Adventure, Fantasy, Western, Young Adult

Adina, Shelley: Magnificent Devices (Magnificent Devices III) (2013)

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Magnificent Devices - Shelley Adina
$ Cover artist: Claudia at Phat Puppy Studio

Steampunk opens up to a lot of wondering about the practicality of the ideas put forward. Some of those ideas are possible to look into for a layperson like myself. The idea of a personal zeppelin like the one the Dunsmuirs take on their transatlantic trip is one such idea. I discovered there is quite a bit of information on zeppelins out there on the net (see some links below). My questions were answered.

Who should appear on the Lady Lucy but Rosie the hen. Yes, Rosie the hen. That must be one incredibly smart hen who has managed to gather to herself a network of conspirators willing to sneak her onboard as a blind-passenger. I never knew hens were good at networking. Now the only person the gang is missing is Snouts – left at home to make certain the less known gang-members stay loyal to the Lady of Devices.

Magnificent Devices brings us a step away from James Sewyn saving Claire from the dreaded prospect of marriage with the villain. Being a noble probably means that you have been involved in the grayer areas of life – or at least your ancestors have. In Lord Sewyn’s case, James is the crook / villain / rapscallion. Lady Claire is the black sheep of her family and as such not really able to protest James’ high-handed methods. But she does, feeling there is a difference between going for the rival gang or your fiancée and friends. Personally, I agree with her.

We find Lady Claire Trevalyan and her new family safe and sound on board the Lady Lucy at the beginning of Magnificent Devices. The Mopsies, Trig and Jake seem to have explored the airship and have already made a place for themselves in the hearts of the crew. Both boys have developed their talents further. We already know about Trig’s engineering skills and now find out about Jake’s navigational ones – until he is thrown out of the Lady Lucy by Ned Mose.

Ned Mose is a pirate of the piraty kind. I like him. There is nothing swashbuckling about him at all. Instead he rules his crew with an iron fist (literally). His arm is a work of art made by his step-daughter Alice Chalmers. When Ned Mose captures the Dunsmuirs and the flock, we are brought to the Wild West. In fact, we end up in a desert town ruled by Ned Mose and he is not a gentle ruler there either. I believe he might be defined as a “bad egg”. Whether Lady Claire is going to be able to defeat Mose is a good question.

We meet both men who want a piece of Claire in Magnificent Devices. Another one comes on the scene in the form of Captain Hollys. He seems to have fallen for all the qualities that Lord James Sewyn despises and that Mr. Andrew Malvern is not completely aware of. But we aren’t looking at any kind of love story in the Magnificent Devices serial. These are only small parts of the story that act as a spice to the whole. Claire is more than busy enough trying to get out of all the sticky situations she lands in while trying to remember her manners. It is funny how she holds on to them in the strangest situations. Somehow they seem to act as a buffer for Lady Claire’s ability to be courageous.

Magnificent Devices is a fun and lighthearted read with plenty of action and adventure.

Reviews:

My review of:

  1. Lady of Devices
  2. Her Own Devices
Adventure, Fantasy, Young Adult

Adina, Shelley: Her Own Devices (Magnificent Devices II) (2013)

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Her Own Devices - Shelley Adina
Cover art by Claudia

She was thankful that at least Snouts, Tigg, and the Mopsies followed her lead without coercion. Since she had lost her home in the Arabian Bubble riots and fallen in with this street gang that was no more than a rabble of desperate, hungry children, they had taught her how to survive – and she had taught them how to thrive.

Between lessons in reading and mathematics, they rehearsed new and confounding hands of Cowboy Poker, the current rage they had fabricated in the drawing rooms and gambling halls of London. Those with a bent for chemistry and mechanics assisted her in the assembly of her devices. Food appeared on the table with heartening regularity now, and they all had more than one suit of clothes each. Even Rosie, the hen she had rescued, who ruled the desolate garden behind the cottage with an iron claw, had begun to put on weight.

And to top it all, tomorrow she was to begin employment as assistant to Andrew Malvern, M.Sc., Royal Society of Engineers.

The fascinating thing about steam-punk is that a lot of it has nothing to do with the magic / supernatural / paranormal world. Instead our main characters tend to be engineers. Engineers, who would have thought it? But in reality it is the engineers who make our modern world go around. So too in the world of Lady Claire Trevelyan. Sure, it is an alternative world but I imagine it isn’t too far off in its descriptions of the London of Queen Victoria.

