Where Ana and Din Face a Brilliant Villain

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an excellent book. As good as, in some ways better than, the first book. That's unusual, isn't it? All five stars.

This is both a fantasy and a mystery, a combination that I love. It's such a cool world, with a whole civilization imagined in a place where godzilla-type monsters emerge each year, bringing both destruction and innovation. After they trample some fantasy cities, the bodies of these behemoths give the people--via their blood and tissues--some pretty magical stuff, mostly for medicine but also for modifying people's abilities in a wide variety of ways. But the reagents and chemicals and final products are also very dangerous, as in this novel, and can be used to kill in ways big and small. A spate of murders involving these products and endangering the essential trade and transportation of them brings Ana and Din to a border kingdom, where they must stop the killings and prevent an act of terrorism.

Besides our two protagonists, there are a bunch of new (minor) characters, the locals involved in the current mystery, and all are original and full of personality in a way that breathes real life into the novel. Well, both novels. And the puzzle nature of the crimes tickles your brain, if you're into such things. Ana tends to give tiny hints of foreshadowing as she closes in on the answers, and I find that very fun to work out.

Also, lots of great action. Our POV dude, Din, is a very capable officer in the field of justice, and sometimes a bit naive or simple, but he isn't made into a bumbler. He is generally reliable without being a Sherlock--that's Ana's role--but he also gets to take part in action at times--like Watson with his gun--and that's pretty satisfying. I like characters that are round and complex and limited in ways, but not goofy or prone to stupid errors. Of course, Ana is very limited as well; she keeps her eyes covered and prefers to solve her mysteries from home, like Nero Wolf or something, because she gets overwhelmed and exhausted if she's out too much. So while they're far from being Superman, or Supersherlock, both being human in many ways, they make a good team, and together are formidable. The author has found a good balance.

This story is quite long, about 450 pages, which is probably close to the median length for fantasy, but I did not feel any lagging anywhere in this novel. I have a couple other fantasies I'm in the middle of, stalled in, and though I like them enough to finish they definitely lag. So I appreciate the pace of this one, and the many elements making it so entertaining. Very fun. Highly recommended.

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Where Maribella Gets a Deal on a Cool Bookstore

The Bookshop and the Barbarian by Morgan Stang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is only my second cozy fantasy, and I enjoyed it, though it is a little derivative. Honestly, it follows the pattern of Legends and Lattes quite closely, which is kind of weird--that is the only other cozy fantasy I've ever read--but it didn't take away from me enjoying the book. (Both are sapphic love stories centered around taking over a small business in a quirky fantasy town and gradually winning over the locals. Pretty similar.) It was original in other ways, though. 4 stars.

The plot was interesting enough, and the characters are sympathetic. The minor characters are mostly whimsical and cartoonish--a goblin that sleeps in the bookshop window all day and a couple bookworms who read books all the time--but it's clever enough for that just to be funny. Though it's a simple story, there are friends and allies and celebrations and subplots as well as villains and conflicts and rumors of war, but all of it is intentionally pretty low-key. There are stakes, though, and matters to worry about, relationships that need tending, and hard times for some--not everything is happy. Mostly, though, it's quirky and clever and humorous. I like how the narrator speaks directly to the reader at times, giving the reader quizzes and foreshadowing or summing up developments. It's sort of a comic break, kind of like the sick boy and his grandfather in Princess Bride. I don't usually like those kinds of intrusions, but it worked here, IMO.

There are some good surprises toward the end and a satisfying conclusion, so the book is pretty evenly entertaining all the way through. Cozy fantasy is an odd mix of tropes, but I like it more than I thought I would, and I'll be reading a few more.

This one is recommended.

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Where the Author Lost Me

Against All Enemies by John Gilstrap
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The longer I read it, the less I liked it, but it was entertaining enough to finish, so I'll give it a 3. Not good enough to read others by this author.

The plot was okay. A bunch of guys, led by a couple disgruntled military men, including one high up in the administration, organize a militia to kickstart a revolution to overthrow a government they see as feckless and corrupt. Training in a hidden corner in the mountains of Appalachia, no one really knows they're there. But connected to their training is some other violence, some assassinations and attempted assassinations, that come to the attention of our off-the-books team, leading them to their compound.

