Where Charlie Gets Friggin Dolphins

Starter Villain by John Scalzi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very entertaining book.

I always like John Scalzi. It feels like he's using straightforward, plain language, but nobody makes me laugh more. The dialogue, the tone, the clever, smart-ass quips--never jokes--kill me. Scalzi taps into the zeitgeist in a way nobody else quite does, and he makes it work for him.

I almost gave this a 5, and still could, but it feels a little smaller than some of his other books. Lots of fun still, but I wish he gave his MC more to do. He's a good character, but his role could have been played by almost anyone. Except for a few good scenes with the other villains and some stuff with the dolphins (I won't give more spoilers than that) he doesn't contribute a lot.

That's alright. It still works.

I kinda wonder what genre this really is. I read it like SF, but it's not really. Speculative fiction still, I guess. Satire, for sure. Closer to a James Bond novel than SF, though. And again--that's alright. He can write in any genre and I'll read it.

A regular dude getting tossed into the role of a super-villain, having to face other rich villains, is a clever idea, a novel-worthy idea. Giving him friggin dolphins and friggin smart cats is just too funny.

If you like Scalzi, or if you like SF (is it SF?) that also makes you laugh, this is your book. And he's got others.

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Where Kennedy Uses 1910 Science

The Dream Doctor (Craig Kennedy, Scientific Detective by Arthur B. Reeve
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is like New York's answer to Sherlock Holmes, except this detective is much more interested in electrical gadgets.

I enjoyed it, though it's pretty much just old pulp fiction. That's not a negative--I like pulp fiction, as a rule, and part of the pleasure in reading this is seeing what it reveals about tastes and interests of the time, meaning American readers around 1910 or so. The people wanted detectives, of course, and they like modern science. Strange to think of the early 1900s as modern, but it was.

[It does suffer here and there from the unfortunate attitudes and language of the time period.]

Kennedy uses recording devices, x-ray photography, a blood pressure device, and lots of things I didn't think existed 110 or 120 years ago. Some of it is kinda fanciful, but a lot of it is real--just much earlier than I thought people knew about it.

This book is basically a bunch of short stories stitched together, which makes it very breezy and fast-paced. I thought that was fine. A reporter is following him for a story, like his Doctor Watson, recording all of his exploits. I thought it was fun.

This stuff is all available as free ebooks. I'm reading it from an old bunch of hardcovers, which is more fun IMO, but the books are still out there. This isn't fine literature, but I recommend it and the others in the series for readers who are driven by curiosity as much as literary interest.

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Where It Might be King Arthur

Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading this and found lots to like, and though I have some issues, I have to give it a 4 star rating. 4 with an asterisk.

This is the second book I've read in this series--out of order--and since I only kinda liked the other one I put off starting this one for a long time. I liked the mystery and pacing of this one better, though I still don't really like the main character. I keep trying to figure out why; she's just the kind of investigator I usually love.

[I wrote a very positive review of that book at the time. It's strange, because it's not how the story sits in my memory. I can't explain beyond recognizing that literature is complex, and we can both like and dislike a book at the same time.]

There are several mysteries layered here, and they're all interesting to me. One is to identify a pair of bodies found after an earthquake in Glastonbury that locals think are actually Arthur and Guinevere. Another mystery is to determine who started the fire that destroyed the abbey, as some poor men (who claim had nothing to do with it) are being blamed. Additionally, Adelia's friend has gone missing on the road and may be dead. And lastly, some other remains and artifacts are discovered which may actually touch on the Arthur legends.

Lots to do.

Adelia works with an Arab man who pretends to be the doctor that she actually is, and she travels with her daughter and a servant. She's independent and educated and driven to solve questions surrounding murders and deaths by accident. That's awesome. I find her hard to take, though, and (this is the asterisk part I mentioned above) it seems like she's grouchy and rude and difficult when there's no reason for it. I like that attitude fine when she's dealing with rotten people, but even when the people are reasonable, friendly, and decent, and she wants help or information from them, she is abrasive and short and demanding. (I can't figure out if the author means for us to read her this way, perhaps to make her more complex and real, or if this is just how the author is?) It gives me second-hand embarrassment the whole way through. She seldom shows gratitude when she gets help or says thank you; she's just as likely to expect further assistance, and demand it, but still not in a nice way.

