The End of All Things

Title: The End of All Things
Author: John Scalzi
Series: Old Man's War
Genre: Science Fiction
Published: 2015
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: The End of All Things is comprised of four novella-length interrelated stories. These events continue the story started in The Human Division. We learn what happens to the Colonial Union, the Earth, and the Conclave after the Earth Station is blown up.

Each one of the stories is told from the first person perspective by four different narrators. The first narrator is new to us, his name is Rafe Daquin and he tells a story of how he becomes a brain in a box. I rather like him as a character and this was perhaps the most interesting part of the story.

Next, there is a novella from the perspective of The Conclave with the first person narration by Hafte Sorvalh, an adviser to General Gau. It's a neat look into a different world, but perhaps less interesting. I did like a story about the reason Lalans let their young brutally murder each other.

Next, we return back to the Colonial Union with Heather Lee's POV on settling unrest among the colonies that are trying to separate. This is more reminiscent of the Old Man's War type action. Lots of jokes, running around, and kicking butt.

And the final story brings it all together to finish the story arc which begins with Rafe and is narrated by Harry Wilson. The story is wrapped up quite neatly, but it's a little unbelievable how prettily all the bows are tied and i's are dotted. Still, it's a good quick read that anyone who enjoyed The Human Division wouldn't miss.

Station Eleven

Title: Station Eleven
Author: Emily St. John Mandel
Genre: Science Fiction
Published: 2014
Rating: 7.5

Review: This novel showed up in many "best of" lists at the end of last year and has been patiently waiting for me to get to it. The story begins with the lead actor in King Lear dying on stage in Toronto from a heart attack. A day later, the Georgian Flu pandemic begins and wipes out most of the North American population.

Most of the story takes place 15-20 years after the events described in the first chapter. The Earth has lost much of its technology and people live in small segregated settlements. Most of the events revolve around a traveling troop of musicians and Shakespearean actors who move between the settlements and perform.

Station Eleven seems very much like a set of character sketches rather than a novel. The plot elements are pretty thin, but the relationships and views of the characters is what really defines the book. It was an easy read and didn't drag, but at the same time it felt like the point of the book was to reveal the connections between a set of people and places rather than to tell a cohesive story or explore the consequences of a large dystopian event.

What makes this book a bit different from a bunch of other post-apocalyptic novels out there is its emphasis on art as an important factor in post-apocalyptic recovery. The traveling troop's motto, taken from Star Trek, is "Survival is not sufficient" and showing that is something Mendel works very hard at in the book, though in my opinion she isn't entirely convincing. On the other hand, I did like the fact that she takes a fresh approach and doesn't dwell on descent into lawlessness.

Another interesting element in the novel is one of the main characters' obsessions with two graphic novels that she is given right before the world collapse. Kirsten tries to find out everything she can about them, but they are by an obscure author and there isn't much information out there. This part of her quest feels very authentic to me and I liked the way that story line is tied up at the end.

Altogether, I enjoyed reading Station Eleven. The author's writing style is smooth and the characters are well drawn, so even despite some flaws in the plot and world-building, it was an enjoyable and insightful book.

The Giver

Title: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
Genre: Young Adult
Published: 1993
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: I guess my reading lately falls into "books I should have read in high school, but didn't" category. I've heard so much about The Giver, but I've never read anything by Lois Lowry until now.

The book starts with a preface by the author talking about his experiences with this book and the upcoming movie (which I guess already came out and has 36% on rotten tomatoes, so I am not watching that). If anything, the preface set my book expectations even higher than before.

I have to admit that upon finishing the book I was a bit disappointed in its simplicity. The story follows Jonas, a boy in the future apocalyptic society. There is a bunch of set up done to illustrate how Jonas' society, family, and relationships work and to get us close to the character. When Jonas turns 12, he is chosen as the next Receiver. The Receiver is someone who will carry the burden of societal memory about the past on behalf of the whole settlement.

It's a neat idea and it was written long before the rest of apocalyptic YA that followed, but the plot of the story really doesn't have much to speak of. There's a small twist with what felt like a rather weak resolution to me. Nevertheless, I am giving this book a pretty high rating because it was sufficiently entertaining, held my attention, and had enjoyable characters..

