Book Review: Shades of Milk and Honey

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The jacket copy calls this a mix of Pride and Prejudice and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and I would have to agree. Since I am a fan of both of those novels, I am right in the target audience for Shades of Milk and Honey. The magic system is unique and well-integrated into the world of the novel, and perhaps most interesting, primarily the province of women.

While I did enjoy this book - so much so that I read it in one afternoon - there are a couple things that distracted me and occasionally dimmed my enjoyment. The first is the extremely close resemblance to Jane Austen's novels. I think that it is intended in part as an homage, and it works well as a short-cut to help the reader understand the world without too much exposition. It also, however, means that the plot is pretty clear right from the beginning, since it adheres closely to Jane Austen's patterns. There was never a doubt in my mind about which character was the eventual love interest and which was the villain. Some of the characters seemed lifted whole-cloth from P and P. The second distraction is that several of the characters overuse the same word or phrase whenever they talk. Beth, for example, describes everything as "droll," while Melody says "la" in almost every conversation. It happened just enough that it caught my attention, instead of remaining in the background as a personality quirk.

I look forward to reading the sequels and seeing how Kowal broadens the world and magic, since I presume they will move farther from Jane Austen. The highest compliment I can provide for Shades of Milk and Honey is that I continued thinking about the story - its details, the implications of the magical system and so forth - long after I finished reading.

View all my reviews

Book Review: No Quest for the Wicked

Guess what! I have had some time to read lately. Here is a review of the most recent book I read. It is book 6 of a series that I really enjoy - sort of Harry Potter meets Sex in the City, sort of. The first four books were published the traditional way, but the publishers didn't want book 5 (although fans like me certainly did), so the author recently decided to e-publish it and any further books herself. Yay!

No Quest For The Wicked by Shanna Swendson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

On her blog, Swendson mentioned that she thought of the previous book as being like a season finale of a TV show, while this one is the start of season two. That seems like a pretty apt comparison. The bad guys from the first 5 books are gone and the main characters have to deal with the fall-out from the magical battle that ended book 5 as well as start on new adventures with new opponents.

After the major revelations and changes at the end of book 5, the excitement has died down at MSI, and Katie is bored - now that the competition is gone, there is very little need for a marketing department. Her boredom quickly disappears when Owen discovers that a dangerous magical object has just turned up in New York, and they may be the only ones who can find it before it causes major magical chaos.

They set off on a quest to find and neutralize the object, along with Sam the gargoyle, their friend Rod, a gnome, a rogue elf, and Katie's magical and somewhat crazy grandmother, who has suddenly arrived in New York from Texas. It is a whirlwind day of chases, near-misses and danger as they have to evade the other magical groups hunting for the object as well.




View all my reviews

Book Review: The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this.

Annie and Buster, or Child A and Child B, as they were referred to in their parents' performance art projects, grew up and moved away from home. They were tired of being a part of the performances that caused chaos and disruption as a form of art. But then, after their lives fall apart, thanks to some very bad decisions involving topless photos, a magazine reporter, beer and a potato gun, they both move back home, hoping to find at last a normal sense of family, but fearing the worst. When the worst does happen, Annie and Buster struggle to discover what is real and what is art, how they should react, and what it will take to find a normal life when they finally figure it all out.

Annie and Buster are engaging, messed-up characters who know exactly why they are messed up and are doing the best they can with what they have. I wanted them to find their way to happiness, even as I wanted to see how low they could go. Wilson writes with sly humor and a sensitivity toward his characters, as he takes a set of familiar themes - growing up, leaving home, figuring out where you fit with your parents - and blows them out of all proportion, then brings them back to earth.

View all my reviews

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In an experiment, journalist and author Barbara Ehrenreich tried to see if she could survive by working at low-wage jobs. She had to find an entry-level job, housing, and food in each of the three cities she lived in, and manage to eat and stay safe, for a month. Could she do it? Answer: not very well. In each case, the rents were too high, the pay too low, the conditions appalling (at least for someone coming from a comfortable middle-class background).

