Book List

I'm finally starting the list. I'll pin this to the link menu when I have more on it. Entries will follow the color code as mentioned in the mission statement.

In the Forests of Serre by Patricia McKillip

A grand slam finish. I know remember what I loved about the Riddle-Master of Hed stories. Patricia has a finesse for fantasy and fiction that is awe inspiring. At every tale of fantasy, every fable, you can tell when the end is near. The same hooks and resolutions, it becomes a familiar cadence that Patricia defies. At many points I thought, there are extra pages in the book the pace tells me I'm coming to an ending. But Patricia says, not yet.

A tale in and of it itself is a wizard haunted by a terrible battle so powerful he has shared the tale with no one. Not the scribe who is magically drawn to his memoirs, or his er-apprentice. Seperate, could be a prince mourning his wife and child in the house of his father. Seperate, could be the princess of the wizard's land to be married to the grieving prince she doesn't know. Seperate, the Baba-Yaga like creature preying upon the woods and forests of the prince's country. Seperate, how the prince chases off after the firebird. But it is all here, In the Forests of Serre.

Where this story goes is beyond belief. I used to think that authors like Mercedes Lackey, Carol Berg, Kristen Britain were the height of fantasy story weaving. I had put McKillip on the side since I had only read the Riddle-Master trilogy. How can someone base an entire opinion upon just one series? You can get a good idea, and originality is a huge part of what my standards go by. I like Lackey for how she challenges the point of view on concepts I take for granted. That is what she is skilled and I love her for it. Carol Berg has a whole new idea in her Ezzarian demon hunters. She takes plunges and spins the tools of tale craft like a rollercoaster. Britain is simply taking the development of Karrigan into a brave heroine beyond ranger, scout, harper that defines character. McKillip is all this and so much more- she's my favorite and I can't wait to read Alphabet of Thorn.

If you liked Narnia...

The American Library Association has compiled a list for kids who enjoyed Narnia so much they want to read more books like it. The PDF can be downloaded from here. Included on the list is Susan Cooper's the Dark is Rising Series and Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain.

Good Omens: Closing

As mentioned here- I'm quite sure I didn't know what I was getting into when I read this. The one firm conclusion I can come to would be that this book is to Armageddon as Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is to Sci Fi. That is, utterly odd and makes you very unsure of the intellect and intent of the authors at the time. Seriously, I would gladly have given up the one time of having read Hitchiker as the nonsense was something I would have needed medicine to enjoy.

Omens is doubtlessly good and I finished it in less than less than ten hours. There really isn't anything to complain about. People at least vaguely familiar with the English cockney accent might have a few puzzling moments with the phonetical statements. I had to see ansaphone printed ten times before it clicked- answering machine. Cute. Really.

So if one had a vacation day or were stuck someplace for a few long hours, you would definitely forget where you were with Good Omens. I wish I could say I knew who was responsible for such things as a DHL style delivery driver distributing the four horsemen of the Apocalypse's gear. Or a devil and angel losing the baby Antichrist. Or a witch hunter housing above an indian convenince store with a fortune teller. But I would be lying it I said I did know.

I think that's part of the beauty of it. I had a rock bottom feeling of my mind changing its theological track when I finished Memmnoch the Devil. The feeling from Omens is that we really don't know what's up, but that's ok.

Good Omens: First Impression

I haven't gotten to page one yet of Good Omens and I'm already starting to get a little ticklish feeling that I haven't really felt since I finished reading Esther Friesner and Robert Asprin.

On the copyright page, top and center:

CAVEAT Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your own home.

As if that weren't enough, I see in the cedits/rights reserved section:

"BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY" by Freddy Mercury

Sweet god this is going to be an odd odd duck of a book. I'm not quite sure if I should be afraid or very afraid. Oh dear.

The Wayfarer Redemption

For the past week I have been burning the candle at both ends reading. I'm listening to an audio book of a Crown of Swords so that when I pick it back up I'm not wondering what is going on. To recap just the top of the book would be over four hundred pages. After plowing through the Iron Tower, Stardust, and Son of a Witch in the past month- I wanted something different and I was saving Wayfarer Redemption for just that reason.

I had no idea what to expect when I picked up Wayfarer. It was entirely new ground for us and all we had were some internet forums praising her work. I told my husband that I would read it first from the library to decide if we wanted to invest in the series. At any rate, I wouldn't hesitate to snap them up.