Behind the simple prose, hides a more sophisticated idea of what it means to be free and whether being happy and ignorant is better than being informed and miserable. The mechanic of Jonas' releasing memories is also pretty interesting. It's a quick and worthwhile read, but probably one I would be more likely to recommend to a younger reader.

Serenity: Leaves on the Wind

Title: Serenity: Leaves on the Wind
Author: Zack Whedon, Geoges Jeanty
Series: Serenity, vol 4
Genre: Graphic Novel
Published: 2014
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: Leaves on the Wind is a meatier and longer story than the previous three. It takes place after the events of the movie Serenity. As with the other volumes, I think this one makes most sense to read only if you are already familiar with the TV show and the movie, many details would be lost on someone who is new to the universe.

The book follows the adventures of Serenity's crew -- with Alliance breathing down their necks. They find some new supporters and get into plenty of trouble as usual. There are 6 chapters to the story and a pretty complete story arch. The illustrations are a bit different, but I found them easy to read and discern what's happening.

At the end of the story there's a cover gallery, which I thought was really excellent. I enjoyed looking through it. Finally, there's a small bonus story following the main one. The story is titled "It's Never Easy" and it's a pretty short skit involving Malcolm and Zoe as main characters. The story is drawn in a very different, more angular and sketchy style. I liked it a bit less than the rest of the volume, but it was quick and quirky, so not bad at all overall.

I was hoping there were more volumes following this, but turns out this is the last one and there's no regular schedule for these. But I am hoping that more might yet get published.

Serenity: Those Left Behind

Title: Serenity: Those Left Behind
Author: Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad
Series: Serenity, vol 1
Genre: Graphic Novel
Published: 2007
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: I received a set of Serenity graphic novels for Christmas. As a big fan of Firefly, I was pretty excited to get more works set in the universe. I didn't even know these existed.

Those Left Behind is structured a lot like a typical Firefly episode and seems to be taking place directly after Objects in Space. Mal and his crew are getting in trouble with yet another job and Alliance is continuing to hunt River. Inara is planning to leave, but keeps getting delayed.

I prefer TV series as a medium for telling this type of story, but I have to admit that the comic book felt very authentic for telling this story as well. It was point on when it came to character dialogues and action. I found a few panels were a little difficult to follow, but overall it felt very much like just another episode.

I wasn't a huge fan of Will Conrad's drawing style, though everyone was clearly recognizable. Still, it was enjoyable to get immersed in the world of Firefly once again.

Retold: Six Fairytales Reimagined

Retold is a collection of six re-imagined fairytales published by The Book Smuggers. You can currently download them from their website for free individually or buy the whole anthology for $1.99. Given that I think Ana and Thea who run the blog have a rather good taste in books, I decided to give these stories a try.

Each story includes an author's essay on what inspired them to write the story and an interview with the author. I think that's a really nice touch -- I enjoyed reading these pieces very much.
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Title: In Her Head, In Her Eyes
Author: Yukimi Ogawa
Rating: 8.5/10
Thoughts:  This was the first story I read and it was also one of my favorites in the collection. It's based on the Japanese story of Hachikaduki: A Girl with a Bowl on Her Head. The original tale is actually also included with the subversive one. As one might guess the fairy tale features a girl who wears a bowl on her head all the time. I rather liked the reimagined story: it starts out like the classic, but turns out much darker and much more evil than I imagined. The writing is beautiful and flows well, very well done.

Title: The Ninety-Ninth Bride
Author: Catherine F. King
Rating: 6.5/10
Thoughts: This is a re-telling of 1001 Arabian Nights. I like the idea behind the original story better, even though the author explains her logic behind the subversive re-telling. The writing is a little off from the traditional fairy tale and the themes are introduced in such a modern way as to make them jarring. The author makes it feel like a story on work-life balance of a working mom with a deranged husband. It just didn't work for me, though there were some very imaginative elements, such as the true identity of Scheherazade.

