Re: Ha'penny, was Re: The Graveyard Book

On Mar 9, 12:10=A0am, Kurt Busiek <k...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> HA'PENNY, by Jo Walton, is the second in the "Farthing" series. =A0And
> it's another good one.
>
> In some ways, it's more satisfying from the start, because the "Britain
> slipping semi-enthusiastically into fascism" set-up has been
> well-introduced, so the sense of chill and unease can permeate things
> right from the start. =A0In some other ways, it's less satisfying,
> because it doesn't have the shock of the new, and that terrific third
> act of FARTHING can't really be duplicated; we'd see it coming.
>
> But once again, it's a well-plotted thriller, where Inspector
> Carmichael uncovers the truth and another high-born and somewhat dizzy
> (or at least, politically naive) woman gets both enlightened and has
> her life ruined, this time getting embroiled in an assassination plot
> against Hitler and the British Prime Minister. =A0Walton switches back
> and forth between the third-person narration of the Carmichael chapters
> and the first-person of the Viola Lark chapters, and it all moves well,
> and builds to a fairly exciting finale.
>
> The one bit I didn't believe was Viola's "romance" with Devlin -- it
> seemed very abrupt and convenient, and I don't think the prose carried
> it off. =A0It felt like something the writers wanted, not something the
> character believed. =A0The rest of the book, though, worked very well.
>
> And I am sort of hoping that next volume, Carmichael gets to accomplish
> something worthwhile -- we've had two books now where he figures out
> the truth, but things get worse anyway, which makes him look like a
> good detective and a loser, simultaneously. =A0At this volume's end,
he's
> decided to be at least some sort of subversive force, so I hope we'll
> see him being effective at that rather than stymied again.
>
> And we do have hints that things are continuing todevelop, both in
> terms of the fascist takeover and hints of something going on with the
> Solomon Kahn Bank that may wind up involving the scapegoats from the
> first book playing a part again. =A0Or maybe not -- I don't know where
> things are going, but I'm definitely still along for the ride, and
> enthusiastically so.
>
> Currently reading: ROLLING THUNDER, John Varley.
>
> kdb

Rolling Thunder is on my to be read pile (just came in the mail last
week from Amazon),