What don't I like? The book's overt politics feel like the author's politics, a feeling that grew as I read, and it gets icky. The Obama-era fictional liberal president is corrupt (imagine the time when conservative SEAL-type dudes cared about government corruption) and he is dismantling the military (always a complaint of the far right). The main character, Jonathan Graves, is committed to supporting the constitution, but he kinda agrees with what this random militia thinks, and he is too sympathetic to their cause. Also, since he is himself a vigilante, outside the law, he doesn't fully condemn what they do or what they want, even though he does take his team up against them. He definitely wishes he didn't have to, and does deep soul-searching afterwards. It felt like the author was conflicted, or thought his audience would be, and was lamp-shading the controversy. I was not sympathetic to this thought process at all.

Less overt but more annoying was the constant bickering and bantering that passes for communication among this crowd. They are always obnoxious to each other and always picking at one another. It's exhausting to listen to the constant ball-busting and bullying and joking insults. They keep showing us what it means to be tough, and basically it means being a jerk. All the time. Whenever someone stands up to them, posturing and talking tough, they admire the guy for having the nerve to oppose them--he's a jerk like me!--and that trope gets tiring really quick.

Additionally, we get intrusive mini-sermons from the characters or the narrator all the time, explaining how to be a tough guy, how to be a real man, how to carry yourself to earn the respect of other tough guys, how to manage a team, how to act in a dangerous situation, and it feels like the author inserting himself, describing the world he wishes we all lived in. (It's a lot like Yellowstone in that way, where we're taught how a real man works and fights and drinks and drives a truck, and although I find that particular aspect of the TV show annoying, I still watched it mostly with pleasure, because it had great conflicts and action. I don't mind if the author has a different world-view than me if he doesn't make it feel too much like his characters are wish-fulfillment.)

In the middle of the action, pretty much between firefights, there's a long pause in the action because one character hesitates when he should have acted, and despite the tension and the danger and the need to get going, the story stops while the characters deal with his failure. They rant about what he needs to say and what he needs to do to make up for his error and what it will take to trust him again. It's like a weird intervention where they confront him and force him to confess his error and explain how he won't do it again. It was--IMO--a creepy scene, and terrible pacing.

The action here is okay, but there was so much weirdness and tough-guy wish-fulfillment that it didn't sit well with me overall. I guess I had been feeling lucky, because I found another author in this genre (a genre I usually don't really like) that I really enjoyed, and thought maybe I was starting to understand it more. That's when I grabbed this book. I guess I was wrong. For now I'll just check out the ones I like when I want an action-thriller like this.

(I might as well name the author: Vince Flynn. Good author. So far I've liked his books.)

Other people loved this, btw. So who knows. But we might have read a different book.

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Where Freyja Punches the Guy. Twice.

Slightly Scandalous by Mary Balogh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm pretty convinced Mary Balogh makes little bets with herself that she can make rough characters sympathetic and make unlikely couples somehow work. IMO, based on seven or eight books so far, she's batting 1000. But I thought she gave herself too hard a task this time.

Freyja Bedwyn is hard to make romantic. She's usually angry; she's combative; she's not terribly pretty; she's impatient; she's a tomboy; she's grouchy, and grumpy, and utterly opposed to sentimentality; and she is quite prone to violence. I mean, there's still a lot to work with: she is active and competitive and proud, and though she can be mean she can also be funny. Not content with that challenge, the author made her even more difficult than necessary for the first 200 or 250 pages. TBH, I wished she had given her softer edges well before that, make it a little easier for the reader to feel sympathy and connection, but she wanted to wait until the last minute...

Kinda the same with the MMC, Joshua Moore. He is framed as a a rogue, almost a cad, who is always laughing and calling Freyja "Sweetheart" in a (in my mind anyway) condescending and insulting way. I was not loving him. Then their meet cute was more weird than cute (he ran through her room at in inn trying to get away from an angry mob and she punched him in the nose). When they bump into each other in Bath later they continue their odd dance--he's joking and insincere; she's angry and aggressive. You can see how he could be right for her, because she would never go for a sweet, sincere, sedate kind of guy, nor would he like a mousy woman. But they remain badly matched almost all the way through, long after they get into one of those fake engagements. (Not my favorite trope.) Their attraction is similarly violent, but doesn't feel like it has legs. If you know what I mean.

What finally works, nearer the end than I would have liked, is that both reluctantly and accidentally reveal how kind and loving they actually can be. They meet each other's families, where they are shown to advantage. They're not softies, but they are good people. It turns out he isn't really a rogue, because he takes care of his cousins and other vulnerable folks, and she's not really a misanthrope, because she has a bunch of family that love her and she loves back. She likes that about him; he likes that about her. And they both like that they're still very highly charged, competitive people.

