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Court of the Air - Long Winded Review
Sat Jan 23, 2010 1:28 pm
[  Mood: Sleepy ] [  Currently: Watching My son sleep ]
The Court of the Air is a brings us a very old plot with slightly new trappings. Two orphans are key to protecting the world from its destruction. They are hunted by the forces of evil who want to stop them. They are also aided by small groups of friends, some of whom pay the ultimate price.
The new trappings of this story, a blend of steampunk and fantasy set in a world not our own, but heavily based on our own. The Jackles are clearly the British, with a society reminiscent of the Victorians. The Commonshare is allso reminisacent of the Soviet Union. There are also an entire species of machines, not to mentionwalking, talking crustaceans. Woven into that is the use of magic by some and an entire group of people who have been twisted by coming into contact with something called the feymist, granting them special powers.
As a read, this book is brilliant at times, and at others a grind to get through. Author Hunt has bought into the current trend of gritty fantasy trend. Bad things happen to innocent people in this book, and Hunt lets you see it. An extrodinary number of those forementioned nice people die trying to help the two orphans save the world. At one point I began to ask myself if they all wore red shirts. And the collateral damage in this book is horrifying.
At the core of this book is Hunt's philosophy of a yin and a yang. One orphan is the offensive weapon of the forces of good, while the male is the defensive weapon. And while that is lovely idea, it gets a little clumsy at times. At other points it is completely transparent what the author is doing. If Hunt had chosen to edit this work a bit more, refining his ideas, it would have turned out better. As it stands, I have read better steampunk stories involving orphans before.
Take it or leave it.
Posted By: Ubalstecha 0 Reveries Ruminate
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The Gun Seller - AQR
Fri Jan 01, 2010 10:41 am
[  Mood: Happy ] [ Currently: Watching My son play and trying to stop him from terrorizing the cat ]
I picked this book up on a lark. I watch House and LOVED BlackAdder, so I am well aware that Hugh Laurie has many facets to his talent. "What the hay," I thought, "if it sucks, I can mock him."
Well suprisingly, this is quite a good geo-political intrigue novel. Laurie injects some wry and dry British humour into the proceedings, which brings some freshness to what could have been a tired old tale of an ex-soldier caught up in the international weapons trade. There is also some wag-the-dog elements here that add to the complexity of the plot.
This is a quick moving, engaging book that is a fun read. It also proves that Laurie is a multi-talented guy that has a literary career if he ever tires of acting.
Posted By: Ubalstecha 0 Reveries Ruminate
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Skin Trade - A Longwinded Review
Mon Dec 28, 2009 4:44 pm
[  Mood: Amused ] [  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]
It is no secret that I have said some not so nice things about this series in the past, but yet I retun to it book after book, hoping that Hamilton will have gotten over exploring her sexual fantasies and actually write plot driven fiction.
It appears my prayers have finally been answered in her latest novel, Skin Trade.
And when I said that my prayers have been answered, I wasn't kidding. Hamilton doesn't let Anita have sex until after page 300 of the book. There are a total of three sex scenes in this book; two we see and one that we don't. That has to be the smallest number in an Anita Blake novel in a long time.
Instead, we are treated to a plot full of tension and action, which harkens bake to the early entries in this series. We open with Anita receiving a severed head in the mail from vampire and serial killer, Vittorio. He has apperantly also left her a note, appropriately in blood, at the crime scene in hopes of drawing her to Los Vegas.
Anita has no choice but to go, but once there is forced to defend her reputation when the local cops accuse her of being a slut, while fending off the advances of another US Marshall (who is, coincidentally, also a serial killer), the political machinations of the local weretiger queen and the attempts of a very old European vampire to take control of her.
Hamilton may have finally found the balance between the sex and the action for which she claims to have been looking for all along. The only thing that detracts from the story is the constant "vetting" that Anita has to go through. Either Anita is on tough cookie who is really good at her job, or she isn't. Having to have her prove it to every cop she runs into and go through the same arguments with the same ineundos and accusations being made is getting as tiring as the sex scenes used to be. Until she resolves this constant melodrama, her writing will never be as good as it was in the early books.
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The Luxe - A Not So Quick Review
Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:45 am
[  Mood: Silly ] [ Currently: Listening to My son object to having a toothbrush taken away. ]
As a teacher, I have read a lot of dreck. Much of it seems to come from the teen romance genre. It pretty much sucks. Trust me.