As we saw in Lady of Devices, the main goal of an upper-class woman was to marry and bear her husband an heir. Once you were married your life became your husband’s – a form of slavery where nothing was owned by you – not even your name. Lady Claire did not want marriage and due to her father’s unfortunate investments she did not have to worry about anything but keeping herself alive.

Claire is moving on from the loss of her father and her family’s wealth. She has proven that she is more than just a girl ready for robbing and is now running her own gang on the poorer side of town. Perhaps her gang does not consist of the most frightening people in the world but this gang of children is filled with smart people who make the best of what life they have. As such Claire has proven herself a great addition. Her interests were never really with the trappings of wealth but with the opportunities her wealth gave her to explore and invent. Now her inventive abilities are reaching greater heights as she has to make do with a whole lot less while keeping the other gangs away and keeping the “right people” from knowing what has become of her.

Being a 17-year old girl in this new world of hers is proving to be somewhat of an advantage. She is often underestimated and is able to get away with a great many things a young man her own age would not. Her gang is also often underestimated. Many of them are so young others think of them as inconsequential – to their own detriment. Lord James Sewyn is one such fool.

Lord James is very much set against her employment with his partner Andrew Malvern of the Royal Society of Engineers. He feels it is extremely improper for a young lady to work with such indelicate work as an assistant to an engineer would be. A woman of nobility might work as a governess if need arose. Therefore, Lady Claire’s supposed work as governess to five children is much more appropriate. On the whole Lord James Sewyn finds Claire too independent and brainy for his own taste. If he knew that Claire was in fact the infamous Lady of Devices Lord, James would throw a hissy-fit. As would the rest of the proper set of society (especially her mother).

No fun being a woman in Victorian England, even for the nobility. One middle-class woman we get to know something of and who happens to have immense importance to the discoveries of Claire Trevelyan and Andrew Malvern is Dr. Rosemary Craig. Dr. Craig’s own inventions had threatened the wealth of others to the point that they had her committed to Bedlam and burned what they could find of her papers and inventions. A woman actually risked being sent to Bedlam for the social transgression of being smarter than a man. Too bad for these wankers that Lady Claire happened to have what appeared to be the result of one of Dr. Craig’s inventions.

I like it when stories are told with dialects and voices that could be believable. There is also something about English without contractions that is incredibly appealing. I had fun with Her Own Devices and Shelly Adina’s writing. What we get is a delightfully light and easily read novel with cleverly hidden depths and commentary.

Reviews:

  • File Size: 2757 KB
  • Print Length: 222 pages
  • Publisher: Moonshell Books, Inc. (December 19, 2013)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B006P962QG

My review of Lady of Devices

Fantasy

The Al-Gebra Movement

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Weapons of math destruction
Fuzzy math salesman
by Bob Bonhom

At New York’s Kennedy airport today, an individual who was later discovered to be a public school teacher, was arrested while trying to board a flight while carrying a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule and a calculator.

At a morning press conference, the Attorney General said she believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. The FBI is charging him with carrying weapons of math instruction.

“Al-gebra is a fearsome cult,” the Attorney General said. “They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like ‘x’ and ‘y’ and refer to themselves as ‘unknowns’, but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country.

As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, ‘there are 3 sides to every triangle’.”

When asked to comment on the arrest, the President said, “If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, God would have give us more fingers and toes.”

—————————————-

I have been able to trace this back to 2003. I have chosen to use a version without names of former or present political persons. A site that provides you with Algebra funnies is: “Finding the Funny in Algebra“.

There are some really great cartoons at Weapons of Math Destruction and at Today’s Cartoon.

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult

Carlon, Lee: The Lord of Frake’s Peak (The Bastard Cadre IV) (2014)

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Lord of Frake's Peak

You could probably start reading The Bastard Cadre series with The Lord of Frake’s Peak. That is because it goes back to the story of the early days of the reign of Lord Obdurin. As long as you don’t mind the spoilers as the beginning of the novel you should be fine. The only problem with doing this is that you would be reading the best first because Lee Carlon‘s writing has gone from one bastion to the next during these four novels.

