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Wednesday, February 02, 2022

Crowbones by Anne Bishop, The Dying Day by Vaseem Khan, and The Adventures of Dillon Heilberg's Crismis

 I am still a month behind in reviewing.  More from January.

I fell for Anne Bishop's world of The Others  in 2016 and have read them all since then. Written in Red, the first book was published in 2013.  The rebellion of "Humans First and Last" was a sort of prescience of the Maga movement.    

There are 5 books in the first series and 3 in the Lake Silence series--all set in the world of The Others.

Crowbones is the 3rd in the spin-off series set in Lake Silence (and I enjoyed it and the first two books in the spin-off), but not as much as the first books in the original series.  

I recommend beginning with Written in Red, I didn't and had to go back and pick it up back in 2016.  It's a strange world that fits in a weird way with many of the chaotic problems of our current world--almost like an allegory, given the way things have changed since Bishop published the first book.  The world of The Others is urban fantasy unlike any of the others I've read.

NetGalley/Berkley Publ.
Urban Fantasy.  March 8, 2022.  Print length:  384 pages

The Dying Day is the second in the Malabar House series by Vaseem Khan.  

1950--Persis Wadia is India's first female police officer and the time and culture make her position unusual and difficult.  And Persis is not always tactful or patient.  She's opinionated, stubborn, and often her own worst enemy, but she is determined.

A priceless manuscript of Dante's Divine Comedy goes missing and so has John Healey, the English scholar working on a translation.  

There are murders and riddles and political implications and threads going back to the war.  

I'm liking this series and look forward to the next book.  

Audiobook.  Narrator:  Maya Saroya.  

18 comments:

  1. The Malabar House series sounds particularly interesting to me. I have to check it out.

    I saw that wonderful story about the 8-year-old's book. What a beginning to his literary career!

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    1. I've found both Vaseem Khan's books in this series interesting. Interesting characters and a period that is trying to find its way after independence.

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  2. I really enjoy Vaseem Khan's writing, both this Malabar House series and his Baby Ganesh series.

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    1. I should try the Baby Ganesh series. I've had great luck with your recommendations :)

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  3. I saw a clip on the news this morning about that little boy and his book. How cute is that? I love how he just slipped it on the library's shelves. :)

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    1. Me, too! Slipping his book onto the shelves and then having the librarians make the most of it and kids checking it out was heartwarming!

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  4. It seems Dillon Helbig is well on his way to becoming a published author. Time travel via the star exploding from his Christmas tree ... sounds good to me. yes!

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    1. Dillon has quite the imagination! He was obviously read to and encouraged in his love of books!

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  5. I loved hearing about Dillon's adventures sneaking his book onto a library shelf!

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  6. I really need to get back into The Others series. I LOVED the first book. I have the second, but it just keeps getting pushed back. I've gotta remedy that soon. The Malabar House series sounds like something I'd really enjoy. Another one to add to my huge TBR list, lol. And that's such a cool story about the boy and his book. I loved hearing about it. :)

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    1. :) Anne Bishop's The Others is a great series! I like The Malabar House series, too, and Suhata Massey's Perveen Mistry series is excellent.

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  7. I haven't read Anne Bishop's books for a long time! And The Dying Day sounds like a good read.

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    1. Both Bishop and Vaseem Khan write great stories. :)

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  8. I just love The Others series! I've read them all once, and planned on rereading the first one sometime coming up. It isn't the sort of reading I usually do, what with the cutting and all, but she has such an eye for creative world-building that I eagerly anticipate this new one. Glad you liked it, and hope I get it soon!

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    1. I like the original series best, but I'm always eager to rejoin the world of The Others!

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  9. The Vasheem Khan series sounds like one I would love to read. Maybe I'll give it to myself for my upcoming birthday! Thanks for sharing the story of the boy who put his book in the library stacks. Charming.

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    1. Try Suhata Massey's Perveen Mistry books. The first is The Widows of Malabar Hill. This series is set earlier than Khan's, but the combination of great characters and plots in Bombay during the 1920's is excellent. The Hindu, Zoroastrian, and Muslim religions and cultures and the ever-present British authority....

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