of it-aka the upper class and aristocracy. This has already been done once in Europe, and needs to be strengthen in order to clinch the British Empires hold on the world. But the ruby is located deep in Africa, and the people there are attempting to stop this stealing of magic from happening. The book take a good look at the perspectives of several levels of society-a typical British nobleman, his lady wife, a half Indian woman, an African woman who works as a servant despite being a high ranked lady in her village, another British gentlemen afflicted with a curse that ends his chances in the civilized world, and an African tribesman. All of their views are looked and examined, and I found it quite interesting to compare and contrast their world views.

Overall, the book was decent. It was a quick read, and despite a somewhat stale plot it still worked for me. I will complete the series-the other two books come out this year.

Heart of Light

Sarah A Hoyt

no clue/54

Books 43-48

I am really bad at this updating thing, seriously.

Anyway, books 43-48 were the Rachel Morgan series by Kim Harrison. They are, in series order, Dead Witch Walking, The Good, the Bad and the Undead, Every Which Way but Dead, A Fistful of Charms, For a Few Demons More, and The Outlaw Demon Wails. It's paranormal fantasy, set in a world where a massive genetic disease killed off most normal humans, allowing the typical paranormal set of races (witches, vampires, werewolves) with a few additions (pixies, fairies, gargoyles) take over.

This is a decent series overall-the main character is engaging and convincingly flawed, her friends are interesting, and the world itself is nicely done. The paranormal races seemed to be pretty carefully formulated-they don't deviate much from what their initial boundaries are, which is all to the good, in that characters (beyond our heroine, Rachel) are not constantly getting massive level boost each books, and skills they gain are gained through practice (yeah, I play D&D and like putting character ability progression in terms of level). 

My favorite part of the series overall is the friendship between Rachel (a witch) and her two business partners and best friends-Ivy, a vampire and Jenks, a pixy. Yes, there are pixies and fairies in this series, and it's fun, since their potential for sabotage is fully explored.  The three live and work together, and I love how their individual friendships with each other and their dynamic as a group is explored. The author really shows how a family can be created from people you love, not just blood ties.

Overall, the series is very fun, with a good balance of light and dark moments. Not heavy reads, but not a fluff festival by any means.

Dead Witch Walking The Good, the Bad and the Undead

Every Which Way but Dead A Fistful of Charms

For a Few Demons More The Outlaw Demon Wails

Kim Harrison

?/?/48

Books 31-35

Books 31-35 are the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. The books are: Outlander, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross and A Breath of Snow and Ashes (I always skip the second book, Dragonfly in Amber, since I don't like it as much as the rest). Basic plot-Claire, a young women in post WWII England accidentally travels back in time to 1740s Scotland, where she mets and marries the love of her life, Jamie. The rest of the books deal with Claire and Jamie's trails and travails.

These books are seriously dense-they are roughly 800 pages a pop, and a lot of info and events are crammed into them. They are also notoriously difficult to categorize, as they are partially romance novel, partly historical fiction, part alternate history and part Sci Fi/Fantasy. Overall, it's a solid series-they are hits and misses here and there, mainly with unnecessary subplots. The books can also be a bit tiring-our heroine has many adventures, and after a while it's just too much to take in. The book excels in wonderful settings and fully realized characters-you can see Claire and Jamie's growth as characters quite clearly, and others develop believably as well. It's just there are so many!

Outlander, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross & 

A Breath of Snow and Ashes

Diana Gabaldon

na/13/35

 

Books 21, 22, 23 & 24

Another combined write up! Yay! 

This time it was a reread of the Light series by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It consists of four books-Ghostlight, Witchlight, Gravelight and Heartlight. The books are loosely connected-they all share common characters, and the final book is a decades stretching view of world the books take place in from the view of a character who is mentioned often, but never really seen in the first three books.

Rereading these, I remembered how much I enjoyed them. They are set in the modern world, with magic. The stories flow smoothly, and I love the fact that the characters from book to book change, but you still get updates and see characters from prior books. It's a nice touch, especially since I am one of those people who always wonder what happens to a character after the book ends. 

My only issue with the books is occasionally the narration feels a bit disconnected, like the narrator isn't really a part of what is going on, even though they always are. This is a bit noticeable in Ghostlight, but very annoying in Heartlight.

Ghostlight, Witchlight, Gravelight and Heartlight

Marion Zimmer Bradley

na/24/24

Book 13

Alright, back with another update. (FYI-this one is VERY spoilery.)

Book 13 was Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was different-a quiet book, and sad. It's about a girl who was created as an organ replacement clone. The story follows her life in three parts-the school she and other clones were raised at, her year or so of moderate freedom after finishing school at 16, and her life as a "carer", taking care of other clones who have begun making donations.

The book isn't so much depressing as sad in a wistful way. The clones are very sheltered, and there lives are very close-they don't mingle with non-clones, and therefore know very little of the wide world. They long for more, but they all know they can't really have it.

It was a good book, very subtle and more about emotions than actions. I liked it-I spent a lot of time thinking about the morality of raising clones to replace body parts after reading it. 

Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro

1/13/13

Read 1-21-08