I am fairly certain the gods aren’t gods. After I finished reading The Lord of Frake’s Peak I knew that the “whatever they are – not gods” had done all they could to keep humans in ignorance. The Cleansing that had occurred three years before the beginning of The Lord of Frake’s Peak seems like something they would do to keep their secret safe because they felt some person had come too close to the truth. I’m still not clear on whether there are any female gods or if there are genders at all. Whatever the case is there, these so-called gods seem to be amoral beings playing the world and humans for what they can. People like that stink. That is my completely unbiased (snort) opinion.

Lord Obdurin is only one of the many chosen running about doing the gods’ deeds. His god is Rhysin. To become a chosen Lord Obdurin had to get the heart of Rhysin from his predecessor, Lord Benshi. Something terrible seems to happen over time to all of the Chosen. Part of the amorality of the gods seems to enter them and they go from being whatever type of person they used to be to taking on part of the nature of the god. If that is the case, Rhysin must be a brute. Lord Benshi became one and his sons paid a terrible price for it.

Vincent d’Rhyne is the only surviving son of Lord Benshi. He wants nothing to do with Rhysin but is not able to tear himself from the place he grew up. Lord Obdurin spared Vincent for some reason only Obdurin knows when Lord Benshi died. Vincent feels only relief at having his father out of his life. Of the two, Vincent feels that Lord Obdurin is the best alternative. Having read all four installments of The Bastard Cadre I find myself unable to give a clear answer as to whether Vincent trusts in vain.

Trust might be the wrong word, but it seems pretty close to how Vincent feels toward Lord Obdurin. It is as if Vincent trusts that Obdurin will keep him from reaching for the gods. But the reach of the gods might be longer than any of the inhabitants of Carlon’s world might know. Perhaps they are all just part of a huge video game.

Life sometimes feels like that. The joke has been on Vincent so many times that it is becoming more and more difficult for him to remember that life is just a big joke. His ability to stay in the present fluctuates. Considering how traumatized Vincent it is a wonder that he manages to stay there at all.

Reviews:

  • File Size: 304 KB
  • Print Length: 157 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: Clockwork Samurai (March 2, 2014)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00IRAVL1M

My review of:

  1. A God-Blasted Land
  2. The Godslayer’s Legacy
  3. The Dead God’s Shadow

Mr. Carlon sent me a copy of Frake’s Peak – no strings attached.

Autism / Aspergers, Reblogged

A Painfully Analogous Blog Description

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The pain of not being listened to.

gareeth's avatargareeth

A few days ago on Emma’s Hope Book Ariane wrote about the realization of how frustrating it must be to communicate something clearly by behaviour and have everyone not realize what it was you wanted.

http://emmashopebook.com/2014/03/04/picture-day-moments/

I thought at the time that the grand frustration of an epic day like picture day for both Emma and her mother on realizing the people at school had not been able to work out what Emma was trying to indicate and had thought her family wouldn’t want a picture was so sadly perfect for every day life as autistic.

The last few years have been horrible on a scale so epic for me that even in a life where little goes right I have started to wonder. At multiple junctures when things could have perhaps made some progress towards decreased stress, some return to functioning levels I had once had one day catastrophically…

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Science Fiction, Short story/novella

Wolf, Adam: A Pale Horse – Installment I (2013)

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A Pale Horse - Adam Wolf

Poor Eugene. His curiosity is as mine – incorrigible. You just know he is going to get himself into trouble with it. And he does. Does he ever.

This is when he should have stepped from the restroom, allowed the door to swing shut behind him, this is when he should have made a beeline to his brother’s Volvo and never looked back, purged his memory of what had transpired, of the stench, of its source, that wraithlike man who he felt with near certainty was not a man at all. But alas, …

And so the apocalysm begins – with a visit to the bathroom.

The characters were great. I got a pop-idol (not mentioning names) sensation with “perfect” Priscilla describing Lukey Grail. And then we have her little brother Warren! What a wonderful description of just how obnoxious 10 year old siblings can be.

Eugene and the siblings were my favorites. All three of them are incredibly pains, yet somehow likeable.

Luna Perez is the kind of person who has seen the underbelly of life and survived all it has thrown at her thus far. Whether she survives what Eugene brought into the world is difficult to say.

A Pale Horse perfectly illustrates what modern transportation can mean when it comes to disease. The swine-flu comes to mind.

Adam Wolf has stated that A Pale Horse will come in installments. The ending of episode 1 was in a perfect spot. I did not feel as though I was left hanging at all and actually thought it was the end – albeit an abrupt end. Now I know better and will probably get the second installment.

