The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss

 Another favorite book for the year, and one so different from any of the others!  

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter is a mash-up that involves characters from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sherlock Holmes, Rappacini's Daughter, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Frankenstein, and Dracula.  

From this pantheon of some of my favorite classic science fiction/horror novels, Goss plucks characters like Mr. Hyde and Beatrice Rappacini and creates characters like Mary Jekyll and Diana Hyde.  She takes incidents from the original stories and recasts them or concocts "new" information and events.  

And it works!  If you've loved these classics as I have, you will find Gross's novel delightful, but even if you are not familiar with the originals, the story is still fun as these women unite to fight a secret society of power-mad scientists.  

My only complaint is that in the first couple of chapters there are too many unnecessary editorial interruptions as the characters give their opinions about what is being recorded.  Catherine is the main author, but the characters are all present as the story is being written and want to give their thoughts and assessments.  For me, this was too frequent at the beginning and distracted from the plot.

As the story moves on, however, these asides(?) became less frequent and more enjoyable.

What an adventure, what a pleasure this book was!  I can't wait for more from Theodora Gross about these women.  

Digression:  The words "monstrous regiment of women" kept echoing in my head as I read, but I couldn't remember the context.  Oh, yeah, that interfering misogynist who railed against female sovereigns because women had no business taking precedence over men, the repellent John Knox.  In his tract The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women gave his opinion about female sovereigns ("monstrous" meant unnatural and "regiment" meant rule, not a military division).  According to Knox, it was unnatural for women to be heads of state and Mary of Guise, Mary Queen of Scots, and Queen Mary of England had to endure his despicable influence.  Elizabeth I detested him.  Miserable man.

Anyway, the phrase "monstrous regiment of women" works perfectly well with a different slant in this refreshing and amusing book, as Mary Jekyll, Diana Hyde, Beatrice Rappacini, Catherine Montgomery, and Justine Moritz (bride of Frankenstein), a very different Mrs. Poole than the one in Jane Eyre--work with Holmes and Watson to solve the murders of young women in London.  A cadre of unique women who solve crimes.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter is a winner in my book.

NetGalley/Saga Press

SciFi/Fantasy.  June 20, 2017.  Print version:  416 pages.  

A Poem and 3 Reviews

National Poetry Month:

My friend Mary mentioned that one of her favorite poets was Sylvia Plath, which reminded me of this riddle:

           Metaphors by Sylvia Plath

I’m a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising.
Money’s new-minted in this fat purse.
I’m a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I’ve eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there’s no getting off.

 Can you guess the answer to Plath's riddle?  (answer at bottom of post)

National Letter Writing Month:

I've been working on postcards for NLM and Write_On challenges.  So far, April has seen 13 postcards or letters hit the mail.  If you are interested in receiving a postcard for NLM, let me know.  :)

Disappointing Finales:  

Etched in Bone by Anne Bishop.  I've loved the first four books in this series, but sadly, I did not love this one.  The villain was a dumkopf who would have been suitable for one nefarious episode, but not to carry an entire book.  A disproportionately large part of the book dealt with what people were eating and where. 

The first four books were so engrossing, full of suspense and well-developed characters that I couldn't turn the pages fast enough--so plodding through this final entry was a surprise. 

To have this series end with so little tension and without wrapping up some of the most interesting sidelines left me frustrated and unsatisfied.

Library copy.

Fantasy.  2017.  407 pages.

The Fate of Tearling by Erika Johansen.  The final installment in the Tearling trilogy was also a disappointment, however, at least it was captivating reading up until the last two chapters which boggled my mind.

The origin of Tearling was a problem I could overlook in previous books, but couldn't avoid in this one.  That aspect of the novels didn't work for me, but the problems in Tearling's present were always fascinating.  

Social and religious quandaries are the same throughout history, and it is always interesting to read in fantasy the problems that society faces in real life.  It is sometimes more illuminating to look at these problems in fiction and get another perspective.  

Library copy.

Fantasy.  2016.  496 pages.

A Very Strange Mystery by John Scalzi


The Dispatcher  I didn't realize this was a novella when I requested it from NetGalley, and I usually don't choose novellas, but I'm glad I did this time because The Dispatcher is such a singular mystery.  