Title: The Astronomer Who Met The North Wind
Author: Kate Hall
Rating: 4/10
Thoughts: This is the story of a child who sets her mind on becoming an astronomer, just like her father is. However, she is not allowed to go out with her father to look for a comet in the sky. Instead she takes his equipment, sneaks off, falls down a hill, breaks a bunch of things, and gets semi-rescued by The North Wind's sister, whom she orders around, and then comes home a gives her father an ultimatum. The author's idea is to show how children can know their minds early in their lives and study STEM careers. I feel like the only thing the story made me think is that the girl is really bratty and what she does in actuality accomplishes nothing other than putting herself in danger. Not a fan.

Title: Hunting Monsters
Author: S.L. Huang
Rating: 9/10
Thoughts: This was my favorite story in the collection. A girl lives with her mom and aunt in an out-of-the-way village and is taught to hunt from an early age. Except, she is told it's really important to distinguish dumb beasts from changelings. Killing sentient human beings who have been turned into animals is murder. Then her mother gets arrested on murder charges and she learns a lot more about her family history.

The story sounds a bit farcical in my summary, but it works surprisingly well. It's a mix of Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast, but with a really strange twist that I very much enjoy. It has a great diversity of characters and the writing felt solid. I would consider buying another story by this author.

Title: Mrs. Yaga
Author: Michal Wojcik
Rating: 8/10
Thoughts:  This is the only story in the collection by a male author, and one I wouldn't guess being written by a man as it deals with a mother-daughter type relationship. Baba Yaga lives in her chiken-feet hut as an immigrant in Canada. She is described in vivid detail and I really like how the author combines fairy tale and modern life (she is preferring an SUV to her mortar and pestle these days). Her ward, Aurelia, is complaining how Mrs. Yaga keeps driving away her suitors by giving them impossible quests. I like how the issue gets resolved, even though the skip at the end felt a little abrupt to me. It's a fun reinterpretation of Slavic myth and it definitely tickled my fancy since I am familiar with the original tales.

Title: The Mussel Eater
Author: Octavia Cade
Rating: 6.5/10
Thoughts: This was an odd tale of a man who is wooing a sea creature by cooking her food. She is a protector of dolphins in the sea and he's human who finds her mussels and cooks them in various ways. I thought the tale might be Italian based on all the cooking: there's olive oil, lots of aromatic herbs, and delicious food descriptions.

Turns out the story is based on a New Zealand fairy tale. While fascinating, what didn't work for me in the tale was the man's motivation. He describes his object of desire in some rather unattractive terms, so it's hard to believe he's trying hard to seduce her when he thinks she smells terrible. I thought the ending was rather fitting, but the plot didn't make much sense to me on its own since I wasn't familiar with the original tale. It made more sense after I read the author's essay -- but I rather feel the original tale would perhaps be more to my liking.

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Overall, I enjoyed this collection. There were some hits and some misses, but it certainly made me nostalgic for more fairy tales. 

Lock In

Title: Lock In
Author: John Scalzi
Genre: Science Fiction
Published: 2014
Rating: 7.5/10

Review:  Fun fact: apparently John Scalzi is one of the authors I recognize on sight. I recognized him at a restaurant, when he was in my neighborhood for the Lock In tour. I didn't go up to him, but instead I spontaneously bought a copy of Lock In despite the fact that I had reservations about the novella prequel, Unlocked.

Turned out, I liked Lock In better than the prequel. In format, the novel very much resembles a detective procedural. Chris Shane is a Hayden, which means his body is paralyzed, but his consciousness basically inhibits a robot called threep. He is starting his first week as an FBI agent, straight out of school. His partner is a much more experienced agent Leslie Vann.

The plot follows a pretty standard format of murder, investigation, plot twist, good guys win, It was entertaining, but not particularly exceptional in any way. I liked the characters though -- everyone seemed natural, quirky, and easy to like. I was a bit taken aback by how fast Chris and Vann's relationship evolved, but it made sense for the book.

One part of the book that stood out to me is Scalzi's clear intent to paint a much more liberal world than ours. Even though there's conflict and prejudice against Haydens, there are openly gay couples, and cross-gender Integrators (people who carry someone else in their mind), and a very open-minded opinion on whether Haydens are really disabled humans or really something different. Perhaps this wouldn't stand out to someone who doesn't read the author's blog, but it stuck out to me that the world very much conformed to Scalzi's views of how things ought to be. I generally don't mind his ideas, but I wonder if it's realistic to expect some of these things in the near future where Lock In takes place.