The author warns of R-rated content. There wasn’t – not in Norway anyways. But if you do not like “bad language” you will be in trouble.

Reviews:

  • File Size: 498 KB
  • Print Length: 74 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: Adam Wolf (November 19, 2013)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00H2KBQ0Y

Modern Menace: Emerging & Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases

Fantasy, Horror, Humour, Short story/novella

Somogyi, Jeffrey M.: Some Summonings Are Suspect (2011)

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Some Summonings are Suspect

What should have been a brief, bloody battle wound up lasting for hours – partially due to the Robes’ fervor and zealotry in defending their cause and partially because of the Armoreds’ fervor and zealotry to their cause… but mostly because no one remembered to bring weapons that night.

It was a grisly scene of hand-to-hand combat. Since neither of these factions was all that skilled in personal, up-close, manual de-life-ing, the majority of the battle resembled high-school slap-fights. And it takes more than a little bit of time to slap someone to death.

These two paragraphs best describe why I enjoyed Some Summonings are Suspect. All 13 pages are pretty much this irreverent and silly. Not smiling was impossible and it feels really good to finish a story with a smile and a giggle. I love it when authors treat us humans as the silly creatures we are. Humans aren’t the only ones who are treated with humor. Mr. Somogyi‘s demons are a treat. I had a fun time with this short story.

Reviews:

First published as “An Indifferent End” in Cthulhu Sex Magazine Volume 2, Issue 22, 2005

Fantasy, Short story/novella

Shirer, George R: The Finishers (2011)

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The Finishers

Perhaps we might call the zombies in The Finishers “Flippers” since they rose after the world seemed to “flip”.

We meet Tobias and Archer who get paid for making sure the dead remain lying down. They finish what death began. The only way to do that is to shoot the flippers in the head.

“Sometimes”, said Archer, “I really hate this job”.

I see his point.

Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller

Harrison, Kim: Ever After (The Hollows XI) (2013)

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Ever After - 3 covers

Ever since I read the first novel in this now 11 book long series about Rachel Morgan I have been hooked. How Ms. Harrison manages to keep up the quality of her writing is beyond me.

In Ever After the story is mainly about Rachel, quite a bit about Trent and Jenks with some Quen and Al thrown in. The rest of the players have minor parts this time and some of them are only mentioned in passing.

I have been wondering if I would be able to make decisions based on “the greater good”. Could I harm an individual I knew/liked/loved to save the many? Rachel faces this choice in Ever After. She faces this same choice in just about every single one of Kim Harrison’s stories about her.

Rachel is an interesting person. She is an outsider among outsiders, the peg having to accept that she will never fit into any of the holes. If I was going to choose a main theme for the series it might be how to figure out how to accept your inability to fit in. I felt Rachel managed to do that in The Undead Pool. Like all people who get to that point, the Rachel we now meet is safer in her knowledge that she is who she is. That helps when trouble keeps on following her around.

In many ways Rachel’s life stinks royally. Yes, she is an adrenaline junkie. As with all other addictions, I am assuming that your fixes need to be larger over time. If there is one thing Rachel cannot complain about in Ever After, it is the dose of trouble Ms. Harrison feeds her. Ka-boom, ka-boom, ka-boom. From one fire to the next Rachel tries to keep up dragging along her leaking bucket. Ms. Harrison loves doing that to her Rachel.

Another thing Rachel has discovered she needs in these past few years is friendship. Being friends with Rachel is difficult but rewarding. Once you have her for a friend it takes an awful lot to lose her. All you have to do is ask Nick. He has done his utmost to turn her against him (although he does not see it that way). Nick is one of those persons who is never at fault – never. He and Ku’Sox are alike in that regard and as such make a pretty good team (or maybe not).

What must it be like to think that you are never to blame for anything? I get that most things in life are plain luck of the draw while others are a direct result of what we have done. From what people say to me, the majority seems to find it incredibly easy to see its own flaws. I’m finding myself completely mystified at how a person is able to accept absolutely no blame but be glad to take credit for good things happening. Narcissism is one of the weirder disorders out there and Nick fits the bill in so many ways.

As usual, you get no synopsis from me. There is as always with Rachel Morgan action, character growth, justice, unfairness, tragedy, mystery, love and closure. You can read Ever After without reading the other novels in the series, but why deprive yourself of that much fun?