The many levels of treachery and secret that enshroud the characters make Harry Potter look like he belongs in Mayberry. Instead of making the tale thick with frustration, we delight to see the main characters work through the mysteries in a natural and unforced manner. People stay true to their nature, even the engimatic Sentinels. Luckily, Douglass doesn't have a heavy descriptive hand. She can paint the forest and the hills surrounding it deftly without losing the point of why you are there. No lingering details of the embroidering on a minor court lady's gown, but you have a clear vision of where and how far the armies have traveled.

Don't let the premise fool you, while this tries to come across as a tale of an enchanter who desires his Juliet married to his half-brother- it is a tale of unwrapping the many layers it will take to forge Axis into a brother-killer. Already he has changed his name three times in efforts to find his true identity. Not a boring moment or drawn out speech marrs these pages. I can only say that while it moves fast, it is still 600 pages long and still too short. The end chapter is clearly a stopping point meant to needle the reader to immediately pick up the next book, Enchanter.

I enjoy Douglass just as much as I do Mercedes Lackey. But while Lackey relys on common devices such as unicorns, talking animals, and elves; Douglass trumps with her own unique view that is still fantasy but no textbook mythology attached. Druidic folk with leaders that turn into stags, angelic warriors in love with themselves and the stars, and demonic skraelings that seem to have lept out of a Nordic nightmare.

The only thing I can accuse her of is the heavy tool of prophecy, which I am nearly tired with how overdone it is in general. I'd love for a world with no psychics or wisemen that can foretell the future. At least the book's prophecy is already in place and thankfully there are none to lay down any new ones. Jordan has done it, McKiernan, Piers Anthony, Lackey, Rowling, Tolkien... someone break the cycle, please.

The Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass

Stardust

This is ever bit a fairytale. But somehow just a little bit edgier and contrasted than even the Brothers Grimm stories I have read. No, not the general happily ever after ones- the tales about journeying for years on impossible quests and risking (losing) life or limb on the way.

I was surprised that the beginning was there to set purpose and tone, I fully expected Dunston to be the main character. However, we are given his illegitimate son. Don't give me a look like I spoiled something for you, its obvious from the first 30 pages of the book. I hardly call that a spoiler.

Around two hundred pages this figures heavily into the plot and is rather hard to miss. But with the way some events come around, you wonder if Tristan will manage to live that long. He finds his star relatively early, but loses her. On top of that, three brothers want her for the possession of her topaz that will determine who is the successor to the throne of Stormhold. Worse, three witches want her pure heart so they can be young again. Everything comes together in slightly unexpected ways that are so fated not even the moon knows what will become of her daughter star.

I enjoyed every minute of this book, but I regret to say that the minutes totaled up to a little over three hours. Neil has definitely earned another read to me. Stardust is the first book of his I have read, I suppose I will pick up Good Omens or something of the kind. Hopefully it will be longer than 350 pages.

The story was complete and whole but I wouldn't have bought such a small hardcover book myself. Softcover more likely. Just on the principal of how much they charge for hardcover being ridiculous. Each page announcing the chapter is a large page filling graphic with fleur de lis and expansive script. So in reality the book with slightly smaller font would be 300 pages.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Son of a Witch

I begin by saying that "Son of a Witch" was traditional Maguire. Read that as "nothing like I thought it could have turned out to be". Maguire appears to have the talent to not only make mesmerizing storytelling, but to twist away the traditional formula of the craft.

Son of a Witch follows the formula that Wicked did. We watch Elphaba grow not into the Wicked Witch of the West, but the Witch of the West. She loved and presumably gave birth, she had a brother and a sister, and an unlikely cast of Animals, Nanny, and Yackle. In Son, Liir acknowledges that he might be Elphaba's son, but how would he know? Other than the homage of some claims his resemblance to Elphaba's nature and Shell's features, which is where his lineage ends. Except for the peculiar way he can ride her broomstick.

I'm in awe of the book, not in an adoring manner- but that creativity still exists, even in sequels. Banish all thoughts of revivals, and traditional revenge. Liir is a moving force of his own unsure devices. But it is still a tale worth telling with all of Maguire’s tongue no so subtly in cheek humor. The heavily satirical work that was in Wicked is heavily absent, which is gracious since Liir has no satellites in that orbit. But he still manages to find himself in Oz quite often around the likes of Glinda, dragons, and the Home Gaurd.

A small but successful romp through the lands after the death of Elphaba. Worth a pick-up for the very least at the scathing view on Dorothy and he bumpkin glory! Hail, Liir- the unlikely anti-hero!
Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire