Ubalblog

[  Mood: Shocked ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC ]

I love high fantasy. As a teenager I practically memorized the Belgariad and was always looking for the next great story of questing and wizardry. Modern high fantasy has taken a very gritty, but delicious, turn with the likes George R.R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie. But I sometimes still long for a nice, old fashion "young man’s journey into adulthood" high fantasy. So imagine how happy I was to find The Summoner.

Being the Spare is not all it’s cracked up to be, especially when the Heir is a psychotic jerk. This is Tris’s world. He is the second son from the second marriage of the king of Margolan. His older brother, Jared, is bully who is jealous of his brother’s popularity with the people. So when Jared kills their father, the king, Tris knows he needs to flee.

This sets up a breakneck race across the country as Tris tries to make it to a neighbouring kingdom where his uncle is king. Add to this the problem of Tris’s burgeoning necromancy powers. It appears that more than just being able to see dead people, he is actually the magical heir of his late Grandmother, Bava K’aa. This would mean he is a summoner, a mage who is able to ease the transition of the dead to the other side and summon them to do his bidding.

Author Gail Martin has created a solid high fantasy novel that is a bit of a throwback to the works of the 80s, but with just enough grittiness and inventive world building to give it a freshness. Despite it’s size, this novel is a very easy read that will leave you satisfied.

[  Mood: Scared ]

In my never ending quest to find genre books to feed to the Harry Potter addicts in my life. This title was suggested by a friend. I endeavoured to track it down.

Boy am I glad she did.

Nita just wanted a place to hide from the bullies who were chasing her. She ended up in the children’s section of the library, a place she knew intimately. So when a new book (entitled So You Want to Be a Wizard) catches her eye, she takes it home. This book is a how to guide that leads Nita into a series of adventures with talking trees, sentient cars and dimensional travel. She also learns about confidence, strength and how to really deal with bullies.

Written years before Harry Potter, is clearly an inspiration for Rowling like the works of LeGuin and others. Author Diane Duane has created a unique magic system that blends science and magic to the point that they believably coexist.

An easy, quick read, this book owes far more to science fiction than high fantasy, as Duane actually tries to explain the science behind the magic. The edition I read also includes a Nita and Kit short story that explores time travel further.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]

This next book is one of those that I was exposed to because of meeting the author at Polaris.

Solange Drake is not looking forward to her sixteenth birthday. Unlike most of her friends, she is not going to have a birthday party nor is she going to get a car. Being the child of an ancient Vampire family, Solange has her transformation into a vampire to look forward to. And given that she is the first girl to be a vampire born rather than a vampire made, Solange is also apparently the fulfilment of ancient prophecy. Sometimes a girl can’t catch a break

This teen vampire romance could have been a pale imitation of Twilight or one of the tens of others that are out there. Instead it is a nice deviation in the vampire mythos, filled with humour and strong female characters, for once. Author Alexandra Harvey has crafted a tale that will satisfy all but the most jaded vampire fan. Accessible for readers as young as Grade 8.

[  Mood: Sick ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]

Zombiekins was brought to my attention when the author, Sean Bolger, was kicked out of a local school by the principal during a reading because she found the topic objectionable. When the dust settled, said pricipal claimed that she miss heard the name of a character, Old Lady Imavitch and felt she had to protect the children. With such a ringing endorsement from Mrs. Lovejoy, I knew I had to read this book.

No one in the town of Dementedyville ever goes near Old Lady Imavitch’s house, until the day there is a garage sale. Then the town can’t wait to buy her stuff. Against his better judgment, Stanley decides to buy the beat-up teddy bear with the bunny ear, a dangly eye and claws. And instead of listening to the warning of the creepy old lady, Stanley trows out the box with the instructions and takes the stuffed animal home.

Stanley awakes to a scene of horror in the playroom. All the other stuffed animals have been vivesectioned. Only Zombiekins was spared. Thinking it was the dog’s fault, Stanley takes they toy to school. Soon his school mates are turning into zombies. Can Stanley find the cure in time?

A funny, fresh, and surprisingly age appropriate, take on zombies from Ottawa author and teacher, Kevin Bolger. This will appeal to the junior boy with it’s gross out humour and cartoon illustrations. There are times that Bolger is not writing for the young, but rather the parents who might read the book to their children. Fun stuff.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Watching Franklin the Turtle – Don’t ask. ]

Things are not going well for Harry Dresden. His long time love Susan is back with a revelation that rocks his world. The White Council has been taken over by a man than is either stupid or evil. Meanwhile a crooked cop has Dresden and Murphy in his sights and has dragged the FBI into the equation. And to top it off, the Red Court is up to something, and it may or may not be linked to everything else that is going on.

Author Jim Butcher has once again crafter a tense, fast moving mystery/thriller that pushes the main character Harry Dresden in to some very dark places. He wheels and deals his way through the plot, making difficult choices as ally after ally is either stripped away or isolated by the forces movie against him. And the title Changes is exactly what this book brings. Dresden’s world will never be the same again.

And holy freakin’ cliffhanger endings. I will now have to wait a whole year for the next book. Damn you, Butcher!!!!

[  Mood: Cool ]
[ Currently: Chatting with my husband via Facebook. He’s in the same roo ]

I am a HUGE Barry Lyga fan. A former comic book writer, Lyga has turned his attention to teen books. Since then, he has consistently turned out works that are honest looks at teen life. They also deal with issues that they care about, without taking the After School Special route.

At the end of Lyga’s first novel the Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl, Kyra Sellers (Goth Girl) was being shipped of to a mental hospital after her father found out about the bullet she had stolen from Donald (Fanboy). Goth Girl Rising opens with Kyra returning from her institutionalization very angry. She feels that Fanboy has abandoned her and she is out to get revenge.

As Kyra works out how to exact her revenge, we see Goth Girl’s relationship with her father, whom she calls Roger. The two are struggling to deal with her mother’s death from lung cancer several years before. Roger, the smoker, has with drawn and gone numb, while Goth Girl has taken to lashing out.

We also get to meet Goth Girl’s other friends in this book. There is Simone, the girl who sleeps with boys to make herself feel loved and is constantly urging Goth Girl to lose her virginity. Goth Girl’s other friend Jecca proves to be more of conundrum. She and Goth Girl exchange kisses, yet Jecca purports to be in love with a boy.

This is the first time that Lyga has written a novel from the female point of view. For the most part he succeeds, capturing Goth Girl’s anger at her mother’s death and father’s distancing himself quite well. Her thoughts on the supposed power in a female body are also quite true to form.

This is a good outing and worth picking up. Teens and up due to language and situations. Still debating if this is going to make the next After Harry.

[  Mood: Amused ]

Charles de Lint is a Canadian author, who actually hails from my town of Ottawa (some of his books have been even set here). He has written many, many novels and won the World Fantasy Award. Recently, I picked up his 2004 novel, the Blue Girl.

Our main character, Imogene is determined to change. A new school means a new beginning, right? First step is to find a friend that is completely different from the group she used to run with. Who cares that this friend, Maxine, is an outcast with a control freak for a mother. Imogene’s grades are going up and she is learning to control her temper.

But there’s a problem.

Imogene’s new school is haunted by the ghost of a student who threw themselves off the roof years ago. He’s got a crush on Imogene and has turned to his fairy friends for help. Unfortunately the fairies involved have some problems with making the best choices. Their attempts to get Imogene to notice them bring the attentions of something far more sinister. Add to that the reappearance of Imogene’s childhood imaginary friend, who can now be seen by other people, and you have an exciting book.

Well written, this book is aimed at the teen set. There is tension, smart plotting and a real sense of what high school is like. Fans of de Lint’s Newford set (of which this book is a part)will recognize some characters as spear carriers. Imogene is a very powerful character, a real role model for troubled teens trying to straighten out.