All in all, it's a pretty entertaining book. The premise of Haydens works well and is explored in various cool ways (Chris goes through several different bodies in the line of duty and also travels instantaneously). I would definitely recommend it as easy reading -- and I wonder if Scalzi is planning a sequel, there's definitely lots of room left for another story with the same characters.

The Space Between

Title: The Space Between
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Series: An Outlander Novella
Genre: Historical fiction
Published: 2014
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: I started watching the Outlander TV series now airing on STARZ. Somewhat to my surprise, I am actually enjoying the series quite a bit. I think it might be going a little slow and watching it from a perspective of someone familiar with the plot is probably quite different from a newcomer to the series, but it's pretty well put together. I love the lead actress who plays Claire and the actor playing Jamie has grown on me as well.

Since I re-kindled my Outlander addiction, I bought this Outlander series novella to get back into the series. That's when I realized that I can barely remember some of the details of the earlier books. There were definitely familiar names and characters we've met before earlier in Outlander series, but I recognized very little about them beyond their names.

Nevertheless, the story can be mostly read as a stand-alone. It features Joan McKimmie who is Jamie's step-daughter travelling to Paris with Michael Murray in order to enter a convent there. The reason she wants to enter is convent is because she hears voices in her head and can see auras around people who are about to die. These "gifts" cause her plenty of grief along the way.

It's a quick story and it was over very quickly, but I enjoyed getting back into the Outlander world and getting a bit of action since it's probably going to be a few years before the next Outlander installment is published. I just wish I remembered in more detail the back-story around Comte St. Germain and Master Raymond.

What We Lost

Title: What We Lost
Author: Sara Zarr
Genre: Young Adult
Published: 2013
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: Sam is a teenager living in a small town of Pineview and her life is defined by the fact that she is the daughter of the local pastor, Charlie. It's a hot summer and Sam's life is complicated by her alcoholic mother heading into a rehab and her father being too busy to connect with her. A 13-year old girl, Jody, goes missing and Charlie is in the midst of police and media frenzy as he helps the grieving family and becomes their spokesperson.

It's interesting to see the book take a tragedy like a kidnapped girl and make it part of the scene, but not really focus on it. The focus stays on Sam's inner life, even though she takes part in trying to recover Jody, support Jody's family -- especially her older brother Nick with whom she feels a connection.

At first, Sam's inner narration feels overly dramatic. Her emphasis on how she is treated differently by being a pastor's kid seems blown out of proportion. But, eventually, I started to emphasize with her and and her problems start to feel much more real. The book is very character driven, rather than plot driven. The plot is mostly there to give insight into everyone, this is by no means a mystery type book.

I liked watching Sam figure out how to deal with her conflicts and get her life back on track. I thought the ending was much more positive than would be expected, but not so positive that it felt unrealistic. This is a nice, easy novel to read with some interesting character development, but not much plot. I enjoyed it.

Murder in the Marais

Title: Murder in the Marais
Author: Cara Black
Series: Aimée Leduc, book 1
Genre: Mystery
Published: 1998
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: I generally buy books online based on reviews I read and friends' recommendations. However, I also enjoy browsing in the book stores and this is one of the books that randomly caught my attention. I've never heard of the author before, I've never seen any reviews for the series. I just picked it up on a whim and proceeded to read it.

Murder in the Marais is the first book in a series about a Parisian tech investigator, Aimée Leduc. Aimée specializes in cracking encryption and other tech-type investigations; however, in this case she gets involved in something much bigger. It all starts with a rabbi hiring her to decode an encrypted photo and leads to Aimée discovering a body when she delivers the results and the subsequent investigation of the murder.

The book is set in late 90's Paris and the interesting part is that many of the events relevant to the murder happened during the WWII. Neo-nazis, war criminals, collaborators, and survivors are all part of the plot. I liked how the author tied the past to the present and the plot itself is well-written with a nice twist at the end of the story. I stayed up late to figure out whodunnit and generally enjoyed the ride.

