woodge blog

The Court of the Air ~ Hunt, Stephen
Paperback 599 pages ISBN-10: 0007232187 ISBN-13: 978-0007232185

I got to page 172 before deciding against finishing this story. The author crams many different ideas into this steampunk-fantasy-mashup of a tale. The two main characters are orphans.  Molly Templar gets placed by the orphanage into prostitution, but her very first john turns out to be an assassin. She escapes but we don't know much about who the assassin is, who he works for, or why Molly would be targeted.  By page 172 I still don't know. 

Then there's Oliver. When he was very young he and his parents crashed an aerostat (an airship) and he lived for 4 years within the "feymist."  The feymist has been known to alter people only after casual contact yet Oliver seems unaffected.  Then his guardian uncle and household are murdered and Oliver is framed. Again we don't know why his uncle was targeted or what the motivations are of the killers.  Ugh.

There's various fun things thrown into the mix: other races like the craynarbians (crab-like people), autonomous "steammen" (think robots) with their own culture, floating pieces of land (often the result of floatquakes), underground cities, etc. The problem is that all these new things keep on coming and keeping everything straight is a complicated chore.  Place names are thrown about but no maps are provided. Various terms are sprinkled in, but their definitions are lacking (no glossary either).  And so far Molly and Oliver are fairly one-dimensional. I don't feel like I know them.  I should after 172 pages, no?

So, dang. I was looking forward to getting into this one but the hypercomplicated, incomprehensible plot along with the cardboard characters and indeterminate world has me scratching my head.  There's too much other stuff to read before I continue plodding through this one hoping it'll get better.  (Plus, this could be first in a series that may number seven books... and I've already committed to too many other series.)  On to other venues.

How I Became a Famous Novelist ~ Steve Hely

trade paperback 224 pages ISBN-10: 0802170609 ISBN-13: 978-0802170606

This is very light reading about a guy who figures out that many of the authors on the current bestseller lists are just really good con-artists and he wants in.  He comes up with some hilarious rules for writing a bestseller and sets off to write a schlocky romance-and-redemption story filled with heinous clichés and such.  He also wants to be famous just so he can upstage his ex-girlfriend at her upcoming wedding. But the character's trashing of the bestselling ilk that passes for entertainment these days is the good stuff.  It's often quite funny and possibly hits pretty close to home on occasion. This book can be read very quickly and should appeal to the cynic in you.  Oh, also: all the blurbs are fake.

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Volume Two ~ Gordon Dahlquist
trade paperback 432 pages ISBN-10: 0553385860 ISBN-13: 978-0553385861

This book is the second half of the story begun in Volume One. Not sure why it was split into two volumes, together they are about 900-odd pages of a story, on the large side, surely, but I devoured it fairly quickly. Like Volume One, Volume Two has many hair's-breadth escapes, confrontations, and other suspenseful stuff.  Sometimes they get a bit too descriptive, but this story holds your interest throughout. The characters both good and bad are wonderful creations.  And our three protagonists prove themselves worthy adversaries for the numerous bad guys in the sinister cabal.  If the body count in Volume One is impressive, it's nothing compared to Volume Two.  Our heroes (and heroine) are deadly!  Guns, knives, sabres, glass shards -- and that's just a partial list of the weapons they employ.  And the final denouement is an extremely cinematic (and bloody) smorgasbord of good versus evil.  And there is one small hanging thread that leaves room for a sequel.  I understand that the recently published book, The Dark Volume continues the adventures. Sweet.  This was a fantastic story in every sense.  Wicked fun.

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Volume One ~ Gordon Dahlquist
trade paperback 480 pages ISBN-10: 0553385852 ISBN-13: 978-0553385854

This is fast becoming my favorite story of the year and I'm only half done (I'm currently reading Volume Two).  This is a Victorian adventure which combines elements of mystery, a dash of science fiction, a smattering of romance, and is smothered in suspense.  Didn't take long for me to hooked into the story, either. It charges right along keeping you hungry for what happens next.  There are three main protagonists who are very dissimilar yet they are all tenacious.  The book is peopled with all manner of types, from lords and ladies to rogues, whores, and assassins.  There are several death-defying escapes and chases.  The main characters are compelling and very likable, the villains are varied, dangerous, and fleshed-out as well. The writing is top-notch.  I really love this story, it's cinematic, larger-than-life and something you can really lose yourself in.  Very fun.

The Reavers ~ George MacDonald Fraser
trade paperback 288 pages ISBN-10: 0307388050 ISBN-13: 978-0307388056

Fraser is best known for his series of Flashman novels.  But this one is a silly stand-alone.  In fact, the first sentence of his foreward to the book is: "This book is nonsense."  Which means that basically, he just wrote it for fun and he's not hewing closely to the facts of the time period he set it in (Elizabethan England, somewhere around 159-, Fraser is willfully vague).  The characters frequently spout anachronisms and it's really just all done for laughs.  If you're familiar with Fraser's book The Pyrates, it's close to that style.  I loved The Pyrates, and this one was diverting enough but not as easy to follow.  Fraser renders his characters' dialogue into their various accents (Scottish, Cockney, American Deep South, Spanish, etc.) and that tends to slow the reading speed doon abit.  If ya nae ken whut ahm tockin' aboot, yer in fer a bit o' a slog. Oh, also, a passing familiarity with Cockney rhyming slang also helped in a few spots.  To wit: china (plate) = mate, butcher's (hook) = look.

City of Thieves ~ David Benioff
Hardcover 272 pages ISBN-10: 0670018708 ISBN-13: 978-0670018703

This is an excellent World War II story set in and around St. Petersburg (aka Leningrad) in 1942.  Lev is arrested for looting a German corpse and Kolya is arrested for desertion.  A colonel gives them a choice: die by execution or find him a dozen eggs for his daughter's wedding in four days.  They choose the latter.  The story is funny, horrble, suspenseful, heart-breaking and exciting.  It draws you in completely and the writing has that effortless feeling.  Great characters too.  I really wouldn't want to tell you anything more.  It's best to discover this story on your own.  It's a quick read.