Her attempts took place around 1999-2000, when the economy was doing much better than it is now, when there was very low unemployment and many open jobs were waiting for workers. I remember her saying in an interview in the last year or so (for the 10th anniversary) that there is no way she could do this now - there just aren't any jobs out there. Which just makes the situation worse, and makes some of her conclusions seem like tragic predictions.

A very quick read, and eye-opening, even to someone who has read about/ worked with/ known about poverty and the perils of being part of the working-poor. It also makes me even angrier now when I hear Republicans talking about how we have to preserve the incomes of the very wealthy and put more of the burden on the poor.

View all my reviews

When She Woke book review

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. A re-telling/re-working of The Scarlet Letter. When She Woke is set in a not-too-distant distopian future United States, where the religious right/social conservatives have taken over the government and laws, where there is a Secretary of Faith in the president's cabinet and where having an abortion nets you the same punishment as a murderer. And that punishment - the guilty person is Chromed through genetic implants, turned a specific color indicative of the crime. As someone who grew up close to, though not really a part of, the world of conservative evangelicals, and as someone who is furious at the current crop of politicians trying to roll back human rights in American, this book was both terrifying, and heartening.

Hannah has been Chromed for aborting the product of her affair with a very married, very important man. Once released back into the world that now despises her and, in some cases, actively wants her dead, she must learn who she really is, what she really believes, and how to survive. She was always a little too rebellious for her very straight-laced mother, asking too many questions, not following the full intent of the law, but this characteristic becomes what saves her, in the end. It carries her from the halfway house of horror to a chance at a new life and a true re-awakening.

I almost gave this 5 stars, but there were a few too many moments where I wanted to shake some sense into Hannah for that rating. Overall though, a fantastic book, and one that would be a great pick for a book club or reading group.

View all my reviews

Book Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Based on my short perusal of the other reviews on Goodreads, this is one book that you will either really like or really dislike - not too many in-the-middles. I would give it 4.5 stars, if able. I doubt I will stop thinking about it for a while, and I want to read it again, soon, to catch things I missed, to revel in the story without the mystery.

It is not an action-filled magical romp; there is no heart-pounding suspense. It is a story that takes time to unfold, and for much of the book you will be slightly confused about what just happened, or why it was important. The dates at the beginning of each chapter are very important to following the flow.

I do think that some of the dislike from other readers comes from disappointment that they got a different book that they expected from the descriptions. Some of the marketing around the book makes this sound like it will be a circus-centered Harry Potter or a Victorian Lev Grossman-style post-modern take on the magical adventure, with some Romeo and Juliet action as well. It is not. The magical contest that sets events in motion is never clearly defined, for the reader or the two main participants. It is not explosions and obvious displays of power. That vagueness continues through much of the book, clouded in a dream-like state and mystery. If you are expecting magical duels of the Harry Potter sort, you will need to look elsewhere. It is not that sort of book.

However, if you are interested in dreams, and the power of stories, and the way both unfold and change with the telling, you may like this. It is also about obsession and love, and friendship, and, of course, the circus.

Not for everyone, I do realize, and I don't know if I would actively push it on any of my friends - in part because I wouldn't want to tarnish it for myself if they didn't like it - but I do recommend you at least give it a try.

All in all, I am very happy that I won a copy of this in a Twitter contest, so I don't have to wait for it at the library, and I have it around to read again, when I get a chance.

View all my reviews


In other news, Fall seem to finally be making an appearance here in Arkansas. On Monday, the temperature hovered near 90; yesterday it never got to 60, and it rained! After my trip to Seattle, where it felt just like Fall should (well, to me anyway), I was rather sad to have to return to the extended summer that had captured Arkansas, so I am pretty darn happy about this turn. 

Judgment Day by Penelope Lively

Judgment Day by Penelope Lively
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Penelope Lively's books, and I always find it so hard to describe why. They are generally quiet, without the bluster or bombast of so many novels, yet they are not cloying or claustrophobic. They are observational, but not overly full of description. Generally, I have to like a character in a book to like the book, but I don't feel that need with Lively's books. Certainly, there are characters I empathize with, and others that I dislike immensely, but I don't latch on to any one person.