This book will find its way into an upcoming After Harry.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Taking a break from cleaning ]

Those of you who have been here for awhile, know that I read Laurell K. Hamilton. A lot. And I analyze her. A lot. So you know I am going to read the latest of her novels.

This instalment sees our heroine, Meridith (Merry), back in LA and carrying twins that have six different fathers. (Don’t ask it’s complicated.) And while she is now the undisputed heir of the Winter Court, Merry wants nothing to do with the politics and has fled to LA. (Again, don’t ask it’s complicated.)

Buy her exile is not exactly peaceful as the lesser fey are being murdered by a serial killer and Merry is called in by the local PD to help with the investigation. And this is where this book takes a sharp left from the rest of the series in that it has a plot.

Of Hamilton’s series, the Merry Gentry series has been the most clearly erotic. Hamilton has admitted as much. Yet in this installment, Hamilton follows the trend of her last Anita Blake book and includes a plot that is more than than a thinly veiled excuse for her characters to have sex. And the plot is not bad – not brilliant, but not bad.

Die hard fans, do not fear! Hamilton has not become a vestial virgin with this book. There are sex scenes enough to tantalize the most jaded reader (there’s tenticle sex), but they aren’t the sole reason for this book. And given what Hamilton has produced in the past, that’s a high compliment.

Not high art, but a nice way to spend a couple of hours on a lazy summer day.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Taking a break from cleaning ]

Muslims are the baddy due jour. When anyone is in need of a scapegoat or villain and doesn’t have time to do their research, they turn to the followers of Mohammed. Hollywood, Republicans, Fox News, all have engaged in this fun-time building of a Muslim stereotype, so that non-muslims think they know what Islam is all about, how it is practiced and the like without ever having talked to a real muslim. Missing from the weaving of the narrative are Muslim voices.

Enter into this Michael Muhammed Knight and his novel "The Taqwacores".

Yusuf Ali is an engineering student who lives off campus in an all-Muslim house full of the Taqwacores. He lives with Umar, a supposedly the straight-edge Sunni who is covered in tattoos; Rabeya, a burqa-clad riot grrl; and Jehangir, the dope-smoking mohawked Sufi.

Plot wise, not much happens in this book. It is more of a series of charater vignettes leading to Yusuf leaving the house to head home, Yusuf asks questions about the validity of the Islam practiced by he and his housemates. Hardcore followers of punk music, the people in the house drink, do drugs and have sex.

This book is supposed to be the Generation X of the North American Muslim youth. Contriversial, even banned in some countries, the book portrays a group of Muslims who see themselves as religious, but aren’t the stereotypes you see on TV. Full of profanity and explicit scenes, this books seems to want to shock its reader with how the characters behave.

In spite of all this drama, I found the book difficult to finish. At times I just didn’t care about the characters enough to push through what, at times, was a rudderless narrative. Althought this could be because as a non-muslim, I missed half of the references in the novel.

This is a take it or leave it novel. If you really want a look at contemporary Muslim life, try the works of Randa Abdel-Fattah or Rukhsana Khan.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[  Currently: Working Editing a podcast ]

I love mysteries. There is just something about trying to figure out who done it and why that just turns my crank. Hense why this book shows up here.

Sophie Katz started writing murder mysteries as a way to work through some issues arising from her divorce and watched it evolve into a nive living. She is even developping a screenplay for her latest novel, that is until the producer is found dead in his bathtub, Police believe it is a suicide, but Sophie isn`t so sure.

Sophie’s life gets even wierder when scenes from one of her novels are staged by a stalker. The cops thinjs she crazy or guilty of the crimes herself. So she has to figure out who is behind all this before she ends up the victim of a murder plot she thought up.

Author Kyra Davis has created a funny, chick-lit murder mystery with a smart, if sometimes hapless heroine. There are also plenty of quirky charaters and a little romance, making this a good bet for the Stephanie Plum crowd.