While I enjoyed the story, I did not like the characters as much as I expected. Generally speaking, I like strong female protagonists in books. However, I did not really connect to Aimée, nor to her partner (who played a rather small role in the overall story). I don't even know why -- on paper, she is the sort of character I should like. She is smart, tough, strong-willed, with realistic failings and insecurities. But something about her just didn't click for me. It's not that I disliked her, but rather I felt more apathetic to her plight than I should have.

Perhaps that was a function of the author's writing style. I generally thought the writing was a bit rough around the edges and probably the weaker part of this book. I would consider picking up the next book in the series based on the plot strength, but I am not rushing to the book store. Overall, it's a solid murder mystery with an interesting background, but it comes a bit short in characterization and writing.

Soon I Will Be Invincible

Title: Soon I Will Be Invincible
Author: Austin Grossman
Genre: Science Fiction
Published: 2007
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: I received Soon I Will Be Invincible as a Christmas gift. As an aside, Christmas gifts are awesome for getting one out of a reading funk. They are also good at introducing books and authors that one might never pick up on their own. For me, Soon I Will Be Invincible is one of those books that I probably wouldn't have picked up myself.

The book is told from two different perspectives in alternating chapters. The first perspective is that of a super-villain, Doctor Impossible, who escapes the prison for the 12th time to hatch yet another plan for world domination. The second perspective is of a superhero, Fatale, who joins a band of other famous superheroes called The New Champions. The original Champions and a few new members are brought together to stop Doctor Impossible and find out what happened to CoreFire, a missing member of the original group.

I have to make a disclaimer that I have never been big on superhero cartoons or comics. I didn't grow up with them, I have never read the comics, and I've only seen one or two of the superhero movies that came out recently. I can be relied upon to not remember the difference between Spiderman, Superman and Batman. So at first I was a bit put off by the fact that the whole novel is about superheroes.

However, Grossman handles the subject in a surprising manner. He takes the usual tropes for superheroes and villains and he twists them to fit into the real world. It's an adult handling of a subject usually dealt with in kids' media. The villain evokes pity rather than fright, despite his abilities and clear malevolent intentions. Since half the story is told from Doctor Impossible's POV, there is a much clearer motivation than usual in these types of stories. The superheroes are not as impressive either, squabbling, facing family issues, divorced, disillusioned. They are typical adults with a few extraordinary powers. It's hard to tell whether the heroes are the villains in the novel are more twisted.

The novel in itself moves pretty well, there are lots of interesting elements to it, and a nice twist at the end of the book which I didn't see coming. It's well written, but the dark tone is not necessarily something I want. Here's an example from the scene where Doctor Impossible breaks into The Champions' residence:

Splendid, but the place smells like they always do -- sweat and ozone and disinfectant, hospital smells. The ability to stretch your limbs or secrete acids can wreak havoc on the human metabolism. There's a fine line between a superpower and a chronic medical condition.

Even if I hadn't made a connection from Austin Grossman to Lev Grossman at first, I definitely would have as I was reading the book. There is a common element to The Magicians and Soon I Will Be Invincible. They both take subjects that readers associate with their childhood and think of with nostalgia; and turn them into adult themed books.  Turns out they are brothers, and I really wonder why both of them decided to treat, what I assume to be their childhood interests, in this manner.

Overall, it's an interesting and unusual narrative. I think folks who don't mind a more edgy and adult treatment of superheroes will enjoy it a lot. For me, it was entertaining, but not entirely satisfying.

Heirs and Graces

Title: Heirs and Graces
Author: Rhys Bowen
Series: Her Royal Spyness, book 7
Genre: Mystery
Published: 2013
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: I think I will go straight to the punchline first. After finishing this book, I found out that I completely missed the previous book in the series: The Twelve Clues of Christmas. And now I feel surprisingly embarrassed about that, despite the fact that each book is pretty stand-alone and I only got one little spoiler out of reading this first. And it's more of a teaser than a spoiler really. So I am pretty sure my next book review will be for the previous book in the series.

In this installment, Lady Georgiana gets invited to Kingsdowne Place where she is to teach manners to an heir of a duke who's fresh off the boat from Australia where the boy was raised as a sheep farmer, unaware of his lordly connections. Of course, there is plenty of family drama surrounding this and very soon also a murder. What we get is essentially a "closed circle mystery" where one of the inhabitants of the house must have done it and the bumbling police will be lead to the killer by polite and tender suggestions from Lady Georgiana.