                             

Animals, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Rae, Candy: Wolves and War (Planet Wolf I) (2012)

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Wolves and War - Candy Rae
Cover art by Jennifer Johnson

At the outset I want to make you aware of the British English / Scottish English phrasing and spelling in Wolves and War. NOT American English!!! Because of the sometimes young phrasing, I feel Wolves and War is meant for young adults and up. While harsh at times the violence is not descriptive. There is some romance, but it is about as innocent as romance can get. What you do need to remember (sort of a warning) is that Wolves and War is about war and war is anything but nice.

On to the fun stuff.

I really enjoyed Wolves and War. At times I hurt because of the terrible changes to the lives of some of the women and children. War’s nature is gruesome. I have NEVER experienced it myself and am speaking solely as one who reads and listens and watches. What amazes me time and again is what people are willing to put up with if the alternative is death. Often I have wondered why people choose to live rather than kill themselves when their lives become so miserable. Some of the lives on the Southern Continent end up being what I would call gruesome. Yet, somehow life is chosen. Why?

Wolves and War does not answer my why. In fact, it leaves me there with my questions. Ms. Rae has done a brilliant thing in doing that because I do not really want another person to answer all my whys. I don’t even need there to be an answer to my whys.

Wolves and War is a space opera type of Science Fiction – character and world-building is more important than technology.

When the Argyll has to land on the Northern Continent the crew and settlers have to abandon ship before it sinks leaving them without most of their doodads (I know, an extremely technological term). Until war comes to the Northern Continent life is somewhat easier there than on the Southern Continent and the lack of metals is compensated by making tools with a metal-like hardwood. Necessity is the mother of invention even if that invention is a re-invention of old earth weapons. Their smith makes swords, shields, helmets, armour, crossbows and something he calls a contrap:

… was able to fire pre-loaded arrows a fair distance and thirty at a time. The arrows were loaded into a wooded frame he called a magazine that was placed on the main frame of the contraption itself. The firing mechanism was spring-loaded and the magazine was drawn back and then loosed. Distance and trajectory could be altered by the manipulation of wheels and cogs.

All of this preparation would have been impossible without the Aboriginals of the planet of wolves. The Lind are great hulking beasts about the size of a horse but with the look of a wolf about them. They are furry, snouty and have paws. Somehow both the Lind and the Larg of the Southern Continent have developed telepathic abilities along with the ability to form words. The word thing made me think that their snouts must be formed differently from a wolf’s.

What interested the Linds at first about the humans is how humans use their hands and the seeming connection some of the Lind have with some of the humans. Being able to communicate via mind and words is essential in making the humans believe that the Lind are sentient creatures.

Tara is the first human to meet a Lind. Kolyei is a Lind that feels a connection with Tara. Tara is not alone in this ability. On the Northern Continent Tara and Kolyei and Jim and Larya are the two vadeln pairs we get to know most. Tara is only 12 at the time she and Kolyei meet while Jim is in his 40’s. Their Lind bond-person is pretty well matched age wise and this is a good thing as these bonds seem to be for life and so deep that one part does not wish to live if the other party dies. A lot of animal-human bond stories seem to have this as the down-side of bonding. On the up-side is an understanding of the other race’s traits and language along with a deep sense of being loved unconditionally.

I enjoyed the way Ms. Rae tried to not sugar-coat anything for me as a reader. Granted, the fighting was not as gory as fighting really is, but it did not have to be for me to understand the costs of the war between the Southern and Northern Continents. She also did not try to hide the problems that would arise with 20,000 male prisoners escaping into an environment where females are on the run and only 300. When the leader of the prisoners is unscrupulous, well – things go as they pretty much have to go.

Being a colony vessel, the Argyll crew and passengers did not have the same dilemmas nor the same type of people to work with. Without a doubt, that is where I would have wanted to be. Both the North and the South end up with aliens and a landscape that fits with the humans landing there. Any other option would have seen the humans from the Argyll killed and possibly the Lind of the Northern Continent in pretty bad shape as well. As a reader I am glad Ms. Rae chose as she did.

Reviews:

  • File Size: 575 KB
  • Print Length: 367 pages
  • Publisher: Candy Rae; 3 edition (April 8, 2012)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B006DLRBH0
Mystery

Galbraith, Robert: The Cuckoo’s Calling (2013)

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The Cuckoos Calling

My sweet sister-in-law (she is a really nice lady, book or no book) gave me a copy of The Cuckoo’s Calling in Norwegian. The Norwegian title is Når Gjøken Galer. Therefore, my first comment goes to the translation. Heidi Grinde did an excellent job.