Not so with The Luxe. The book tells the tale of young socialites in New York in the late 1800s. Our main character is Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of an old money family, who finds that due to diminished circumstances, she must marry wealthy ner-do-well Henry Schoonmaker. Nevermind that she is in love with her childhood friend (and family coachman) Will. Nevermind that her best friend, Penelope (who is from a new money family and is a little bold, our bad girl as it were) has her sights set on Henry. Nevermind that Henry seems to be falling in love with Elizabeth's sister Diana. One thing Elizabeth knows she must do is her duty.
Or does she?
Author Godbersen has created a rich, meaty, historical romance for the YA set that is full of gossip and backstabbing. But this book owes more to Jane Austen than Gossip Girl, and that is a good thing. Slow to get going, once this book hits its stride you can't put it down. Godbersen has also done her research, giving the story a rich backdrop full of fancy dresses and disreputable New York neighbourhoods. She has also been careful to weave in the story of the underclasses, with the characters of Will and Lina (Elizabeth's maid) woven into the story as more than spear carriers.
I recommend this for the young woman in your life who loves reading, but for some strange reason isn't really into genre fiction.
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Leviathan - ANSQR
Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:33 am
[  Mood: Fed Up WIth Life ] [ Currently: Editing a podcast while my son plays. ]
As the author of the Uglies series, Scott Westerfield is a YA publishing superstar. His books have sold millions of copies, an justifiably so. His Uglies series is easily one of the best bits of sci-fi written in the last five or ten years. Adult, YA or kids - that was a good sereis.
Leviathan is the first book of his new steampunk trilogy and it is a solid outing. Set in WWI Westerfield's vision pits the traditional machines of steampunk against the invented life forms of gene manipulation. The Darwinists are the latter, and they have mastered genetic science in a way we only dream of. This has allowed them to create life forms that take the place of machinery. Instead of zepplins, they pilot giant hydrogen inflated relatives of whales that themselves host a complete ecosystem of hydrogen sniffers and glow worms. The Darwinists make up the countries that we know as the Triple Entete, Britain, France and Russia.
The countries that are using the advanced machines are known as the clankers and they make up the Central Powers or Triple Aliance, specifically Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey.
In this world we meet Alex, the sole heir to Franz Ferdinan, yes, that Franz Ferdinan, who is suddenly thrust into the world of politics when his parents are murdered. He flees to Switzerland with a small group of tutors and loyal retainers. On the British side, we meet Deryn, a young woman who desperately wants to be an airman. The only problem, girls are not allowed. So Daryn becomes Dylan and joins the air service, working as a midshipman on the flagship of the British air service, Leviathan. Their two worlds collide when the Leviathan crashes in the valley where Alex is hiding. Both young people are pulled into the murk that is WWI.
Westerfield has created a masterful tale that weaves together history and an inventive twist on steampunk. I am sure someone will correct me, but I have not seen a lot of genetic manipulation in steampunk. This may be the invention of a new subgenre. What should we call it? Genepunk? Clonepunk?
Go get this.
Posted By: Ubalstecha 1 Reveries Ruminate
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Plum Spooky - AQR
Wed Dec 02, 2009 6:01 pm
[  Mood: Hypnotized ] [ Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]
As I have said before, my grandmother had a name for work like Evanovich's; toothache books. They aren't going change your life or even make you think too deeply, but you will chuckle and, occasionally, guffaw.
This "in-between the numbers" book finds Diesel reappearing in Stephanie's life, this time after a man named Wulf who is working with one of Stephanie's FTAs. Only problem, Wulf seems to be able to shoot electricity out of his hands and dissappear at will. Stephanie reluctantly agrees to work with the hunky Diesel, if only to get his help out capturing the missing FTA . . . and get him out of her apartment.
This is much better than her last book, Finger Licking Fifteen, as Evanovich has be judicious in her use of Lula. Just enough for the humour, but not so much as to be annoying. Plum Spooky also differs as, like the other "Between the Numbers" books, it has a supernatural element. Not a heavy supernatural element, Diesel can open doors and start cars without a key. This is a great way to spend unwind when you are stressed and just need some brain candy, but nothing more.
Posted By: Ubalstecha 0 Reveries Ruminate
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Thirteenth Child - ANSQR + Rant!!
Mon Nov 23, 2009 6:36 am
[ Mood: Sleepy ] [ Currently: Dealing with a son who doesn't want to sleep in his bed ]
With her Enchanted Forest series, Patricia C. Wrede is already a children's fantasy star, so any book of hers is eagerly anticipated by her fans. I, however had never heard of her. (Another party I was late to.) Instead it was the plot description that drew me to this book.