Overall, it was funny and cozy and enjoyable as intended. I did not see the final twist coming and it was really fun to spend time with this weird crazy family. Looking forward to reading the previous book...

The Algebraist

Title: The Algebraist
Author: Iain M. Banks
Genre: Science Fiction
Published: 2004
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: With the news of Iain Banks passing away a month ago I finally decided to start the journey of reading The Algebraist. Despite not being immensely long in page count (432 pages), Banks' novels tend to take me a prodigious amount of time to finish, so I gathered all my patient determination and started on my trek.

As expected the reading went slowly. Banks' prose is really vivid and he submerses you into his world with aliens, new cultures, new technology, new mores. I think he is a great writer in a sense of invoking imagery and thinking deeply about issues, but it's a slow going setting up the relationships and the world around them and I think he could definitely get to the same place with less detail.

Speaking of getting to the same place, this novel stands out in how little is accomplished at the end of it. This may be a bit of a spoiler, but most characters would have done better to stay at home and sip tea for all that their activity accomplished. Not to say it isn't realistic -- I have days like that too -- but it's a pretty gaping disappointment as a reader when you realize that half the novel describes actions of a zero-sum game. The ending is both brilliant in how it comes together and extremely frustrating at the same time. I can't make up my mind whether I love or hate this book's ending. A little bit of both.

In terms of the book cast, most of the action is focused on Fassin Taak, who is a human sent to the planet of Dwellers to gather certain intel of potentially enormous disruptive power. The best description I have for him is "the boy next door". It's not entirely fair, he's smart, he does some things out of the ordinary, and he has some good insights. He's likable, but somewhat bland for my tastes. On the other side of the spectrum is the arch-villain of the novel with the suggestive name Luceferous. His evil deeds throughout the novel made me wince, feel distaste and even consider skipping some pages (though I didn't!). And I generally wouldn't call myself squeamish.

All-in-all, The Algebraist is a slow sprawling novel. I think whether you enjoy it come down to whether the conclusion makes up for all the waiting for things to happen at the start. I would recommend it only to those who have a patience for slow narratives. Banks' does a lot of awesome things with symbology, but I sure wish he got to the point a little faster.

The Summer Prince

Title: The Summer Prince
Author: Alaya Dawn Johnson
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Published: 2013
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: I picked up The Summer Prince based on a glowing review I recently read and while I am not nearly as impressed with it as the original reviewer, I did find the book interesting and fun.

The story is set on post-apocalyptic Earth, 400 years in the future with a very vague explanation of how it got that way. The main character, June, is an angry teenager from well-to-do family who lost her father and who is taking it out on her re-married mother and everyone else. In general, this is a story of growing up as much as anything else and while I like these types of stories, I found June's initial angst a bit unappealing. However, things get much more interesting towards the middle of the story.

The city in which June lives is called Palmares Tres and the culture there has a lot of Portuguese influences -- a number of Spanish words are used to describe various concepts which I had to look up the meaning of. The city is ruled by women, a Queen at the head and Aunties as her advisers. Every five years they elect a King, who seems to be generally a young man in comparison to 100-something year old Aunties and  the King is publicly sacrificed at the end of the year. The idea behind the sacrifice is that he chooses the next queen in his dying moments and a dying man cannot be bribed, etc.

So the story follows June and her friend Gil making friends with the latest Summer King, Enki. The story itself is decently plotted and once I've got into the book, I felt it drew me in and progressed very well. However, I think the social commentary was probably a more interesting part of the book than the plot itself.

The author attempts to showcase gender issues in some interesting ways, but doesn't always do it consistently well. For one, the mores allow both different- and same-sex partnerships and give them identical status. It's an interesting idea, but I find it strange that whereas June mother seemed to dominate June's father, the roles are reversed when she gets married to another woman. The idea that everyone's bisexual is easier for me to believe than a gender role reversal in mid-life.

A number of other conflicts play a major role in the book: old vs young, technologically progressive vs conservative. In fact, it felt a bit like an overload to have all of these conflicts -- but in general it worked and made me think along with the main character about the issues involved. However, I do think it would probably work better if one or the other was explored more in depth instead of just heaping on everything.