Robert Galbraith’s chances of falling from the heights of my expectations were huge. But you know, this is English mystery at its best. If you are a fan of the kind of mystery with little violence, little sex, tricks to fool the reader (both worked and did not work with me) and an explanation by the detective in the best of Christie tradition, then this is the book for you. I am one of those fans.

Strike (Cormoran Strike) is NOT anything like a James Bond character. Nor is he one of the bitter, cynical or alcoholic detectives that come and go in the fashions of writing. Instead I found Strike to be a likable hairy bear who was smart yet not a genius. His experiences as an investigator with the military police in Afghanistan had given him both the insight necessary for the work of a private investigator and a prosthesis (lower leg). He is huge, hairy, and a bit over-weight (result of processing loss of leg). He has also just dumped his off-on fiancè and is waiting for her to get her revenge.

In this manner I guess we could lob Cormoran Strike in with the beleaguered type of detective who has plenty on his plate already. Strike’s business isn’t a roaring success and payment on the loan from his famous but seldom seen birth-father is due. Galbraith is stacking the odds against him in great author tradition without making Strike a ridiculous figure.

Robin Ellacott is Strike’s temporary assistant. They get off to a rocky start but Robin’s intelligent handling of both the assignments Strike gives her and her handling of the clients causes Strike to want to keep her on – if only he had the financial stability to do so. Robin has fun being a detective’s assistant. She does feel unappreciated at times but that is always the role of Watson or Hastings. Fortunately for her, Strike is neither a sociopath as Sherlock or full of himself like Poirot. Both Strike and Ellacott do bring their prejudices to the WORKING relationship causing interesting interactions.

I enjoyed the way both Robin and Carmoran became more comfortable with themselves and each other. No romance though – strictly working relationship.

The plot itself is as old as humanity – is my guess. Wanting what the other person has and a willingness to do anything to obtain it. It is strange, yet comforting, how people tend to tell the exact same stories all over the world and up through known history. In my experience, it seems the only thing that ever differs is the window-dressing. The window-dressing is the truly fun part, the part that enables me to explore words and talent. Authors are such a gift to society.

  • Hardcover: 464 pages
  • Publisher: Mulholland Books (April 30, 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0316206849
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316206846

Synopsis on Wikipedia (spoilers)

  • Når Gjøken Galer
  • 9788202433086
  • Bokmål
  • Antall sider 496
  • Oversetter: Heidi Grinde
  • Originaltittel: The Cuckoo’s Calling

Sladder på Wikipedia

Adventure, Humour, Science Fiction

Ambrose, Nicholas J.: Ruby Celeste and the Ghost Armada (Ruby Celeste I) (2013)

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Ruby Celeste
Cover art by Karri Klawiter

“You’ve met these two clowns, right? Reuben Evans, and Glim Peters. He pointed at each in turn, and the two men pulled cheesy grins. Peters even crossed his eyes. “What names, eh.”

“Says Mikhail,” Peters called. “Who names their kid Mikhail?”

“Ignore him,” Michail said to Francis. “He’s still sore his parents misspelled their feelings at having bore him as a child.”

“What’s that then?”

“Glum.”

This word-play made me giggle. Ruby Celeste and the Ghost Armada has plenty of humour, plenty of action and a character who seems puffed up with his own importance, to say the least. Rhod Stein is always in the right and he can pretty much do what he wishes. Having had full control of his skyport – floating city – he seems to think that all he encounters will fall in with his plans. Not so.

Poor old Francis Paige is just not having a good day. Being kidnapped from down on earth, taken up into a floating city from which he might fall, ripped from his kidnapper and then chased and shot at is not something he is used to from home.

For having been through what he has, I think Francis pulled himself together quite well. I’m kind of like him. For a time I will bemoan whatever new thing it is that fate has thrown at me. Then I get sick of myself and get on with life as best I can. Francis’ experiences are a bit more extreme than any I have ever experienced. So I feel he deserves a few days to pull himself together.

In his need he finds support with Natasha Brady (the ship’s navigator and possibly the ship’s talk-to person). Natasha is the kind of person that listens and is able to see past angry and fearful expressions. Would that I could always do that. She is exactly what Francis needs to conquer his fears – quite understandable ones for a land-dweller.