Judgment Day is very much a Lively novel, in all of those senses. Set in a small English village, it is centered around an ancient church and its neighbors, and the events that happen one spring and summer when they plan a church fundraiser. The fundraiser is to be a play based on several violent moments in the history of the village and church. Throughout the story, there is an undercurrent of tension, or possible violence, like a tiger waiting to spring, and you don't know until the end how or if it will strike. Several of the main characters ponder faith and fate and existence, as many people do, and come away changed, and yet the same, as most people do. Lives are changed forever, and not changed, as is so often the case in real life. A picture of a village, and a picture of the wider world.

Note: This was one of my TBR challenge books for this year.

Book Review: Ganymede by Cherie Priest

Ganymede by Cherie Priest
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cherie Priest is one of my favorite authors right now, and Ganymede is a good example of why. You start with a hefty helping of adventure, some humor, a little social commentary, mix it all up, and you get a novel that compels you to keep reading (even when you should be cleaning house or something else "productive").

This time, the action is mostly centered in New Orleans, where Josephine Early is trying to get a purloined Confederate submarine out of Lake Pontchartrain and out to the Gulf, where it will be given over to the Union. Problem? The sub has killed just about everyone who has tried to sail it, including its inventor. As a last resort, she sends to Seattle for her old friend (and lover) Andan Cly, airship pirate (last seen in Boneshaker, the first Clockwork Century book), on the chance that an airship pilot will have better luck than the sailors who have tried in the past. Cly sets out from Seattle with a new love interest on his mind, and a couple of new crew members. Throw in occupying Texians, zombis, and the tension from a long ago love affair, and you have another great story.

My only quibble is that a few bits of plot don't seem to lead anywhere, exactly, like the Texian who has basically taken up residence at Josephine's "boarding house." He plays a small part in learning about the zombis, or at least I assume he does, since the last we see of him, he is heading off to talk to a Texas Ranger in his hat and underwear, but there were so many hints that he was something more that I felt like he got lost somewhere. There were also hints that Kirby Troost, Cly's newest crewmember, may not be all that he seems - but no revelation.  But these are really only minor quibbles in a book that kept me turning pages and holding my breath more than once.

View all my reviews

Book Report: The Reading Promise

Since I promised to write every day this month, it seems appropriate to start the month off with a book about a promise: The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma. You may have heard of this book when it came out earlier this year - Alice and her father started reading together when she was in elementary school, and continued, every day, until she left for college. This book is about The Streak, as they called it, but it is also about the importance of reading and books and family.

Overall, I give the book 3 1/2 stars out of 5. I love the topic and the idea of a reading streak. Both my parents read to me while I was growing up, but not every single night for years, and at some point, I started reading aloud to my mother while she was driving me to and from my music lessons and orchestra rehearsals and on road trips. Then I started reading to Benjamin while we were dating, and we still read together. So, obviously I approve. I enjoyed the way Alice Ozma (yes, both names from books, yes, bother actually her names - the middle ones. And she said she liked them together, so I will go ahead and refer to her that way) used the days of The Streak as markers for important events in her life. But...I sort of wished she said more about the books themselves, about what they were reading, about how she felt about those books. She admits that they didn't even really keep track of everything that they read (augh! How could you not do that?!) That isn't what this book is, but that is sort of what I hoped for from the subtitle. More my problem than the books though.

One problem I had, apart from that, was the dialog. I simply couldn't find it believable at times that a child would speak the way Alice Ozma records herself as speaking, and I can't believe that she remembered conversations that clearly. I know that recreating conversations is not unusual in memoirs, so my problem isn't with that, exactly; it is more that the 10 year old Alice Ozma at the beginning of the book sounds an awful lot like the 20 year old Alice Ozma at the end of the book, or like dialog written by an adult who doesn't know any children. Yes, she read a lot and had a big vocabulary. So did I, and I certainly don't think I ever sounded like that. It is just a bit too precocious and precious.

Overall though, I enjoyed the book. It was an easy read, and it is a great testament to reading aloud together. I think teachers, librarians, and parents would enjoy it. If you are interested in more information about the book or Alice Ozma and the Reading Promise that is in the back of the book, you can visit her website: Make a Reading Promise.