Dragonfly in Amber

Title: Dragonfly in Amber
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Series: Outlander, book 2
Genre: Historical romance
Published: 1992

Recommendation: For those who enjoyed the first book or like strong female protagonists and epic stories this is a must read.
Rating: 9/10

Summary: Claire Randall and her 20 year old daughter Brianna come to Scotland where Claire tries to uncover what happened to the men of Lallybroch to tell a complete story of her trip to the past to her daughter. Most of the book narrates the adventures of Claire and Jamie trying to prevent the Battle of Culloden picking up where the last book left off.

Reactions: Dragonfly in Amber has been sitting on my shelves for some time now, while I gathered my courage to start on this 800-page tome. Yet once I started, I enjoyed the book immensely. I really like the language of the book, it's easy to read but descriptive, the kind of language that immerses the reader into the atmosphere of the book and keeps her there.

The plot moves along well, every time I put the book down, I felt there was something interesting to come back to. I kept my interest throughout and now I am looking forward to the next novel in the series since this one ended with a bit of a cliffhanger.

The two main protagonists are Claire Fraiser/Randall and her husband Jamie Fraser. Both are extremely likable, but Claire is my favorite in particular. In this book especially, she develops her ability as a healer and shows her strength of character throughout the many trials she goes through. At the same time, she is feminine, funny, with her own flaws. What's not to like?

Overall, it was a very good read. Lots of adventure, emotions, discoveries. I definitely recommend it even for those who don't usually read this genre.

Kitty and the Midnight Hour

Title: Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Author: Carrie Vaughn
Series: Kitty Norville, book 1
Genre: Urban fantasy
Published: 2005

Recommendation: Pick this one up if you enjoy urban fantasy in the style of early Anita Blake.
Rating: 7/10

Summary: Kitty is a night DJ on a local radio station and was turned werewolf a few years back. She is trying to get her life together when she begins discussing supernatural life on the waves. From then on, her show takes off, but not everyone is happy about that...

Reactions: I picked up this novel because I've read a few blog posts by Carrie Vaughn awhile back and while I don't entirely agree with her thoughts on the genre, I thought her books might be worth trying. Overall, Kitty and the Midnight Hour was a fun read. I read it pretty quickly and it was satisfying: well-moving plot, interesting characters, a nice mystery resolution, and a hook for the next book.

At the same time this book seems very heavily influenced by the Anita Blake series. Carrie changes the main character enough to suit her own tastes (the main character is blond and doesn't wear stilettos on her arms), but there are plenty of similarities. Kitty does investigations in a style similar to Anita's, she consults for the police, she develops a friendship with a werewolf/vampire hunter so much like Edward in Anita series I'd have trouble telling them apart. Carrie also gets caught up in Vampire/Lycanthrope politics and befriends people on both sides of the fence.

While there are plenty of similarities to Anita Blake series, I like the fact that Kitty is much easier to relate to in her struggle than Anita. Her transformation from very passive to aggressive is a little forced and I felt the author gets her out of some situations a little to easily, but overall I find Kitty quite likable and realistic. Her unusual profession is also a plus in my books.

To sum it up, Kitty and the Midnight Hour is a well-paced book taking traditional urban fantasy tropes. If you enjoy urban fantasy, chances are you will enjoy this book. I will probably pick up the next book in the series.

April Recap

I was very sure I would get through more books this month, but once again I finish the month with only three books completed. Well, at least the reading was quite rewarding. The Shadow of the Wind is the best book I've read this year and it felt great to immerse myself in Zafon's world. I am also making my way through Eclipse Two anthology, so there will be more short story reviews forthcoming. But here's the tally for the month:

Reading
Books Read: 3

1. Five on Kirrin Island Again by Enid Blyton
2. Daemon by Daniel Suarez
3. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlor Ruiz Zafon
   

Favorite book: The Shadow of the Wind

Stories Read: 4

1. The Candidate by Jack McDevitt
2. Exhalation by Ted Chiang
3. Michael Laurits is: Drowning by Paul Cornell
4. Elevator by Nancy Kress

Favorite story: The Candidate

Authors
Male: 5
Female: 2

Blog
Posts: 10

Commenters
Thanks to Carl V., wend, and ediFanoB for leaving comments!

Elevator

Title: Elevator
Author: Nancy Kress
Published: Eclipse Two, 2008
Genre: Fantasy, short story

Rating: 5/10

Thoughts: It's a commonly used plot technique: put a bunch of characters into forced confinement with each other and watch interesting things come out of it. Elevator begins with a number of people stuck together in a hospital elevator. No help comes for hours while characters deal with their issues. Typically, this is the sort of plot I enjoy, but I found these characters not very interesting and the story resolution rather anti-climatic. I am also somewhat opposed to the message as a whole, many problems are just resolved for the characters with no action of their own and at the end I didn't feel there was much to take away from the story.

Michael Laurits is: Drowning

Title: Michael Laurits is: Drowning
Author: Paul Cornell
Published: Eclipse Two, 2008
Genre: Science fiction, short story

Rating: 6/10

Thoughts: I have to get this off my chest first: this story is hard to read. The names feel awkward: Laurits, Lief, Nofke. There's also a lot of tongue twisting and just plain awkward phrasing. But in the midst of all that there is some interesting Douglas Adams style humour -- warring Atheist coalitions entering a minor war over whether an arrival of a messiah would change their views. Unfortunately, the funny background didn't have much to do with the rest of the story in which Michael Laurits while drowning manages to transfer his consciousness into a social network. The story has some interesting ideas, but it fails in execution and the ending feels off. Worth reading just for the one paragraph dealing with warring Atheist terrorists though.

Exhalation

Title: Exhalation
Author: Ted Chiang
Published: Eclipse 2, 2008
Genre: Science fiction, short story
Url: http://www.nightshadebooks.com/Downloads/Exhalation - Ted Chiang.html

Rating: 8/10

Thoughts: I've been looking forward to reading this particular story since I've consistently enjoyed all the other stories by Ted Chiang and this one has been nominated for Hugo award this year. While the story was excellent, unique, and thought provoking as most Chiang's stories, it is not my favorite. The basis of this story is a contained world where humanoid robots live, and continue breathing by pumping their re-attachable lungs full of argon every day. They live for a very long time, but don't know too much about themselves until one of them decides to conduct an experiment.

I won't spoil the story, it's absolutely worth reading. There are some clever engineering explanations as well as a more general message on the meaning of life at the end of the story. The reason I didn't like it as much is because I didn't feel very emotionally connected to the narrative. I think the attempt to make such a connection is made, but I just found myself somewhat indifferent and I am not even quite sure why. If you read the story, let me what you think.

The David Gemmel Legend Award for Fantasy

I am a big fan of David Gemmel, so I have been following the Gemmel Award progress for a while. The shortlist vote is now open to everyone for the following five books:

1. The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks
2. The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
3. Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
4. The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
5. Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier

Out of these five, I've read two. One is Heir to Sevenwaters which I reviewed in January, the other one is The Way of Shadows whose sequel has been sitting in my reading pile for a little while now. I have read an earlier book in The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself. And I have read an earlier work by Sapkowski, The Witcher. Though the latter fell into my hands so long ago that I barely remember anything about it. Brandon Sanderson is an author whom I haven't read yet, but it certainly sounds like I should judging by all the reviews floating around.

At the end I decided to vote for Heir to Sevenwaters. Now it's your turn, go forth and vote for your favorite fantasy novel.