Tag Archives: fantasy

The Fire Within by Chris D’Lacey

Posted by melydia on April 30, 2010 None comments

The Fire Within by Chris D’Lacey: David rents a room with a somewhat eccentric potter and her young daughter who is obsessed with squirrels. The back of this book talks about dragons at great length, but there’s far more about squirrels than dragons in this brief novel. Which is fine, since I like squirrels. The dragons in question – small ceramic creations that made me think of Pocket Dragons – were pretty predictable, but charming nonetheless. I wonder if the subsequent books in this series explain why all the dragons had names that started with G. Anyway, I’m rambling. In short, this would be a nice book for a younger reader. I found it to be pretty generic overall.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

Posted by melydia on April 7, 2010 None comments

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde: Detective Jack Spratt heads the somewhat failing Nursery Crimes Division of the Reading Police Department. Shortly after being assigned Mary Mary as his new partner, Spratt and his team are faced with solving the suspicious death of one Humperdink “Humpty” Dumpty. In a world where police departments get much of their funding from royalties earned publishing the gripping tales of their cases in Amazing Crimes magazine, Friedland Chymes is king, and he wants the Humpty case. Spratt’s boss gives him until the budgetary committee meeting to solve the case, so it’s a race against time and the laughs are nonstop. This is, quite simply, one of the funniest novels I’ve ever read. I listened to it on audio, read by the immensely talented Simon Prebble, and on many occasions I laughed out loud or even repeated some of the funnier lines. They come at you from all sides, from hilarious takes on famous nursery rhyme characters to witty business names (my favorite newspaper name was The Daily Eyestrain) to truly bizarre plot twists. Highly recommended, but you might want to brush up on your nursery rhymes first so you can catch more of the jokes. Trust me, you’ll enjoy it just that much more.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll

Posted by melydia on April 6, 2010 2 comments

Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll: Cullen James (who is a woman, believe it or not) is happily married to Danny, is being romantically pursued by a famous movie director named Weber Gregston, has a fabulously (and stereotypically) gay best friend named Eliot, corresponds with her teenage axe-murdering former neighbor, and has serial dreams about a land called Rondua, in which her son (named Pepsi) is attempting to collect the five Bones of the Moon with the aid of giant animals Martio the camel, Felina the wolf, and Mr Tracy the dog. The dreamworld and the real world interweave in strange ways, from Cullen’s bizarre magical powers to the appearances of Jack Chili and Sizzling Thumb. I was disappointed at the lack of description of Cullen’s real life, such as her travels to Europe and her experiences living in New York City. There were a lot of “white room” experiences for me. On the other hand, I actually quite liked how little Rondua was described, leaving most of it up to the imagination of the reader. There is no explanation as to what exactly the bones of the moon actually are, nor any number of other strange things, like the Hot Shoes or Fire Sandwich – just like in real dreams. The bizarre names created all kinds of interesting mental pictures for me. I wish, however, that there had been a little bit more plot. Most of the dream sequences felt more like I was hearing them second-hand than experiencing them with the narrator, and the “twist” ending felt more like a cheap shot than anything truly shocking. But all in all I can’t say that this is a bad book. Just a very strange one. A nice change from the ordinary.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

A Secret Atlas by Michael A. Stackpole

Posted by melydia on April 4, 2010 None comments

A Secret Atlas by Michael A. Stackpole: The Anturasi family have been mapmakers for generations. This puts them in a unique position of power, since without maps trade and travel suffer. It has been almost 800 years since The Cataclysm, a magical holocaust which both literally and figuratively changed the face of the world, and everyone is still getting things sorted out. This is (more or less) the story of three of the Anturasi children: studious Keles, adventurous Jorim, and soul-searching Nirati. Keles is sent west to survey the lands where dangerous wild magic still has a great hold. Jorim is sent east in a ship to find a new route to the west (and his voyage is similar to Columbus’s in many ways). Nirati, concerned that she still does not exhibit a Talent, gets tangled up in local politics. Of course, this is barely scratching the surface. Like many fantasy epics, the characters and subplots are numerous. It is clear that a lot of world-building went into this book, and much time is spent explaining customs, fashions, and history. This doesn’t seem distracting at first, but I did find I lost the thread of the plot on several occasions. Nirati’s tale in particular confused me; I feel like I somehow skipped a chapter or something. Keles and Jorim’s adventures, on the other hand, were great – once they finally got started. I was especially fascinated by the effects of wild magic, how it moves in storms with unpredictable results. It’s unfortunate that this is the first book of a trilogy, which meant the ending was unsatisfying and things cut off just as the plot had at last begun to move along well. It simply does not stand on its own. I would probably read the other books were I to come across them, but I’m not sure I’ll seek them out. While this was certainly not a boring read and I had no problem churning through many chapters in a sitting, it is not something I thought about when I wasn’t reading. It was simply something to pass the time. So while I really enjoyed the world it was set in, I would have appreciated a tighter story.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant

Posted by melydia on March 31, 2010 None comments

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant: I’d heard this movie was pretty bad, but when you’re on a fourteen-hour flight your movie-watching standards tend to go through the floor. But you know, it was actually a lot better than I’d feared. Two teenage best friends – one the perfect son and student, the other a trouble-making son of drunken and abusive parents – attend a freak show called Cirque du Freak. The perfect kid is obsessed with spiders; the troublemaker is obsessed with vampires. This isn’t brought up early enough in the film, and is in fact presented like an “oh by the way” to explain things that have already happened. Anyway, spiderboy steals freakshow spider, spider bites vampireboy, spiderboy has to make a deal with vampire to save vampireboy, serious rift forms between spiderboy and vampireboy. What saves this from sinking into cliche hell is that it is extremely self-aware. The teenagers and the freaks all know about horror movie stereotypes, and make some great comments that save the moment from turning to complete melodrama. The only unforgivably silly element is the vamp factions: the ones who drink blood without killing people are called vampires, and the ones who kill their victims are called vampaneze. Yes, it’s true to the book, but every time they said it I was all, “Really? I mean, really?” So while it was more than entertaining enough for a long flight, it’s not the sort of thing I would go out and rent. I am, however, interested in reading the books now.

The Blind Geometer by Kim Stanley Robinson/The New Atlantis by Ursula K. LeGuin

Posted by melydia on March 30, 2010 None comments

The Blind Geometer/The New Atlantis by Kim Stanley Robinson/Ursula K. LeGuin: This is one of those books where if you open it one way, it’s one book, but if you turn it over and open it the other way, it’s another book, and they meet upside-down in the middle.

The Blind Geometer by Kim Stanley Robinson: A blind mathematician in nearish-future Washington, DC, is approached by a colleague to aid in a strange puzzle in the shape of a woman who draws esoteric geometric diagrams and talks in jumbled phrases. The intrigue is less interesting than the experiences of the blind narrator. It’s a novel way of telling a story, since you can never mention what anything looks like. This story was my introduction to Robinson, and I think I might pick up more of his stuff.

Return from Rainbow Bridge by Kim Stanley Robinson: This bonus novella tells the tale of a teenage boy in the 1960s and his strange experiences with Paul, a mysterious Navajo Indian friend (though in this story it’s spelled Navaho). It’s not strictly science fiction, but it’s a fun and slightly spooky story that rekindled my desire to visit Arizona again.

The New Atlantis by Ursula K. Le Guin: I love Le Guin, but I had a terrible time following this one. I got that they were living in a strange fascist state, and there was talk about new continents rising in the oceans, but all the italicized parts completely lost me, and I have no idea what was going on at the end. It felt almost like it was building up to something and then just sort of stopped.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Messenger by Lois Lowry

Posted by melydia on February 26, 2010 None comments

Messenger by Lois Lowry: Matty is the messenger for Village, the one who can brave Forest to deliver messages between various settlements. The story begins at a pivotal moment in his life: he’s discovered a wonderful and terrifying ability, he will soon receive his True Name, and Village, founded as a sanctuary for refugees, is considering closing its doors. It is the third of a loose trilogy that began with The Giver (a truly excellent novel) – that is, it takes place in the same universe and has some overlapping characters. I never read the second book, Gathering Blue, but I didn’t feel like I needed to. Truth be told, I wasn’t that impressed with this story. It was too predictable, even for a young adult book. Maybe I’d have liked it better had I read Gathering Blue (or at least more recently read The Giver) but I doubt it. Usually I like dystopian tragedies but this felt forced. All in all, not one of Lowry’s better books.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

Posted by melydia on February 16, 2010 None comments

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman: I’d been looking forward to this last installment of His Dark Materials, both just because I thoroughly enjoyed its predecessors, and because I wanted to find out the twist ending that had inspired such polarized reactions among my friends. Without spoiling anything: I understood the ending, and it made sense with the rest of the story, but it still made me sad. Other than that, I can say that I very much enjoyed these books, and the characters will stay with me for a very long time. I admit I got a little confused with the Biblical metaphors here and there, but the rest of the adventure was quite satisfying, and I’d love to read more stories set in that universe. Definitely recommended, but not for sensitive young readers. There’s a lot of violence.

Dreaming Again edited by Jack Dann

Posted by melydia on February 9, 2010 None comments

Dreaming Again edited by Jack Dann: A surprisingly consistent collection of quality fantasy stories by Australian authors. I haven’t read much Australian lit – and indeed had only heard of one of the authors (Garth Nix) – but this was marvelous. Only a couple of the stories were boring and/or needlessly unpleasant to read. (I don’t object to unpleasant reading as a general rule, but when it’s unpleasant for no reason I feel manipulated.) The range is broad, from angels to zombies, humor to tragedy, modern Australia to the Garden of Eden. All in all a great sampler.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem

Posted by melydia on December 30, 2009 None comments

The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem: Medford Runyuin lives on the Island, a place where everything is named for its Use and nothing Useless is allowed. If you bake, your name is Baker; if you carve, your name is Carver; and everyone follows the rules laid out in The Book. Medford hopes to be called Carver once he reaches adulthood, but is worried about banishment because he has secretly been carving Useless (though beautiful) works of art. Now, if this had been the entire story, it would have been fairly generic. However, Medford’s life is turned upside-down when he is visited by the Goatman, a smelly man with hooves and horns who can control the wind. This nifty little twist adds life to an otherwise rather standard story about the joy of creativity. I hope there’s a sequel that goes into more detail about the goatfolk. He was the most interesting character.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

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