The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau – Book Review

Jan 092012

The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau
Published by Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

Joanna Stafford’s family has been repeatedly touched by scandal. First her uncle is executed for treason, and now her beloved cousin Margaret is condemned to be burned at the stake for her part in an uprising against Henry VIII and his persecution of the old (Catholic) ways. Even absent her family connections, Joanna is a suspicious figure as a novice Dominican nun in a time when the King has broken with the Pope and is shutting down religious houses throughout the country. Between the family treason and the religious leanings, Joanna finds herself in great trouble when she becomes involved in a commotion during Margaret’s execution. Imprisoned in the tower, along with her beloved father, Joanna is offered a single way to save both herself and her father by Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester: she must return to her convent and find the crown worn by the Saxon King Athelstan. As soon as Joanna returns, however, people begin turning up dead, complicating her mission and making her wonder just what this relic really is.

The Crown would best be classified as a historical thriller, but to my relief, Bilyeau’s writing style is much more closely aligned to the historical fiction genre than to the thriller genre, avoiding the short chapters with cliffhanger endings that are a hallmark of many thrillers. Bilyeau develops her characters well; Joanna is certainly a fully-fledged person and, although the reader does not have access into the minds of the other characters, all of the secondary characters are complex enough to be realistic as well. Even Gardiner manages to avoid being a two-dimensional villain. Each chapter has rich historical detail interwoven with the story, bringing a sense of authenticity, without ever devolving into info-dump territory.

The storyline Bilyeau created for The Crown is fascinating as well. Even while Joanna is in the tower the action continues to move forward and the reader begins to get a sense of the political intrigue occurring throughout the court and the religious orders. The legend of Athelstan and his crown is teased out perfectly, enough information is given to keep the reader from becoming frustrated, but enough is also withheld to keep the level of suspense high.

The Crown may be a debut novel, but it is a fantastic example of the historical thriller drama. If that’s what you’re in the mood for, I highly recommend picking up The Crown.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Journal of Best Practices by David Finch – Book Review

Jan 032012

The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome and One Man’s Quest to be a Better Husband by David Finch
Published by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

When your wife bursts into tears – unhappy tears – as you’re celebrating your third wedding anniversary, it typically means your marriage isn’t going well. After that, plus another two years of resentment and lack of communication, David Finch is surprised when his wife lovingly wraps her arms around him, and suggests he come down and join her in her office in the basement when he is finished with his evening routine. Once down there, she begins to give him a quiz, a quiz which seems to describe him perfectly. It isn’t until she is finished that she reveals that this quiz is an online diagnostic for Asperger Syndrome, which David fairly conclusively seems to have. Instead of being a blow, however, this news seems inspiring to David: it isn’t that he’s just a bad husband and father, his brain functions a different way than the brains of most of the people around him, which hinders his understanding of those people. Although David can’t simply take a pill for his Asperger Syndrome to mitigate it, as he can for his ADD, but he can begin to change his habits, based on an understanding of how his brain chemistry differs from that of the people around him. It is from this, and his quest to finally become a better husband and father that the Journal of Best Practices is born.

The Journal of Best Practices is a fascinating book, not least because of how honest and self-deprecating Finch is. He is remarkably open about his own foibles and shortcomings. The steps he takes to overcome them are often humorous and always interesting. This is not a traditional, chronological memoir, but an anecdote-based series of experiences and attempts to overcome obstacles.

Really, Finch’s method of self-improvement for the good of his relationships is one that could be successful for anyone, whether you have Asperger Sydrome or not. His desire to be the person his family needs him to be is inspiring, and his story has wide appeal, whether you are interested in marriage, Asperger Syndrome, or whether you just wish your husband would would help get the kids ready in the morning once in awhile.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher, at the GLIBA trade show.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Taker by Alma Katsu – Book Review

Dec 152011

The Taker by Alma Katsu
Published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

It is a cold, dark night in Maine when a murder suspect shows up in Dr. Luke Findley’s ER and shakes up his life. Lanore McIlvrae is beautiful, but there’s something more to it than that. Lanny swears to Luke that Jonathan, the man she killed, died at her hands only because he requested it, because it was the only possible way that he could die. From there, Lanny begins relating to Luke the incredible – and apparently true – story of how both she and Jonathan became immortal, some 200 years ago.

There is not just one story in The Taker, but actually three, all of which are nestled inside one another like matryoshka dolls. The reader not only sees Luke and Lanny in the future and learns how Lanny came to be immortal, but the story of Adair, the man who made Lanny what she is, is told as well. Katsu does this surprisingly well, it is always clear which time period the reader is in, both with place names and dates at the beginning of every chapter that switches, and by switching tenses and points of view when the story changes. In this way, Katsu seamlessly weaves together the strands of her story.

What did not work as well for me was the story itself, particularly the relationships. I have no idea why Luke is so taken with Lanny that he would essentially abandon his life for her, nor why Lanny is so obsessed with Jonathan. I wish Lanny’s early declarations to Jonathan that they were destined to be together were explored more fully. In some ways she is obviously right, but it is unclear how at a young age she would be granted this sort of insight into her future. These infatuations were stated, but never seemed fully developed to me. Equally weak was Lanny’s revelation about Adair that brings about the climax of the story. It was too sudden, too out of nowhere.

The Taker is a book with very real strengths, strengths which bode well for Katsu’s continued success. I simply wasn’t able to connect with the characters enough to understand their motivations, but this was likely a very personal and subjective reaction, and others might feel very differently (and others whose opinions I respect have, in fact, felt very differently), so I certainly do not intend to warn any readers away from The Taker, but just to offer a different perspective. Prospective readers may, however, want to be aware of the repeated sexual abuse and sadism, which will likely turn some off.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Map of Time by Felix J Palma – Audiobook Review

Nov 042011

The Map of Time by Felix J Palma, translated by Nick Caistor, narrated by James Langton
Published in audio by Simon & Schuster Audio, published in print by Atria Books, both imprints of Simon & Schuster

Synopsis:

After H.G. Wells publishes The Time Machine, the idea of time travel becomes all the rage in Victorian London, giving rise to, among other things, hopes of a better world and time tourism. Unsurprisingly, H.G. Wells finds himself in the middle of all of these plots and dreams, even if not always willingly. In The Map of Time, Palma weaves together three highly interrelated plots of time travel and the way it affects the lives of those involved, beginning with a man whose lover was murdered by Jack the Ripper, and who simply can’t bear to continue living in a world without her.

Thoughts on the story:

In the first section of the book in particular, the characters involved tend to go on expository flights of fancy. Far more of this section is exposition than any actual movement of plot. However, I begrudgingly admit that the information was more or less pertinent and interesting, and in such a long book, conveying it in a manner less resembling an info dump would have been space prohibitive. What is more important is that Palma created three novel-length stories that intertwine beautifully, all with Wells and time travel in the middle.

At times I wondered if all should really have been put together into a single book, but all depended on one another to such an extent that I was unable to decide whether they were even separate stories at all and can’t help but agree with the decision to keep them in a single volume. The most remarkable thing, is how quickly Palma was able to re-engage me each time we transitioned to a new section of the story. Part of this was the continuity with Wells, but part is also simply his gift for creating characters who are instantly interesting.

Thoughts on the audio production:

One potential downfall of audiobooks is that when things get boring, you cannot simply skim. With the tendencies that Palma’s characters had towards excessive exposition, I was afraid that this might be a serious problem. Instead, Langton’s extremely able narration kept things going. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t space out a bit during some of the extra-long histories of time travel, but Langton always kept me wanting to come back. For more complete thoughts on the audio production, please see my Audiofile Magazine review.

soundbytes picture Overall:

An incredibly entertaining and engaging read or listen.

Buy this book from: Powells: Print* Indiebound: Print* Audible.com

I’m launching a brand-new meme every Friday! I encourage you to review any audiobooks you review on Fridays and include the link here. If you have reviewed an audiobook earlier in the week, please feel free to link that review as well. Thanks to Pam for creating the button.

Source: .
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory – Book Review

Oct 102011

The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory
Published by Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

This is the third book in Philippa Gregory’s The Cousin’s War series. I have also reviewed the two previous books, The White Queen and The Red Queen. Each book stands alone, and none of the reviews contain spoilers for the other books.

Both a friend and attendant of Lancastrian Henry VI’s queen Margaret of Anjou and the mother of Yorkist Edward IV’s wife Elizabeth Woodville, Jacquetta of Luxembourg was a complex and complicated medieval woman. Unlike so many women she was able to marry for love – at least the second time – and had a large, apparently close-knit family. Perhaps at another time in England’s history Jacquetta might have had a peaceful life at court and with her family, but her family began to come of age at a time when the houses of Lancaster and York were locked in a deadly battle for control of England, battle that caused everyone to reexamine their loyalties and choose sides.

So overall, I really like The Lady of the Rivers. It is classic Gregory, very engaging, if not always particularly historically accurate (although we now know that she isn’t too concerned by that allegation). I was sucked in, very interested about Jacquetta’s story, particularly since she is all but ignored in most historical fiction. But you guys, oh my gosh, the repetition. I don’t know whether this is a case of her being a big enough superstar not to have to accept edits or editing not being done very carefully on her books because she is a superstar who will sell no matter what, but at the beginning of the book in particular, she would describe the same thing in the same way multiple times in a few pages, or even on the same page. On particularly egregious example includes the same phrase being used twice in as many paragraphs.

“It is home, he says simply. “And even at its worst, one acre of England is worth ten square miles of France.”

I look at him blankly. “All you Englishmen are the same,I tell him. You think that you are divinely blessed by God for no better reason than you had the longbow at Agincourt.”

He laughs. “We are,” he says. “We think rightly. We are divinely blessed. And one acre of England is worth ten in France.” (emphasis mine)

I suppose that wasn’t exactly the same thing two paragraphs later, since he assessment changed by the magnitude of a mile to an acre, but you get the drift.

The good news is that either this repetitive ridiculousness stopped after about the first hundred pages or Gregory pulled me deeply enough into Jacquetta’s story that I didn’t notice. I do wish, however, that The Lady of the Rivers had been released as the first book in this series. There were parts in The White Queen where Jacquetta seemed almost cartoonish, her magic overdone. I think Gregory has tempered that picture and made her a much fuller character in The Lady of the Rivers, and I think The White Queen would have been improved with that additional knowledge both on Gregory’ part, and the part of the reader.

Gregory fans, this is no The Other Queen debacle, pick up it. Those of you not already acquainted with Gregory’s work, pick it up if you are in the mood for fun, absorbing historical fiction and aren’t too worried about strict adherence to known historical facts – and if you can bear a little repetition.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano – Mini Book Review

Sep 052011

Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

This is the first book in the Chemical Garden trilogy.

Okay, so, here’s the deal. I read Wither months and months ago and the review got put off and put off, because I had some major issues with the book, and the negative reviews are never fun to write. The writing was perfectly good, but the main character was annoying and the world that DeStefano created didn’t make a heck of a lot of sense to me.

Before I go any further, here’s the publisher’s synopsis from Indiebound:

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape–before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden’s servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

It had the potential to be a really interesting story, especially as it was repeatedly compared to The Handmaid’s Tale. This world was much more one created by circumstances, however, as opposed to malevolent forces within the government. We’ve got science-created shortened lifespans and most of the rest of the world allegedly destroyed by melting ice caps, but Rhine is kidnapped and taken to Florida, which is evidently not underwater (yup, you read that right).

My biggest issue was with the technology. I could have accepted a lack of many of the technologies that we know now had society fully collapsed after the geneticists screwed things up, but there was some pretty elaborate technology and yet nobody even mentioned a computer.

I’m also not completely convinced that there were need to be Gatherers to kidnap girls and take them to these polygamous marriages. Rhine and so many other girls were living in constant fear of being murdered for the little food they had, or alternatively starving to death. In contrast, her life for Linden is pampered and easy, if somewhat constrained. It seems that there would be hungry girls vying for these spaces, if only to get by.

Wither got a lot of love when it came out, but I am relieved to find that I am not the only one to have had serious issues with it (and everyone seems confused about the Florida thing). There is a very interesting review on Goodreads that goes into even more detail, and points a few things out that I missed.

I think I’d be interested if DeStefano tried her hand at something contemporary, but I’m less than impressed with her world creating, and I don’t think I’ll be reading the rest of the Chemical Garden trilogy.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Publisher, via GalleyGrab.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Agoraphobics in Love

Aug 162011

Agoraphobics in Love: A Short Story by Lisa Tucker
Published by Simon & Schuster

Losing both of her parents at once caused Emily to retreat inwards – both into herself and into her house. When the thought of leaving home becomes unbearable, she finds solace in an online board for agoraphobics, where she meets Jules, a former ad director who lives within driving distance – if it weren’t for the fact that neither of them is willing to get in the car and drive.

Agoraphobics in Love is a lovely short story. Tucker manages fantastic characterization and a perfect story arc in the 50 pages of her narrative. Emily and Jules are both engaging and easy to relate to, even for readers without agoraphobia. I found myself wanting more than anything for their pseudo-love affair to work out.

If Tucker can do this with 50 pages, I’m very much looking forward to what she will do in a novel.

Tucker’s short story – which includes the first four chapters of her new book, The Winters in Bloom – is available now as an ebook for only $0.99. Buy it from your preferred ebook retailer.

About The Winters in Bloom, coming September 13 from Simon & Schuster:

Together for over a decade, Kyra and David Winter are happier than they ever thought they could be. They have a comfortable home, stable careers, and a young son, Michael, who they love more than anything. Yet because of their complicated histories, Kyra and David have always feared that this domestic bliss couldn’t last – that the life they created was destined to be disrupted. And on one perfectly ordinary summer day, it is: Michael disappears from his own backyard. The only question is whose past has finally caught up with them: David feels sure that Michael was taken by his troubled ex-wife, while Kyra believes the kidnapper must be someone from her estranged family, someone she betrayed years ago.

As the Winters embark on a journey of time and memory to find Michael, they will be forced to admit these suspicions, revealing secrets about themselves they’ve always kept hidden. But they will also have a chance to discover that it’s not too late to have the family they’ve dreamed of; that even if the world is full of risks, as long as they have hope, the future can bloom.

This Burns My Heart by Samuel Park – Book Review

Aug 012011

This Burns My Heart by Samuel Park
Published by Simon & Schuster

Life is good for Soo-Ja Choi, although she is not really content. The strong-willed young woman is determined to go to Seoul to become a diplomat, against the wishes of the father who loves her and wants to keep her close. Soo-Ja believes she has found a way to get what she wants when Min, a weak, impressionable man, asks for her hand in marriage. She is positive she can convince him to go with her to Seoul, but once they are wed it becomes apparent that Min is not the man he represented himself to be. Before long, Soo-Ja finds herself aware of just how different life could have been had she instead married Yul, the handsome young student activist who proposed to her during her engagement to Min.

When Yul asked that single yes or no question – Come with me – and she said no, Soo-Ja did not know what she was saying no to. She did not know the size and weight of the consequences, how life is not set down like train tracks, and you don’t just ride above it. The life she had could not be that different from the one she could have had, she had thought. I am the same person, surely the story unfolds roughly the same way?… We’re only given one life, and it’s the one we live, she had thought; how painful now, to realize that wasn’t true, that you would have different lives, depending on how brave you were, and how ready. Love came to her that day – she was twenty two – and wanted to take her, and she said no. -p. 245

This Burns My Heart is an exquisite debut novel from Samuel Park. Park manages to bring Soo-Ja to life in a compelling way, despite the fact that the novel jumps months and years at a time. No matter what circumstances occurred in the intervening time, Soo-Ja was always just as dynamic as she had previously been. This is a function both of Park’s strong characterization, but also of his vivid and poetic use of language.

Soo-Ja realized at that moment that the biggest luxury in life was the ability to make plans, to count on the future as if it were something pinned down on a map. -p. 111

In addition to his strength in characterization and prose, Park’s plotting was top-notch. He knows exactly how long to spend in any various period of Soo-Ja’s life to balance sufficient detail with the need to keep the plot moving forward. Of course, like any debut, This Burns My Heart isn’t perfect. Scattered in three or four passages throughout the book were parenthetical statements that would have worked better either incorporated straight into the text or eliminated altogether. Of course, the weakness of these parentheticals was only as apparent as it was due to the strength of the rest of Park’s writing, so the inclusion of, at most, five unsatisfactory sentences is hardly even to be considered a weak point.

All in all a stunning novel, Samuel Park is a writer to watch and I highly recommend that you start by reading This Burns My Heart.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion – Book Review

Jul 142011

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Published by Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

R has always been a bit different than his zombie friends – if you can call them that – trying harder than most of them to hang onto his pre-zombie identity. So, perhaps it makes sense that it was R who managed to take in and keep the memories of a dying boy at the same moment that he was feasting upon his brains. R’s victim was in love with a girl named Julie, a girl who was in the same room, under the same attack, but somehow R manages to save her, and even bring him home with her. Back in the presence of the living in a non-predatory role, R begins to become more sentient, and even win Julie’s affections. How can their love survive, though, when zombies and the living are the most deadly of enemies?

I never expected to be talking about a beautifully written zombie novel, but here I am. At times, Warm Bodies verges on the poetic:

I don’t know why we have to kill people. I don’t know what chewing through a man’s neck accomplishes. I steal what he has to replace what I lack. -p. 8

The writing is lyrical and smart, including literary references to Melville and the Epic of Gilgamesh, not to mention the fact that the whole thing is essentially a post-apocalyptic version of Romeo and Juliet (R and Julie). Part of what is so interesting about Warm Bodies is that the Romeo and Juliet aspect is so subtle. Once you are alerted to it, it becomes obvious – what two groups could be more diametrically opposed than zombies and the living? – but Marion makes the story his own, instead of simply sticking to the story laid down for him by Shakespeare.

I will admit, I was very skeptical about the idea of a sentient, loving zombie, as that seemed to be the antithesis of all things zombie, but Marion makes it work beautifully. Not that there aren’t times where the improbablity of R’s character – even accepting the existence of zombies – can frustrate, but the story and the writing pull the reader through those times.

Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Statues That Walked by Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo – Book Review

Jun 292011

The Statues That Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island by Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo
Published by Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

If you have read Jared Diamond’s Collapse, you know that the natives of Easter Island caused the collapse of their own civilization in the course of building their famous statues, causing the deforestation of their island by cutting down trees to transport the giant heads. Hunt and Lipo did not set out to disprove this widely accepted truism when they ventured to Easter Island, called Rapa Nui in the local language, but disprove it they did and, in the course of doing so, they unraveled many of the mysteries surrounding Easter Island: from the true cause of the deforestation of Rapa Nui, to the social structure that supported statue building, to the statues themselves and how they were moved.

One need not be an archaeologist to find The Statues That Walked fascinating. Hunt and Lipo lay out their arguments for the past of Rapa Nui in a clear and articulate manner, providing just enough evidence to lend them credibility, but not so many technical details to lose their lay readers. Assuming their science is valid – and Hunt and Lipo give the reader no reason to assume it is not – this team seems to have made great headway in explaining the history and basic culture of the people of Easter Island, not least the explanation that the statues were moved by ‘walking’ them.

The only real problem with The Statues That Walked is the extent to which its authors inserted themselves in their story, which was either too much, or not enough. In no way did they introduce themselves or give any sense of who they were, and yet they referred to their findings, their state of mind going into the research, etc. Inserting oneself into a story such as this one can lend a greater sense of narrative flow and make it easier to engage readers, but in order to do that, an actual sense of the personality of the authors must come through. The writing was clear and engaging enough that the authors were not a necessary plot device to keep readers interested. In the end, their random insertion served only to distract from the fascinating picture of Easter Island painted by The Statues That Walked.

A solid work of nonfiction, odd insertion of the authors not withstanding. Recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound.*

Source: Simon & Schuster Galley Grab.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Older Entries

Devourer of Books

The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau – Book Review

The Journal of Best Practices by David Finch – Book Review

The Taker by Alma Katsu – Book Review

The Map of Time by Felix J Palma – Audiobook Review

The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory – Book Review

Wither by Lauren DeStefano – Mini Book Review

Agoraphobics in Love

This Burns My Heart by Samuel Park – Book Review

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion – Book Review

The Statues That Walked by Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo – Book Review

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