Defending the Galaxy by Maria V. Snyder and The Blacksmith Queen by G.A. Aiken

 

Defending the Galaxy, the final book in the Sentinels of the Galaxy trilogy by Maria V. Snyder, offers another fun and exciting adventure.  Snyder is able to take a pretty odd and fantastical premise  involving the terra cotta warriors and turn it into a multi-planet  space conspiracy full of suspense.  

Begin with Navigating the Stars, then try Chasing the Shadows so you have all the characters and the background. 

Likable characters, the Q-net, and a courageous attempt to save the galaxy. :)

Purchased.

YA/Science Fiction.  Dec. 2, 2020.  Print length:  407 pages.

Funny, bawdy, farcical, with a lot of bloody incidents,  The Blacksmith Queen is...well, I'm not entirely sure how to classify it.  Parody/Fantasy?  Fun!

Keely is a big, strong woman who loves her hammer, her forge, and  her family.  She has a sunny personality and likes and gets along with everyone--with the exception of her sister Gemma, who ran off and became a nun.  

The humor of this brawny woman blacksmith and her sister the nun (with a secret) and their constant arguments, their strange family, the Centaurs, dwarves, and demon wolves--kept me grinning.  Oh, and there's an evil sister whose machinations endanger everyone.

It is a fantasy that has danger and suspense, and yet is full of rude humor, arguing siblings, and strange allies.  The Blacksmith Queen seems intent on overturning many of the fantasy tropes, retaining the sense of danger in spite of all the silliness.

This is a love it or hate it book.  The first chapter made me think I would abandon it, but I'm so glad I didn't.  All the brawling, messy, ridiculousness I would have missed!  Definitely over-the-top, but I had a great time reading it.

Kindle Unlimited

Fantasy/Parody/Camp.  2019.  Print length:  304 pages.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Graham-Smith (R.I.P)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies  is another book that I hoped to like, but instead found tiresome. It isn't that I dislike mash-ups.  I do like them--or some of them.  Last year I read Shakespeare Undead for the R.I.P. challenge and found it great fun.

I love Jane Austen and P & P in particular.  I've re-read the novel many times, and it has never failed to make me chuckle and to marvel at Austen's insight into human nature.

I like zombies.  Serious and scary zombies and zombie parodies, both.   Loved seeing How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse (a zombie boot camp) when we were in Edinburgh.

So...what went wrong (for me) with P & P & Z?

1.  Elizabeth in P & P & Z is NOT the witty Elizabeth Bennett of the original.  E. B. in this pastiche is simply unpleasantly blood-thirsty and offensive.  The humor concerning the zombies is forced and crude compared to Austen's sophisticated satire.

2.  The zombies are a gimmick.  In spite of the frequent zombie attacks, they are not frightening.  Or maybe I just wanted the zombies to go ahead and eat the brains of all of the characters--the entire clans Bennet, Darcy, Collins, Bingley, etc.) --preferably in the first chapter.

3.  I read the whole damn thing.  It took forever, and I probably read 5 or 6 other books during the same period.  Finishing the book is not a feat of which I'm proud.  I kept hoping that it would really engage, and when it didn't, I plowed ahead anyway.  Masochistic.

My last book for the R.I.P. challenge.

Fiction.  Mashup/Pastiche/Parody/Supernatural.  2009.  317 pages.