We don’t get a whole lot of world-building, but there is some. The Ruby Celeste series is supposed to be a steam-punk universe. But it is not one with a great amount of technical explanations. There are a couple of unusual aspects to it. One of those is that the sky-vessel is powered by something called a Volum.

Like our “household” animals these Volums have been bred to serve the purpose humans want it for. At first I thought that the Volum must be in some sort of slave relationship to humans, but it seems the ones bred for the purpose are content as long as they are fed. I wonder if they have some effect on humans. Benjamin Thoroughgood seemed intensely interested in being with the creature, but whether that was “normal” for any person exposed to a Volum over time or if it was some character trait of Benjamin is impossible to say.

Ruby Celeste was the fourth character that was obvious in the novel. The Volum wasn’t. I just became interested in what it was. Ruby is what I would call a person who draws the attention of others. She isn’t physically intimidating, but that does not stop Ruby from being intimidating when she turns on her engines. Impulsive and stubborn are two words that fit her well. I am very stubborn myself but not exactly impulsive. I am, however, blessed with a son who is and that has brought a great many interesting experiences into my life – as any one who is associated with an impulsive person can attest to. Ruby has one quality that I treasure. She is able to admit when she is wrong and actually apologizes. Being the Captain does not stop her from “eating humble pie”. I both like her and am frustrated by her.

After reading book number one of the Ruby Celeste universe, I would have to say that I had fun reading it and loved the action and humour present.

Reviews:

Fantasy, Science Fiction

Hoffman, Paul: The Beating of His Wings (The Left Hand of God III) (2014)

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The Beating of His Wings
Cover art by Peter Bergting

The Left Hand of God trilogy has kept me thinking. I fell hard from book one and Hoffman has kept me going all the way through The Beating of His Wings. I have had to take a couple of days to digest the series properly. Hoffman’s essay at the end of The Beating of His Wings added to my thinking cauldron.

There is something devastating about having reality thrown in my face. What really started me thinking was Hoffman’s description of his Catholic school being less than two miles from Oxford. That got me thinking about my trip to New York ages ago. I’m the kind of person that easily gets distracted from staying on the short and narrow. My mom and I wandered off the beaten path a couple of blocks and started encountering the homeless. Just two blocks away from a regular business street people had to live on the street. That started me thinking about other cities where there are so many homeless that they are everywhere. Cities where the level of crime is so high and the police are part of the criminal world. Onward my thinking went to the discoveries made at the Dozier School for Boys or the abuse found to be rampant in Catholic schools and orphanages.

Back to The Beating of His Wings. What Mr. Hoffman does is hold up a mirror to society. Sure he wraps it in post-apocalyptic paper, but he is basically saying: see the world as it really is. I have friends who claim that my view of the world is too dark. After all, they themselves have not seen or experienced the underbelly of society. What my friends do not realize is that the underbelly of society is in fact the part of the ice-berg that is below water and that they live in the tiny part that remains above the water line. Perhaps one needs to experience the darker side of humanity in order to appreciate just how much space it takes. Or maybe we have to take a closer look at ourselves and our own potential for darkness. I have never really had need or my darker side once I was old enough that I realized it was there. Now, though! I might not have the abilities of the trio of Cale, Henry or Kleist, nor the power or influence of the Materazzi or Vipond, but the wells are there.

While reading all three books I have felt kinship with our trio struggling for survival. They are so incredibly damaged but no more damaged than a great many children of today. And why is the world like this? Well, in the world of Hoffman we see the old story of fanaticism and greed or corruption and power-hunger. On the side-lines are all of the victims of these four drugs, victims whose only concern is survival by any means. And who among us would be able to stay true to our morals and standards once our lives or the lives of our loved ones were on the line?

I sometimes wish the world was different, but perhaps it is as Idris Pukke says to Thomas Cale:

In the paradise that you’ve decided to believe in as your ultimate goal everything comes to you without much trouble and the turkeys fly around ready-roasted – but what would become of people even much less troublesome than you in such a happy place? Even the most pleasant-natured person would die of boredom or hang themselves or get into a fight and kill or be killed by someone who is even more driven to madness by the lack of struggle. Struggle has made us what we are and has suited us to the nature of things so that no other existence is possible. You might as well take a fish out of the sea and encourage it to fly.

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Reviews:

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  • Paperback: 512 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin (16 Jan 2014)
  • Language: Unknown
  • ISBN-10: 0141042400
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141042404
Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller

Rowland, Diana: Fury of the Demon (Kara Gillian VI) (2014)

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Fury of the Demon
Cover art by Daniel Dos Santos
Cover design by G-Force Design

I’ve thought somewhat about a paragraph in Fury of the Demon:

It was a story as old as time, and Rasha had played the role of disapproving elder with fervor. And even though her intent had been noble – to protect her granddaughter from an untrustworthy man – she paid the price with crushing loneliness so deep that she’d risked death or injury to …

To what lengths will we go to avoid feeling lonely?

The first five novels in the Kara Gillian series shows how far she has been willing to go to avoid that feeling. Now she experiences a sense of belonging she had never thought possible.

Loneliness is a concept I have spent much time contemplating. I’m kind of a misfit with most people. We can talk a bit, but when it comes to wanting to spend more time with me or me wanting to adjust to their expectations of “proper female behavior” – well, it just ain’t happening. In the past I have done stupid things to stop feeling lonely. I genuinely like being in my own company and sometimes find the presence of others intrusive. Even my dog and my husband. But it has been lonely growing up being a person like me. Thankfully, loneliness is no longer a factor in my life.

The other side of the loneliness coin that some people choose is that they would rather be alone than risk facing their own inner demons. Mzatal used to be like that. Then Kara and Idris came along and opened up the cracks of his emotional armor. This I really understand.

Emotions are confusing and illogical. They follow no rhyme or reason and appear when most inconvenient. I used to hide mine in a large chest that only I held the key to. Then patience and acceptance came my way through my husband and tiny emotion-elves started picking that lock.

Sometimes we all have need of a person in our life that sets off our tiny emotion-elves. Kara found several of them in her posse, and Mzatal found his through his protegés. Now both of them just have to figure out how to want to keep those positive influences in their lives.

As a compliment to Ms. Rowland’s writing, I found myself stupidly reading, and reading and reading through the freaking night. Her writing becomes better with each production. I love it when I can follow an author in their progression as a writer.

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Reviews:

  • Series: Kara Gillian (Book 6)
  • Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: DAW; 1 edition (January 7, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 075640830X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0756408305

My review of: Touch of the Demon

Quotes about loneliness

Adventure, Fantasy

Lynch, Scott: The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard III) (2014)

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the-republic-of-thieves-by-scott-lynch-new-uk
Cover art by Benjamin Carrè
By far my favorite “The Republic of Thieves” covers

the republic of thieves threesomeThe cover by Benjamin Carrè is amazing. It is definitely going onto my list of favorite covers and he is one of my favorite artists. Whew!

I have been a fan of the Gentleman Bastard ever since Lynch launched The Lies of Locke Lamora. My attraction to a piece of writing is never really about the tools of the trade or whether the author avoids falling into writer-traps. Instead my liking a piece of writing has more to do with whether my reader-bone is tickled and often about whether I identify with something in the writing.

Sabetha Belacoros is a fun character and she isn’t “good” the way society defines good. The gang of Chains definitely has a set of morals that they follow, but those morals follow the laws of The Crooked Warden. If I had to compare them to anyone in today’s society, the seeming morals of the filthy rich come to mind. In The Gentleman Bastard series there is not much difference between how the gangs of Chains and Lamora behave and the way the top tiers of their society behave (nobles, aristocrats, bonds-magi and so on). But then there isn’t much difference between the two tiers of society in real life society.

Maybe Jean is my favorite character. Where Locke and Sabetha are flashy figures, Jean is the guy that keeps the rest of them going. Flash has never really appealed to me in real life. People who sparkle and draw in the rest of us can be fun in tiny amounts, but the steady ones are the ones I am attracted to. I married a Jean although my Jean’s criminal activities are limited to sometimes driving too fast.

Our look into the past was my favorite part. Chains’ old gang is an insane delight. Those Sanzas! In the newer part, the bondsmagi were a chilling reminder of the sheepyness of society. You do not need magic to achieve the effect they had on Karthain. A crime free society where all are fed and taken care of is a dream come true. Perhaps not with the cost that affects the inhabitants of Karthain but there might be more reasonable paths to such a society.

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Reviews:

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  • Hardcover: 608 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; Hardback edition (10 Oct 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0575077018
  • ISBN-13: 978-0575077010

The Way Into Egalitarian Society

Use public libraries