I dunno. I like her role and biographical details some of the things she represents, but I don't like her, and it makes it harder to like the stories she's in. Even though the book was pretty entertaining, with a good plot, a good mystery, and making great use of historical details, Adelia is off-putting to me--like the Eastern European woman my wife and I pass on the sidewalk almost every morning while we're walking the dog, who only frowns at us when we say good morning to her, even after years of bumping into her over and over and over. (It's a campaign now. I won't be deterred.) : ) A little kindness, a little friendliness goes a long way....

Anyway, I liked the book. Others would probably like it, too. I have a third title from the series already on hand, and I'm debating whether I'll read it or trade it in. I have other series where I can cheer on the MC with greater pleasure. I just keep hoping I'll figure her out.

We'll see.

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Where the Robots are Tired

The Liberation by Ian Tregillis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In some ways this novel (and series) didn't exactly work for me. It left some stuff out that I wanted, and it wasn't organized the way I like my stories organized. But it's so creative, thought-provoking, profound, and terrifying that it's still pretty damn awesome. I accomodate those contradictions with a 4/5, and I'll kinda explain.

The setup and world building are topnotch. The Dutch invented unstoppable robot servants in the 1600s, and used them to become the greatest world empire. The French, their only remaining enemy, use advanced chemistry to fight back, to hold, to barely survive, though they are forced to move all of government and the Catholic Church to the New World, our Quebec and Ontario, mostly. (The Dutch have the southern colonies.)

The central question of the series, concluding here, is whether the "Clakkers" are sentient beings with a right to free will, something they are denied by the various sciences used by their creators and masters, particularly alchemy. The robots are tightly controlled and are unable to do anything other than what they are told to do. We follow from book one a robot named Daniel who has accidentally gained freedom and escaped to the New World. But we learn he's not the only free robot, and by the third book many have been freed and are rampaging on both sides of the ocean, trampling their oppressors--who never believed they were sentient or capable of thought, and never knew they were committing horrible crimes against thinking beings.

There are many fantastic and horrible characters, brutal and cruel opponents among both the humans and robots, and it's the many factions and points of view that make the story less focused than I would like. The main conflict for humans, in a general sense, is very clear--survive the onslaught of emancipated and angry robots who are much, much faster and stronger than humans. That's cool. But when you try to narrow that down to a more specific goal, to something actionable, it's not there. There's no clear through-line of action; the main human characters are mostly just getting pushed around and chased and scattered. This is foxes and chickens, and I wanted the chickens to come up with something. I wanted to see a coherent plan of action, a coming-together of human factions much earlier, a dramatic push-back with explainable goals. Instead, we get a lot of muddling about, a lot of chaotic movement without purpose, before we reach a quick resolution with a lot of loose ends.

Still great. Very good prose. Lots of big ideas. I had fun reading the whole series, which is awesome in many ways, and for sure there's a lot to chew on. It's definitely worth investigating if you like fantasy.

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Where Frevisse Solves a Sad Mystery

The Servant's Tale by Margaret Frazer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another good book in this series. (I count the Joliffe books as the same series. I guess it's a spinoff...)

Sister Frevisse is a good MC for this kind of mystery. She's still about 90% nun, but she's got enough spirit and drive to see innocent people protected to still be a useful and interesting investigator. I like the pace and the construction of the mystery and clues, and though I'm hopeful that there'll be more to love in future books, I'm enjoying these quite a bit.

I suppose what I miss is awesome people being awesome, being the smartest person in the room, one step ahead of the bad guy, like Sherlock or Benoit Blanc or Poirot. And I like to see other characters give them their due. So while Frevisse figuring out what really happened is cool, I'd like someone to acknowledge her accomplishments, give her a slow clap or something. Her triumphs are very low-key. In some mysteries, you get a fist-pumping "Yes!" moment when the investigator outsmarts the bad guy. Frevisse's wins here are more or less satisfying, sure, but less awesome because nobody really recognizes her achievement.

Anyway, still fun to read, with excellent use of setting and rewarding historical accuracy. (Apparently.) I feel like I'm learning some stuff while I'm being entertained.

I'm gonna get me a stack of the sequels. Here we go...

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Where Lavender is a Jerk

A Princess of Thule by William Black
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Parts of this I liked. But some of it was a drag. I have thoughts.

I keep looking for new-to me authors of 19th century historical romances to like, especially ones that make me think of Sir Walter Scott or Alexandre Dumas. I've found a few: William Harrison Ainsworth; Edward Bulwer Lytton; Lew Wallace; Louise Muhlbach; Robert Louis Stevenson (sometimes); and George Sand, sometimes. I hoped William Black would be like that, and he may be, but I wasn't excited by this first taste.

For me, the problem was how it broke into three very different novels. (Pure spoilers ahead) The first part, our MC, Lavender, is enjoying a visit to the island of Lewis and Harris (just one island) in the Hebrides, getting shown around by his friend who has been there before. Their host, MacKenzie, has a beautiful, intelligent, friendly, capable daughter, Sheila, who Lavender falls in love with. For a third of the book, he is enjoying his visit there, hunting or fishing in the day, visiting and eating and singing at night, getting to know Sheila. He's a great guy, too, and very considerate.

Then he marries her, they go back to London, and he turns into an asshole. Holy crap. He's embarrassed by her accent, and insists she do none of the things she used to do in her life on the island, and leaves her at home to go visit with people, including a woman and her beautiful daughter. He keeps making her promise not to do almost anything that pleases her, like going down the the docks to see the ships or anything independent. When a serving girl visits from the island, he refuses to let her sit at dinner with some guests he has brought. So she leaves him.

I hated this whole section. He was nothing like the character of the first third. Inconsiderate, selfish, rude, lazy--it was weird.

(His rich aunt dies, leaving her money to his friend because he won't take her money. His wife has been trying to get him to do something with his life, live on his own skills, and he finally decides to try.)

The last third is Lavender traveling in Scotland, trying to make his way with painting, which he is very good at. He realizes he's been a horrible jerk, and he's trying to become the person his wife thought he would be. This is a a fun part of the book. This should have been most of the book; all the rest should have been visited in flashbacks or something. They at last reunite and come up with an arrangement that works, including living half the time near her father on the island.

This book was just about good enough for me to try a second by the author. I'm on the fence about that. I'd need a better copy; the edition I read this out of has the absolute smallest font and most words/page I've ever seen. I could only read it outdoors in natural light. LOL

Several other readers gave this a 5. I don't agree with them, but you might. Tepidly recommended.

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Where the Abencerrages and Zegrys Try to Team Up

Three Plays: The Conquest of Granada, Parts I & II; Marriage a La Mode; Aureng-zebe by John Dryden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

[I'm only reviewing the first play, The Conquest of Granada, part I.]

I like the play. Let's start there. It's pretty enjoyable, and parts almost made me make it a 4. To be fair, it is a 3.5 to me: fun, well written, generally a pleasure to sit down with, and encouraging enough that I want to read the next play by him.

I don't love plays written in heroic verse, and I'd rather this wasn't, but I kinda agree with Dryden that it works for big stories like this, epic stories about kings and conquerors. To me, the rhyme makes the play more artificial, harder to immerse yourself in, but it works in a way. It's their convention, those people of 400 years ago, and there's no point arguing with them about it. It's fine.

This is the story of the last Muslim kingdom in Spain before the Christians drove them out, down in Granada. Part I, this play, is almost entirely about the rivalries and wars within the small kingdom, with two families or clans opposing each other (and thereby weakening the country, but people can't help themselves sometimes). We also have a king's younger brother driven to rebel in order to win an ambitious woman's love (even though she's a horrible narcissist). And we have a hero whose worth is not respected, whose contributions are overlooked, like a Coriolanus or Achilles, who swings the tide of war by changing sides (which I think is going to be bigger in part II). I can't say I digested the play that well; I did a lot of flipping back to the names at the front, trying to recall who was doing what, and what side they were on, especially when their names are so similar. I definitely fumbled the meaning of lots of speeches. But I got the overall gist and will probably come back to it someday to get a bit deeper into it.

That said, the broad outlines are clear enough, and I got that. And I did, in fact, enjoy much of the language more than I expected; there are some great lines worth noticing and rereading, even if you're a rhyme grouch like me.

So--as good as I hoped, anyway, and good enough to recommend to curious readers. I'm gonna study up a little on the story and then start the second part. I know how this ends, but I'm curious how Dryden ties it all up. Here we go.

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