Set in the near future, a paradigm shift alters expectations about the finality death.  People still die, but in 999 out of 1,000 cases, people who are killed intentionally --come back to life.

There is no  scientific explanation for this phenomenon, and those who die from suicide, illness, old age, or accident will remain dead, but anyone who is deliberately killed has a 99.9% chance of coming back to life.  This requires some new rules, regulations, and uh, career paths.

Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher, and usually his work involves observing dangerous operations where the risk of death is high.  If the operation goes wrong and the patient is on the verge of death, the dispatcher steps in and dispatches the individual as painlessly as possible.  So...killing the patient before a natural death occurs means that the patient will awake in his or her own bed at home, naked, but very much alive.  

There are, of course, some ethical dilemmas involved, and dispatchers have been known to venture into grey areas.  Yep, it is really difficult to determine the ways a "miracle" can be exploited.  

When Tony's colleague Jimmy Albert disappears, Tony works with Chicago PD's Nona Langdon to discover what happened to the missing dispatcher.

Originally released only in audio format, it is now available as an e-book.

Short and absorbing!

NetGalley/Subterranean Press

Mystery/SiF/Fantasy.  2016, audio; May 31, 2017 e-book. Print length:  136 pages. 
------
Did you get the answer to Plath's riddle? Highlight for the answer:  She is pregnant--love that last line, "Boarded the train there's no getting off."

The Obelisk Gate and So Say the Fallen

Two more November books that kept me interested.

The Obelisk Gate is the second book in N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy.  I can't imagine what goes into writing a trilogy with the scope and depth that Jemisin produces.  The characters and the world continued to entertain me, and I was pleased to continue the development of Hoa and Nessun.  Essun remains the touchstone, but other curious stories are emerging around other characters.  

Did I like it as much as the first book?  No, and I'm not entirely sure why.  Maybe the world-building and character introduction were so unexpected in the first book that the second book couldn't compete with that novel experience. Some sections felt slow as well, and the deliberate hiding of certain information was less titillating and more frustrating than in the first novel.

Which is only to say that I didn't love it with the same intensity as The Fifth Season (reviewed here), but I'm still fascinated with some of the characters and eagerly await a conclusion to the trilogy.

Library copy.

Dystopian/Scifi/Fantasy.  August, 2016.  Print length:  448 pages.

So Say the Fallen by Stuart Neville  is the second in Neville's DCI Serena Flanagan series, but the first I've read.  

Serena Flanagan is not at first suspicious of the suicide of the severely disabled Peter Garrick.  His injuries from an accident are terrible; his wife seems devastated.  Yet some ambiguous, indefinite aspect of the death bothers Serena, and she finds herself unable to immediately sign off on the death as suicide.  The Reverend Peter McKay, a close family friend, comforts Roberta Garrick in her grief over her husband's death.  

Tragedy has followed the Garrick family, and even before Peter Garrick's accident, the couple had lost their young daughter, but even while feeling the sadness of two tragedies in the little family, Serena's instincts tell her to keep digging.

A well-plotted mystery with interesting characters.  A series I will happily pursue.

Library copy.

Crime/Police Procedural.  September 2016.  Print length:  336 pages.

Three Totally Different Genres: Louise Penny, Julia Claiborne Johnson, N.K. Jemisin

In between researching stuff about making handmade paper and other crafty projects, I read several good novels this past week.  And made some more paper!  

A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny is now one of my favorites in the Three Pines series. Along with other followers of this well-loved series, I want to live in Three Pines and interact with Ruth (and Rosa), Gabri, Olivier, Myrna, Clara and other villagers.

The Great Reckoning takes place partly in Three Pines and partly at the Surete Academy of Quebec.  After nearly dying in his attempt to clean up the corruption in the Surete, Chief Inspector Gamache takes a new position as Commander of the Surete's Academy with the intention of getting rid of the vicious practices (and individuals) put in place by the previous adminsitration and intended to continue the corruption in the Surete itself.  The practices are ingrained and the solutions will be challenging.

As usual, Gamache's approach is unconventional.  His decisions about which professors to keep and which to get rid of and which young applicants to accept cause surprise and concern even among those who know and trust Gamache.  When some of his decisions result in unanticipated and unwelcome events,  Gamache and some of the young cadets are endangered.

I love this series, and A Great Reckoning exceeded my expectations.  This may be the best so far in this series...or do I say that too often?