The Thirteenth Child tells the story of Eff Rothmerr, appropriately, a thirteenth child. According to superstition, she doomed to bring bad luck to all those around her. Added to her pain is the fact that her twin, Lan, is the seventh son of a seventh son. This means the same tradition and superstition that has handed Eff the place of pariah, has handed her brother a place of power and prestige.
EFF and Lan's parents, aware of this contriversy, move their family to the frontier, just behind the great barrier. There Eff is away from the daily taunting of her cousins and the accusation of her aunts and uncles. But life on the frontier is not perfect and when Eff moves beyond the barrier to help investigate what a new type of magical creature is attacking settlements, she discovers how powerful her magic really is.
Excellent fantsy story that owes a great deal to Frank L. Baum and Laura Ingals Wilder. And like the works of Wilder, much of the story is focused on the mintia of Eff's life growing up from 5 to 18. But don't worry that the focus on chores and school will make this a boring read. In fact, good characters and pacing make this a joy to read. The author has also created a unique maguc system to go along with her fabulous storytelling.
My only criticism is that it wraps things up a little to quickly by using some Deus Ex Machina to deal with the human villain of the story, but hopefully Wrede will correct this in the other two volumes that are set to follow this one.
Rant time: This book has stirred up controversy because Wrede has deliberatly chosen not to have Native American characters. Her reasoning was that she wasn't satisified with either of the two stereotypes that were emerging in her writing. So she chose neither.
She has been vilified for this choice by the blogosphere. And I wonder why. As I see it, this is a work of fiction. By definition that is made up. Plus it is fantasy, so expecting it to adhere to historical fact is a little ridiculous. I have seen historical fiction that has less historicity than this book. Why isn't the blogosphere riled up about those?
Second, anyone with a passing knowledge of American History can tell you that even if there were Native Americans in Wrede's Columbia, by the time of Eff's family moving west (to what is essentially Missouri), many of those had either been massacred by the army, succumbed to disease or had been rounded up and shipped to reservations. A middle class girl like Eff would not have come into contact with them in any significant way. Look at the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, which take place at about the same time. Where are the natives?
Third, and final, this is Wrede's book. She can do whatever she wants with the characters. If people object to that, they should write their own book.
My take on this, ignore the fuddy-duddies who are whining that are whining in this book. This was not done out of racism. One look at the respect author Wrede has for African (she spells it differently) magic and the Rationalists(who don't want to use magic) makes it clear that Wrede is not a flaming bigot.
Go get this book. It is worth it. It will be in the next "What to Read After Harry", which is coming as a supersized holiday spectacular in early December.
Posted By: Ubalstecha 0 Reveries Ruminate
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1632 - A Not So Quick Review
Sun Nov 22, 2009 1:09 pm
[ Mood: Happy ] [ Currently: Watching My Son Sleep in My Lap ]
A lot of people want to live in the past, enchanted by the romance. A lot of them have written fanciful, romantic stories about travelling back in time. 1632 is not one of these.
The small town of Grantville, West Virginia has been transported back in time to 1632 (hence the title) due to a side effect of an alien tecnology. They are deposited into the middle of the Thirty Years War in the German province of Thuringia. (That's in the middle part of Germany, in the mountain forrests)
Exploring their new environment, some of the townsfolk stumble across war attrocities in the making. Specifically the rape and torture of peasants. Rescuing some of the locals, the Americans quickly realize that they need to band together if they have a hope of survining. They also realize that their current level of technology is not sustainable, that they have to "gear down" as it were.
The residents of Grantville are also faced with the realization that, in order to survive, they need to get involved in what is going on around them. This means takinging in the refugees that are hiding in the forrest around the town, as well as showing the various military forces that the Americans are a force with which to be reconned.
Author Eric Flint has struck a perfect balance between historicity and fiction. There are overwrought moments of American patriotism and pride (I found myself mentally chanting USA! USA! a few times.), but there are also uniquely human moments that make this alternate past seem so real and engaging.
I must also stop and compliment Flint on his remarkably strong female characters. Of particular note is Gretchen, the printer's-daughter-turned-unilling-camp-follower-turned-Grantville-citizen. Strong, practical, but completely human, Gretchen is compelling and real. You want to spend as much time with her as possible. This holds true for many of the women that Flint has created.
If there was any fantasy book that should be optioned for a TV series, this in one. Showtime, HBO listen up. A rich series, full of lots of interesting characters, thrilling battle scenes and love, lots of sweet love. Think of it as Jericho meets the Tudors. AWESOME!