The writing itself was somewhat mediocre, but the style was easy-going as one might expect of a YA book. The characters were interesting, but at times a little over-angsty. The world-building was really cool and is probably the strongest part of the book. All-in-all, I would recommend it.

Die Trying

Title: Die Trying
Author: Lee Child
Series: Jack Reacher, book 2
Genre: Mystery
Published: 1998
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: I decided to continue with the series featuring Jack Reacher and was glad since I enjoyed this book better than the first one. In this installment Jack gets kidnapped along with a lady whom he's helping carry her dry cleaning and who turns out to be an FBI agent. Together they unravel the kidnappers plot.

Once again, the beginning of the book was probably the best part. Lee Child is just very good at drawing you into the action and getting you hooked on the story. It literally takes just a couple pages before I can't stop myself and keep reading. The pacing in the second half of the book is still fast, but I think slightly less gripping since we understand much more of the overall story and despite slim odds it's clear that the good guys are going to win.

I liked the supporting character better in this book as well. She was smarter and had a bit more personality than the cop girl in The Killing Floor. She actually saves Jack's life at some point rather than just act the damsel in distress, which I appreciated. Though in general, I feel like Child's much much better at writing interesting men than writing interesting women. Neither book passes the Bechdel Test, but what else is new, really?

Once again, there was lots of gory violence, but I think I rather expected it more this time around and so it went down a little easier. There were also a bunch of little things that didn't make sense to me during the book, and one big thing. The big thing happened at the end, where after plot resolution (in which FBI and Militia were involved), the parties just dropped Jack Reacher off at the side of a random road to continue wandering in his adventures. Yeah, right, those guys would just let him go without any accounting of what happened, etc, etc.

All-in-all, it's a fun book if you don't look too close at the particulars and the likelihood of it going down the way the author describes it. I think I might actually keep going with the series.

Speaking from Among the Bones

Title: Speaking from Among the Bones
Author: Alan Bradley
Series: Flavia de Luce, book 5
Genre: Mystery
Published: 2013
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: I am continuing to follow the adventures of Flavia de Luce in a small English town in 1950's where she solves crimes using her wit and her chemical lab. Yet again there is a murder that Flavia stumbles upon and then continues her investigation.

In this case, an organist from the church is found murdered inside Saint Tancred's tomb in the process of uncovering the saint's remains for a 500-year celebration of his death. Flavia is of course ever present and discovers a number of details that the police managed to miss. The mystery takes its course and the plot altogether is quite enjoyable.

I actually liked this book more than the previous installments because there are a number of developments in the family plot line. Flavia discovers someone whom her mother used to visit, Flavia's father has something resembling a conversation with Flavia, there are developments in the sisters' relationships. All-in-all, those are very satisfying after four books of everyone keeping silent and giving a cold shoulder to Flavia.

I thought the ending was quite interesting and is good hook for the next book, which I will undoubtedly be picking up as soon as it's released in 2014.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Title: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
Author: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Genre: Fiction
Published: 2009
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: I saw this book reviewed quite a bit when it first came out and then every so often until the end of last year at which point I added it to my 'read' queue. It sounded fun and quirky and had this amazingly strange title, which attracted notice.

The novel is written entirely in letters sent by and to a published columnist, Juliet, a year after World War II is over. By a sheer coincidence she begins corresponding with a man from Guernsey who tells her stories of life on the island and its occupation during the war.

I had to look up on the map where Guernsey is -- it's a small island off the shore of France that nevertheless belongs to Britain. At some point the book fills us in on the story and the geography of the island, but I was curious long before that point. It's a pretty neat setting for the book.

The book starts out really well, with everyone telling just enough of the story to kindle the reader's interest. I think the biggest potential issue the authors avoided was making this into a depressing book. Not particularly difficult with WWII as the topic. However, this novel was a really good balance of terrifying things people had to live through and jokes, fun, and light they created to deal with their reality. The stories were heartfelt and told matter-of-factly and often in a funny manner despite being horrifying underneath and I really enjoyed that style of story-telling.