Library copy.

Police Procedural.  2016.  400 pages.

Be Frank with Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson has been on my TBR list since Lark mentioned it.  Funny, poignant, and Salingeresque are some of the terms used to describe the novel, and I found all of them to be appropriate.  

When the reclusive author M.M. Banning finds herself in financial difficulties, she knows she must write another book, the first in decades.  In order to do so, she needs an assistant to manage her household--mostly as a nanny for her nine-year-old son Frank, an eccentric genius with an unusual wardrobe, an encyclopedic store of facts, and a few other quirks that make him uniquely interesting, vulnerable, and often difficult to manage.

Enter Alice Whitley, who at the request of her boss Isaac Vargas, Banning's publisher leaves New York to join the Banning household in Hollywood.

Parts of the novel are funny and joyful, but while we may love and admire a child like this in literature and revel in his eccentricities--life isn't always easy or fun for the child or for those who love him.  Julia Claiborne Johnson makes the most of both of these aspects without going overboard with the fact that children like Frank are alienated from their peers.

Be Frank with Me was a pleasure.

Purchased.

Contemporary fiction.  2016.  309 pages.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison was a compelling introduction to her new trilogy.  I read The Thousand Kingdoms trilogy (reviewed here) last year and was impressed, but this book blew me away.  I was immediately engrossed, found it difficult to put it down, read until late, and finished the next morning. 

From the blurb:  

It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. 

It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. 

It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. 

This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.

Told in 3 narrative strands that you know will fit together, even though you don't know when or how, the novel begins with a mother who discovers her young son's body.  Essun is an orogene (orogenes can control the environment for good or ill and are feared or used according to the situation), but Essun who has disguised herself as an ordinary member of the community.  

Damalya's sections deal with the treatment of orogenes who are discovered in the general population and considered feral (orogenes are bred and trained at the Fulcrum).  Any orogenes found within the general population are either killed outright or taken by Guardians to the Fulcrum for training.  With this section, we gain a better understanding of Essun's need to hide her abilities.

The third narrative strand follows Syenite, a young woman trained at the Fulcrum, who has earned four rings and aspires to advance in the Fulcrum hierarchy.  She is assigned a mission with ten-ringer, and in the course of their association, learns a great deal more than she wanted to know about the Fulcrum.

A novel about the abuse of power, the artificial divisions of society, the subjugation of elements of the population, and the power of the earth.  Seems to fit right in with some of my own worries at the moment.

Library copy.

Dystopian/Scifi/Fantasy.  2015.  500 pages.

Mystery, Fantasy, Suspense

I'm still reading, but haven't been reviewing. I have books from last year that I've still not reviewed!  I'm so behind on visiting and commenting on blogs that I will never catch up. 

I'm not even sure when I read some of these books--they are a mix of November, December, and January.  

My first experience with McPherson was The Child Garden, which I really enjoyed and reviewed here.  I was excited about this new one and snapped up the NetGalley offer (maybe in November?).  I planned to schedule a review closer to the publication date, but Quiet Neighbors is available for pre-order so I'm going to go ahead knock it off my list. 

Jude is running from something and finds herself in the small village of Wigtown, Scotland.  (Wigtown was officially designated as Scotland's National Book Town in 1998 and is now home to over 20 book-related businesses. A book lovers haven – and with over quarter of a million books to choose from, old and new … it is impossible to escape empty-handed.  Source.)

  That was enough to insure my interest.  A book town, an absent-minded owner of a chaotic book shop, a job offer as an assistant to help organize books, a cottage in a graveyard, mysterious notes in books, a village secret....  Yep.  I was all in.  And I enjoyed my foray into the little Scottish town and the curious characters who live there.

NetGalley/Midnight Ink

Mystery.  April 8, 2016.  Print length:  360 pages.  

Night Study  by Maria V. Snyder is the fifth installment in this series.  It took me a little while to re-orient myself, but once I did, the adventures of Yelena and Valek kept me as engrossed as I was in Shadow Study.

Snyder doesn't make much concession to new readers, so it would be much better to start this series at the beginning.  I had the same problem trying to puzzle out characters and past events with Shadow Study, but once involved, I couldn't put it down.

If you are interested in a new fantasy series, this might be one you can really savor by starting with Poison Study and reading the available books in order.  