Posted By: Ubalstecha 2 Reveries Ruminate
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City of Ashes - A Quick Review
Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:51 am
[  Mood: Sick ] [ Currently: Drinking my Baked Apple Black Tea ]
The Mortal Instruments trilogy tells the tale of Clary, a young woman whose world is turned upside down when her mother suddenly disappears. She discovers that she and her mother are Shadowhunters, descendants of Angels who fight demons.
City of Ashes, the second instalment in the series, finds Clary struggling with her emotions for Jace, given the revelation that he is her brother. Add to that the arrival of an Iquisitor who is convinced that Jace is guilty of working with their father, who is trying to bring down the clave, and you have an excting story.
Author Cassandra Clarke continues her creative world building with reinvisioning of the vampire, wereworlf, fairy and warlock mythos stirred in for levening. There is also an exploration of the real meaning of parenthood, as seen through Jace's relationship with the Lightwoods who raised him and Clary's relationship with the Shadowhunter turned wereworlf Luke. Worth the time.
Posted By: Ubalstecha 0 Reveries Ruminate
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Finger Lickin' Fifteen - A Not So Quick Review
Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:24 pm
[ Mood: Sleepy ] [ Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]
Janet Evanovich has been at the Stephanie Plum series for awhile. This installment finds Stephanie split three ways. She is helping Ranger hunt down the person (or persons) who have been burgling clents of his security business. Lulu has also witnessed a murder and needs Stephanie's help hiding from the perpetrators. Meanwhile, Stephnaie still works for her cousin Vinnie's bond business and she has skips to catch or he will replace with her arch-nemesis, Joyce Barnhardt.
As the title says, this is installment fifteen of the series, and while Stephanie is still fresh, some of the secondary characters are getting past there best before date. Lulu is especially getting dated. A charactature to begin with, she has devolved into stereotype, and not a flattering one at that. It is really time for Evanovich to retire Lulu for a few books, or maybe have her evolve and grow a bit. Ethier that or kill her, cause she is beginning to rub the wrong way.
And that is what makes this novel less entertaining than it should be. By giving Lulu such a parominent role in the plot, Evanovich has really shoved her in our face. She is always there and we get sick of her. Given that these books are supposed to be comedic mysteries, having a character that gets on your nerves takes way from the laughter.
Posted By: Ubalstecha 0 Reveries Ruminate
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All you wanted to know about Ubalstecha
Ubalstecha (Ubal to her friends) has been heavily involved in many fandoms and continues to watch way too much TV. In addition, she is Volunteer Medical First Responder with St. John Ambulance, a 1000 year old charitable organization dedicated to health care concerns. Ubal has been known to yell instructions at television characters even though she knows they do not listen. She also enjoys reading books of any genre, playing computer games, drinking tea, gardening, cross-stitching, cooking, canning and preserving. Ubal lives in Canada with her husband, newborn son and their master, the cat.
You can also follow her on Twitter.
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About Ubalstecha
Joined : Wed Jul 27, 2005 4:57 am
Location : True North Strong and Free
Occupation : Teacher
Interests : Too many to number
Shoutbox
MntlWard
Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:40 pm
Hey, you have a message! 
Dharma Bum
Mon Sep 10, 2007 1:30 am
You should bahleet that link to the testicle burning story, it might help a lil bit. Although I do like how you, me and Dave all broke our blog borders with our stubborness not to resize pictures.
I'm sorry I missed you in CoH! But you know why? I was busy saving your life, IN THE FUTURE.
Ubalstecha
Sat Sep 08, 2007 4:50 pm
Nah - I did with my picture spectacular.
Dharma Bum
Fri Sep 07, 2007 10:38 pm
Err, whoops. I broke your blog.
sackett
Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:34 am
Just a shout to let you know I enjoyed reading about your con experience. Thanks.
Ubalstecha
Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:57 pm
Obviously I spoke too soon on the boards.
Funny that the link leads back to Oprah.
I sense a Dharma.
BumSexCo
Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:48 am
A WINNER IS YOU!!! To being the greatly, the discerning woman for the win. Huge rooster is here for your mouths, so put juicy finger on link, TAKE $500 OFF ON LADY'S MALE ENHANCEMENT PRODUCT. It works O.K.!!!!
Dharma Bum
Fri Jun 08, 2007 6:05 am
That's not my style. If I was going to post pervy stuff on the internet, I'd put a high definition pic of my wang on facebook.
Dharma Bum
Wed Feb 28, 2007 5:55 am
THIS IS A SHOUT BOX
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Blog Started : Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:34 pm
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