The best part about the book are the characters. They are quirky, imperfect, gregarious, simple and sophisticated at the same time. I just fell in love with the whole crew and they were the ones who kept me in the story throughout. The biggest flaw in the novel is probably the lack of plot tension and a very obvious ending. The author tried to get some plot going, but the outcome just seemed so entirely obvious the whole way through that the tension just failed to build up and I thought the second part of the book was a bit of a let down.

Nevertheless, I would wholeheartedly recommend this as a warm and funny book dealing with experiences of German occupation during WWII. This war seems to be an unintentionally recurring subject for me this year and this book turned out to be yet another really good read.

Bury Your Dead

Title: Bury Your Dead
Author: Louise Penny
Series: A Chief Inspector Gamache, book 6
Genre: Mystery
Published: 2010
Rating: 7.5/10

As anticipated, I picked up the next installment in Louise Penny's Gamache series. Bury Your Dead is written in a different format than the preceding books. Instead of one murder that the team investigates there are actually two mysteries in this book investigated separately by Gamache and his second in command, Jean-Guy. In addition to that, Gamache's last case is slowly revealed to the reader through conversations and flashbacks.

I liked the change in mystery style, it worked pretty well, though there were some details that didn't feel very believable (e.g. the amount of independence in Gamache's case solving). I also enjoyed the historical mystery in the book dealing with the location of the body of Samuel de Champlain who is a founding father of Quebec. The mix of historical facts (which actually seemed quite authentic) and the current-day investigation worked well together and I've learned a few interesting things. For example, turns out that all the modern portraits we have of Champlain are actually portraits of a different man and no one really knows what Champlain looked like in reality. There's definitely a lot of research work that went into the book.

The other investigation, lead by Jean-Guy also had some flaws to it. I thought it was a stretch for Jean-Guy to uncover quite so many new facts that Gamache didn't figure out in the previous investigation of the case. I was also surprised at how the case was resolved, and I wasn't greatly satisfied by that conclusion.

Despite all these things, the reading went by quickly and the book was both entertaining and fascinating, so definitely recommended to anyone who has enjoyed previous books in the series.

A Rule Against Murder and The Brutal Telling

Title: A Rule Against Murder and The Brutal Telling
Author: Louise Penny
Series: A Chief Inspector Gamache, book 4 and 5
Genre: Mystery
Published: 2009
Rating: 7.5/10

I have continued reading Louise Penny's mystery series featuring Inspector Gamache. Sometimes I find a new series and want to read more and more about the characters. This series is one such. Five books in the same series within a month is quite a bit for me, but I am enjoying it.

A Rule Against Murder is a bit of an interlude in the story; for the first time the action takes place not at Three Pines, but at a resort in Quebec where Gamache and his wife are vacationing. The set of suspects is obviously limited to those present at the Manor, but to keep in touch with the previous books, some of the familiar characters from before make an appearance there as well. I enjoyed the book and the large ensemble of new characters introduced there and some reversal of roles present in this book.

The next installment, The Brutal Telling, brings us back to Three Pines again. People sure get murdered a lot there! Unlike the previous tome, this is clearly the first book of a larger story arch and for the very first time in the series, the ending is more of a beginning than a wrap-up.

The book has all the signature Penny moves: lots of references to books, arts, sculpture, poetry. There is tension and the ending is actually rather unexpected. There are also unrelated-to-murder story line developments dealing with Clara's career and Ruth with her duck. I rather liked these interludes. The ending as I mentioned leaves on a bit of a cliffhanger, I am very likely to pick up the next book in the series.

Naughty in Nice

Title: Naughty in Nice
Author: Rhys Bowen
Series: Royal Spyness, book 5
Genre: Mystery
Published: 2011
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: To help ease my way back into reading after a long hiatus, I decided to pick up the latest book in the Royal Spyness series. The book continues with adventures of Lady Georgiana Rannoch (Georgie) who is sent to Nice by the queen to retrieve her stolen snuffbox. On the way to Nice, Georgie meets Coco Chanel and once there gets tangled in crime, schemes, and parties.

The book kept my attention really well and while it was following the same formula the rest of the books in the series do, I nevertheless found it a rather enjoyable read. There was a good dose of romance, British-isms, and quirky humor to keep me coming back for more. All-in-all a great way to spend a few hours -- comfort reading all the way.