Night Study was a guilty pleasure--magic and mayhem and and suspense!

NetGalley/Harlequin/Mira

Fantasy.  Jan. 26, 2016. Print length:  448 pages.

The Dead Place is a Cooper and Fry mystery by Stephen Booth.  I liked the first two books in this series, but have missed several.  


Creepy anonymous phone calls to the police, a morbid fascination with death, a funeral home full of suspects, a professor specializing in death rituals, plenty of detail about what happens to the body following death, more than enough about preparing a body for viewing at a funeral home.  I'm glad, my husband and I have chosen cremation.  (Although, I despise the term "cremains.")

Favorite parts:   nods to Cold Comfort Farm, Inspector Morse, and Midsommer Murders; Gavin Murfin's character.

Overall, the book didn't work as well for me as did Black Dog and Dancing with the Virgins.  Fortunately, Booth let Cooper take the lead in this one, because Fry comes off so flat and snarky.  She isn't a likable character to begin with (and deliberately so), but at least in the first two books she was interesting.  Booth does seem to be preparing for some changes in Fry, but she remains an annoying cipher in this book.

The first two books in this series were quite good, and I have missed books 3, 4, and 5--so I am not going to let my disappointment in this one deter me from reading more Cooper & Fry.

Harper/Collins  (purchased ebook)

Mystery, police procedural.  2014.  Print length:  608 pages.

The Short Drop by Matthew Fitzsimmons was a Kindle Unlimited offer and turned out to be a compelling read.  

brief description:  A decade ago, fourteen-year-old Suzanne Lombard, the daughter of Benjamin Lombard—then a senator, now a powerful vice president running for the presidency—disappeared in the most sensational missing-person case in the nation’s history. Still unsolved, the mystery remains a national obsession.

Gibson Vaughn, former legendary hacker, was like an older brother to Suzanne and when approached to try to discover what really happened to Suzanne, he devotes himself to the task.  But someone doesn't want the mystery unraveled and Gibson and his fellow investigators find themselves in danger.  

Fast-paced and compelling, the novel kept me up late, unable to find a place to stop.  This was Fitzsimmons' first novel, but there is to be another novel featuring Gibson Vaughn, and I want it! 

Suspense.  2015.  Print length: 398 pages.

Updraft by Fran Wilde

Updraft by Fran Wilde

A fantasy with a difference; an intriguing world above the clouds with tall towers and wings with which to reach them. 

A singular, fascinating world, even if a bit vague in context. Since this is an uncorrected manuscript, the world-building may be better clarified in the final version.  The basis for this world, however, is strong, distinctive, and original.  

Book Description:  In a city of living bone rising high above the clouds, where danger hides in the wind and the ground is lost to legend, a young woman must expose a dangerous secret to save everyone she loves.

Welcome to a world of wind and bone, songs and silence, betrayal and courage. 

The above description is short and intriguing and works so well with the cover.  The characters are imperfect, interesting, and complex-- working in a unique cultural milieu .  

The strong female protagonist is Kirit who eagerly awaits her wing test.  Kirit's mother is an admired and important trader who flies great distances on her trade routes, and Kirit wants nothing more than to follow in her footsteps.  Circumstances and Kirit's failure to observe one of the laws, however, will alter things immeasurably.  Someone or something is determined to influence and manipulate Kirit's own plans for her future.

This was an uncorrected manuscript, and I'm sure a good editor could smooth things out a bit, but even without it, the originality and strong characterization make Updraft well worth the effort.  A debut novel for an author who will surely develop a strong fan base.

Read in June.  Blog post scheduled for August 24.  

NetGalley/MacMillan-Tor/Forge

Sci-Fi/Fantasy.  Sept. 1, 2015.  Print length:  352 pages.

Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

The Mime Order   

After reading The Bone Season, I jumped right into Samantha Shannon's next installment.  

Of course, Paige does eventually escape the prison camp of Sheol I, but the escape plan went drastically wrong in some areas, and the escapees are much fewer in number than Paige had hoped.    Even after reaching London, elements of the escape go awry, and the escapees are separated.

Paige tops the Most Wanted list in London; Scion has a new device ready to be released that detects clairvoyants; Paige's efforts to expose the connection between the Rephaim and Scion and the terrible danger they pose are discounted; and Paige's relationship with her mime-lord Jaxon Hall, already a little shaky, is damaged further.

Warden's absence is notable in the first part of the novel, but he does make his appearance later.  Interesting how often he now defers to Paige.  

Intricate plot, engaging characters, an examination of the ways that power corrupts, suspense, murders...  All there.

The book is long and the pacing is sometimes slow, but once again, my ability to set it aside was pretty much nil--house keeping, quilting, the garden--all neglected. A twist at the end is one that I'd considered and discarded a couple of times, and a nice set up for the next in the series.

Samantha Shannon talks about The Bone Season:


Library copy.

SciFi/Fantasy.  2015.  510 pages.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

  The Bone Season  

How to categorize this novel....  It is an interesting combination of genres:  science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, futuristic, dystopian, paranormal, political corruption, and underworld crime.

It takes a little while to become settled in the first chapter. The author's attempt to give some background to the world she has created is in the form of an information dump that doesn't always make things clearer.   There are also a lot of terms that need to be explained and although there is a glossary at the back, it would have been nice to have more of them defined in context.  That said, the inclusion of new terms didn't bother me exceedingly, and after the plenitude of sometimes puzzling information, by the second chapter, I was quickly immersed in the world Shannon has created.

Paige Mahoney is a clairvoyant, a class of people feared and hunted by the Scion government.  Just to say one is a "voyant" is only the beginning, however, because one size does not fit all.  There are seven major orders and under each order there are sub-orders.
(for example:  if you were classified as a Guardian, you might be a Binder, a Summoner, a Necromancer, or an Exorcist).

Paige Mahoney is a Jumper, the highest category, and under that umbrella, she is a Dreamwalker, an extremely rare type of clairvoyant.  Since voyants are persecuted by the government, they often join one of the criminal syndicates that protects them, and Paige has a crucial role in the syndicate run by the mime-lord Jaxon Hall.  She is his Dreamwalker and his Mollisher (chosen successor).

When an attempt is made to arrest Paige, she discovers an element of her power that leaves one man dead and another insane.  She escapes the initial confrontation, but is later captured and transferred to a voyant prison run by a powerful alien society known as the Rephaim, who work in conjunction with the Scion government that supplies the voyants.

I found myself engrossed and unable to put the novel down for any length of time--all other projects and activities were set aside.  I already had the second book and dived into it immediately.  

The trailer is a great introduction to the book.

SciFi/Fantasy.  2013.  Print length: 480 pages.  

The Touchstone Trilogy by Andrea K. Host

I mentioned Stray, the first in the Touchstone trilogy, in an earlier post.  Admittedly, I wasn't expecting much as I've not had the best of luck with YA books recently, but Stray hooked my attention and kept it.  

Young Cassandra Devlin has just taken her final exams and is thinking about university as she heads home one afternoon; she suddenly finds herself alone, lost, and confused.  Somehow, she has ended up on another planet, passed through some kind of portal to another world.

It takes Cassandra a while to come to terms with her situation, to admit that she isn't "lost" in the typical sense, but when she does, she takes stock of the few items she has in her backpack, determined to survive.  A diary, bought as a birthday gift for a friend, turns out to be a perfect way for her to record and sort through her emotions and experiences on the uninhabited world in which she finds herself.  The diary provides a way to process her thoughts and her goals; it becomes a companion.

At first, the plot appears to be a sort of Robinson Crusoe adventure, and I'm fond of this kind of plot about how people survive when they find themselves in isolated circumstances without modern technology.  Cass has to find fresh water, discover what plants are edible, and survive in an unfamiliar environment.  Trekking through the landscape, Cass comes up with ways to cope.  She hopes for rescue, but finds no evidence of human occupation, even when she comes to a town that has been long abandoned. Aware that her solitary situation may be permanent, Cass is grateful to at least have shelter and devotes herself to preparation for a long stay.

Eventually, however, Cassandra is rescued by Setari (a group with strong psychic talents that defends the world of Tare); the Setari squad have come to check out threats on the planet Muina.  They take Cass back to their home planet, and the plot begins to turn into the experiences of a refugee or displaced person in another world, an alien (but human) society. Another interesting plot line, the idea of being a foreigner in a strange new world, but then...

another twist. Cassandra isn't a typical "stray."  She has an ability to alter some of the psychic powers of that the society possesses, enhancing some and distorting others.  She becomes a lab rat (her term), but one that is mostly treated benignly as the scientists try to understand her influence.

