Score:
5 - buy in hardcover
4 - buy in paperback
3 - buy used
2 - get from library
1.5 - not sure if I'll read the next one
1 - okay, but not worth seeking out
0 - bounce (started, but I couldn't get into it)
-1 - disappointing
-2 - flawed
-3 - couldn't finish
-4 - couldn't even begin
-5 - I can't believe I read the whole thing
4-01-08
C.E. Murphy, _Heart of Stone_
Luna (2007) ISBN: 0-373-80292-7
Score: 2
Start of the Negotiator trilogy, an urban fantasy set in modern NYC
about a lawyer who gets mixed up with the Old Races (dragons, djinn,
gargoyles, selkies, and vampires). The setting and premise were good,
but the plotting and characterization were weak, partly because none
of the antagonists were human and the villain was completely insane.
Also, the heroine jumped to a conclusion that wasn't ever confirmed,
and didn't fit what she had insisted was the key point (though this
wasn't critical to the plot of this book).
4-14-08
Kay Kenyon, _Bright of the Sky_
Pyr (2007) ISBN: 978-1-59102-541-2
Score: -2
Start of a series called the Entire and the Rose; the former is a
parallel universe, the latter is what they call our universe. The
Entire is a standard elfland: seemingly immortal lords who are
incapable of creating art, a highly regimented culture designed to
stifle dissent and creativity, roughly medieval technology except for
strange specialized organic things (including sentient airships),
telepathic horses, prophetic navigators, and time passing at different
rates. The book starts with folks from Earth discovering evidence of
the Entire, indicating that maybe the hero wasn't insane when he
claimed to have spent a decade there. So they send him back in order
to secure trade routes, and he agrees in the hope of finding his wife
and daughter (left behind on his first trip). Of course he ends up
safely in the Entire (despite the complete lack of thought that went
into sending him), and everyone he meets quickly sort themselves into
people who risk everything to help him and his family, or those who
wish to harm his family. The POV changes without warning (once in the
middle of a paragraph) to ensure that the reader hears every thought
and emotion, no matter how trite and obvious. This could have been a
decent YA fantasy novel, if it weren't for the publisher claiming it's
adult science fiction.
4-19-08
Jessica Day George, _Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow_
Bloomsbury (2008) ISBN: 1-59990-109-9
Score: 2
A YA retelling of the Norse fairy tale "East of the Sun, West of the
Moon" (I think with some other tales mixed in too). Quite enjoyable,
though it had the problem of characters being aware of some genre
conventions (third son) but not others (youngest daughter). I did like
how we were told halfway through that certain characters were dead and
they didn't appear later.
4-22-08
A. Lee Martinez, _The Automatic Detective_
Tor (2008) ISBN: 0-7653-1834-2
Score: 2
This is a hardboiled PI novel with robots, mutants, psychic powers,
flying cars, and such. Enjoyable, but a bit silly and the final
scene seemed really out of character.
4-28-08
John Meaney, _Bone Song_
Bantam (2008) ISBN: 0-553-38514-3
Score: 2
Start of the Tristopolis series, a gritty urban fantasy police
procedural. Includes lots of Cool Stuff (like the sentient
shape-shifting motorcycle), and the setting and characters were well
drawn, but I wish the plot hadn't been about mind controlling lots of
characters.
--
Konrad Gaertner - - - - - - - - - - - - email: kgaertner@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"I don't mind hidden depths but I insist that there be a surface."
-- James Nicoll
|