Cass  is a wonderful character.  She whines some, but always gets on with the situation. She is no super-hero, although she is being trained by what she calls "psychic ninjas"; she is homesick and lonely, but realizes that she must get on with her life as well as she can for the time being.  The secondary characters begin to come alive as well, and  I found myself adjusting pretty quickly to the unusual names.  

The world building is exceptionally well done for the most part, although I had to take certain things on a vague faith.  The "near spaces" and gates were never quite clear, but all else in the world(s) Cassandra must occupy feel remarkably real.

I loved the internet language, the comments about television shows and movies and book characters, and the contemporary and historic Earth references Cassandra makes as she tries to explain things to herself.  There is humor, danger, suspense, relationship-building, and more.  Character-driven with lots of strong female characters and great fun!  And free on Amazon.  Try it!

Unable to wait, I had to get Lab Rat immediately.  The adventures continue, the characters develop, and I couldn't leave this world if I tried--figuratively speaking.  Cass's abilities increase and her dream sequences become dangerous.  The re-opening of Muina and all that exploring and re-settling a world entails kept getting more interesting.  

As soon as I finished, I ordered Caszandra, which was both longer and slower than the first two books.  The final book, while I wouldn't have missed it, is actually the weakest in the series.  The additional length would have been fine, but the pacing was off.  

I certainly want to read more of Host's work because this series succeeded in so many ways and was a pleasure to read.

Science Fiction.  2011.

Mostly Mystery

In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Book Description:     It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and newly ordained Clare Fergusson is on thin ice as the first female priest of its small Episcopal church. The ancient regime running the parish covertly demands that she prove herself as a leader. However, her blunt manner, honed by years as an army pilot, is meeting with a chilly reception from some members of her congregation and Chief of Police Russ Van Alystyne, in particular, doesn't know what to make of her, or how to address "a lady priest" for that matter. 

I enjoyed this novel and plan to read more in the series.

Purchased.  Minotaur Books

Mystery.  Reprint 2012.  Print length:  308 pages.


Chambers of Death by Priscilla Royal

I've enjoyed all of the previous books in this series, so when I was having a difficult time finding books I wanted from NetGalley, it was time to return to another medieval mystery.

Book Description:  When one of her company falls ill on a return journey to Tyndal, Prioress Eleanor accepts lodging at a nearby manor. The hospitality may be warm but the underlying passions among the steward's family are scorching. Master Stevyn's wife is having an affair with the groom while a local widow acts more like the lady of the manor than the lady herself. Stevyn's eldest son and spouse are obsessed with sin and heaven, while his youngest son, bound for the Church, unexpectedly returns with more interest in lute playing than the priesthood.

Murder, of course, can be expected.  The problem is that I didn't much care for this sixth book in the series.  Any series can vary in quality, but I'm not sure if that was the reason I didn't like it as much or if I'm growing a bit tired of the tension between Eleanor and her favorite monk. 

Purchased.  Poisoned Pen Press

Medieval Mystery.  2009, 2011. Print length:  261 pages.

Valley of Dry Bones by Priscilla Royal

Book Description: In the late summer of 1274, King Edward has finally been anointed England’s ruler, and his queen contemplates a pilgrimage in gratitude for their safe return from Outremer, a journey that will include a stay at Tyndal Priory.

I liked this one better than Chamber's of Death, but still wonder if by the 7th book, my interest in the characters is waning.  Maybe it is time for Ralf to have a story entirely to himself.  Or Sister Ann.  Or for the plots to have less to do with Eleanor's troubling attraction to Thomas.

I still love the history included in the books, especially Royal's Author's Notes and Bibliographic source material.

Purchased.  Poisoned Pen Press

Medieval Mystery.  2011.  Print length:  245 pages.

The Murder at Sissingham Hall by Clara Benson

Book description:  On his return from South Africa, Charles Knox is invited to spend the weekend at the country home of Sir Neville Strickland, whose beautiful wife Rosamund was once Knox's fiancee. But in the dead of night Sir Neville is murdered. Who did it? As suspicion falls on each of the house guests in turn, Knox finds himself faced with deception and betrayal on all sides, and only the enigmatic Angela Marchmont seems to offer a solution to the mystery. This 1920s whodunit will delight all fans of traditional country house murder stories.


Clara Benson wrote during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, but none of her books were published until after her death.  She wrote for her own enjoyment and for her friends; I wonder how famous she would have become had she been published during her life time.  At any rate, I love this genre and enjoyed the novel.

Mystery.  2013.  Print length:  262 pages.

Paradigms Lost  

Bad choice of cover.  The book is a light read about a data miner named Jason, his psychic friend Sylvie, and his new client, a vampire.  But the novel is more science fiction than a typical vampire story.

Some interesting ideas, but not terribly satisfying.  

Read in Oct.

NetGalley/Baen

Science Fiction.  Dec. 2, 2014.  print length:  544 pages.  




  

Cast in Flame by Michele Sagara

Cast in Flame is part of a long series (this is book 11), and I quickly realized that I was unable to make proper sense of it without having some background.  I ordered The Chronicles of Elantra bundle that includes the first three books in the series and read them before going back to Cast in Flame.

book descriptions of the first 3 books in the bundle:

Cast in Shadows:  "Seven years ago Kaylin fled the crime-riddled streets of Nightshade, knowing that something was after her. Children were being murdered-- and all had the same odd markings that mysteriously appeared on her own skin....

Since then, she's learned to read, she's learned to fight and she's become one of the vaunted Hawks who patrol and police the City of Elantra. Alongside the winged Aerians and the immortal Barrani, she's made a place for herself, far from the mean streets of her birth.

But children are once again dying, and a dark and familiar pattern is emerging. Kaylin is ordered back into Nightshade with a partner she knows she can't trust, a Dragon lord for a companion and a device to contain her powers-- powers that no other human has. Her task is simple-- find the killer, stop the murders...and survive the attentions of those who claim to be her allies!"

Cast in Courtlight:  In Elantra, a job well done is rewarded with a more dangerous task. So after defeating a dark evil, Kaylin Neya goes before the Barrani High Court, where a misspoken word brings sure death. Kaylin's never been known for her grace or manners, but the High Lord's heir is suspiciously ill, and Kaylin's healing magic is the only shot at saving him--if she can dodge the traps laid for her....

Cast in Secret: Still avoiding magic whenever possible, Private Kaylin Neya relished investigating a run-of-the-mill theft. Until she found out the mysterious stolen box had been taken from Elani Street, where the mages and charlatans mingled, and it was sometimes hard to tell the difference between the two. And since the box was ancient, without a keyhole, and held tremendous darkness inside, Kaylin knew unknown forces were again playing with her destiny--and her life....

OK--interesting world building, unusual and frequently endearing characters, and an emphasis on words, symbols, and communication.  

The three books in the beginning of the series take place in a short space of time, so Kaylin's character growth is very gradual.  And although I skipped the 7 intervening books, even the latest book has not put much chronological distance from the first books.

I enjoyed the first three books; Sagara has well-developed characters and enough action to keep the novels exciting.  However, I could not have gotten much out of Cast in Flame if I had not read The Elantra Bundle; this is definitely not a series that allows you to begin with the later books.  Even with the first three books under my belt, I had obviously missed a great deal of action and several new characters, but at least I had some familiar characters, history, and world-building embedded when I tackled this latest addition to the Chronicles of Elantra.

It is a little hard to review Cast in Flame fairly because I missed the characters and events from the previous book, and Cast in Flame is a more of a continuation from the previous book  (the plots in the first 3 books were complete in themselves).  I've also seen Cast in Flame referred to as both book 10 and book eleven, which is confusing.

Chronologically, it has taken either 10 or 11 books to move Kaylin from twenty to twenty-one-years old.  I guess that explains the lack of character development, but boy, that is certainly a lot of action in the space of a year or a little more.

I didn't enjoy Cast in Flame as much as I did the three-book-bundle I read in order to make sense of this one--and not just because I had to adjust to new situations and new characters.  The two story lines of C of F felt awkwardly juxtaposed even though they are related.  The first deals with Nightshade's sentient castle getting unruly, and the second with the attack of one of the ancients (and Kaylin's search for a place for herself and Bellelusdeo to live away from the Emperor).

NetGalley/Harlequin 

Science Fiction/Fantasy.  2014.  Print length:  496 pages.