So, the author wins her bet. She pulls it off. They were both a little unsympathetic at first and their connection was unlikely, but I like them both at the end and feel like their romance makes good. I wasn't feeling it for more than half the book, though, and almost all the fun is in the second half. (IMO.) In any case, I'm sure lots of people will enjoy their battling at the beginning more than I did.

Recommended. Good series.

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Where Quentin Makes the Most of His Opportunity

Quentin Durward by Walter Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm a huge Sir Walter Scott fan, and this one is right down the middle for me. Great book. All five stars.

Our main character is a Scot, but he's in France, finding a place (with the help of his uncle) in the Scottish Archers, a troop of Scots nobles who served Louis XI. In this period, the Duke of Burgundy was richer and more powerful than the king himself, and the story deals with their conflict.

Quentin is one of those somewhat naive but very earnest young gentlemen who make good impression on jaded old soldiers (or rulers). He's kidded a little by others, but he's well-liked and even respected, and even though he's brand new in his position, he's called in for doing the king a special service immediately. A pair of high-born women--a youth named Isabelle and her aunt--have run from Burgundy because Isabelle is being forced into a marriage she doesn't want, and take refuge with the king. This is embarrassing to him, because he knows he can't protect her. Louis choses to send Quentin with Isabelle and her aunt to Liege to take refuge with a bishop of that city, one of his relatives. But the king is planning to have them ambushed on the way so that she can be carried away by another nobleman who is helping Louis disrupt the city of Liege, trying to weaken his enemy, Burgundy. Louis gets his help with an uprising; De la Marck gets a pretty young wife.

On the way, Quentin falls in love with Isabelle, of course. He also uses his wits to discover the plan, letting him avoid the ambush. The king is frustrated that the young man he chose performed too well; Quentin is angry that the king he vowed to serve would set him up. There's tons of action and intrigue here, history and politics, and lots of great characters. The villains--a couple of Bohemians who work secretly for the king--are some of the most interesting. Scott always has a soft spot for dangerous people on the edge of society.

Near the end, there is a showdown between Burgundy and France, and then an awkward joint attack on Liege, where Quentin has a chance to win Isabelle's hand.

This is the quintessential medieval romance (or 19th century romance if you prefer, set in medieval times). Knights and castles, ladies and fools, battles and debates. It's all written in an elevated, kinda wordy style, but if you've read Scott before, you already know. I love it.

Recommended. :)

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Where Mitch Rapp Goes Roguish

Enemy of the State by Kyle Mills
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

(My gut says 4.5 stars. Goodreads makes you choose. It costs nothing, so...)

This is a very good thriller. I am not, generally, a fan of thrillers, but this is the second book in the series that I have read so far--completely out of order--and I really enjoyed both. The action is literally almost nonstop, and it just keeps rolling. But I've read other thrillers with similar levels of action that didn't work at all for me. It isn't enough just to have one fight after another, one confrontation after another. I'm not sure what's the secret ingredient; I think the author (Kyle Mills in this case) makes the reader connect with the MC better than some other authors do.

I'm not quite sure. I think that's it.

Mitch Rapp is very good character and a lot of fun to watch. I know some people don't like protagonists like him, but I do--guys who are not superheroes, but are still very, very capable, performing at a level beyond what you think a real person can achieve. Some people think that's cheating or something. I don't. Is Sherlock too smart, too "overpowered," to be a good MC? Obviously not. Is John Wick too efficient, too good a shot? Doesn't seem to be the consensus. In modern TV, there's Morgan Gillory on High Potential, a woman who knows so much more than you think is possible--but that's part of what makes her such a cool character. (She's also kinda dysfunctional, if loving, so that makes her really fun.) Anyway, Mitch Rapp is like that. He's really good at his job--a great shot, very athletic, super poised, filled with ideas. He's not made of iron, though; he has limits, and often gets pretty badly injured. He's not Superman, but he is, more or less, Jason Bourne.

As always, he goes up against terrorists and other global threats. In this case, he's exposing and terminating the secret alliance between high-ranking Saudis and ISIS. He can't do that officially as a CIA agent, so he's forced to "retire" and go rogue (wink wink). It works. It's fun. As far as I can tell, the geopolitics are pretty accurate. (Where they aren't, I'm not the guy to notice.)

A key to the success of this character, IMO, is how he scrupulously avoids harming innocent people just doing their job. It's hard to support violence, even fictional violence on the page, and it requires the author to thread the needle--bad guys harming people are targets, but good guys or regular people must be protected. Real life isn't quite like that, unfortunately, but I don't think this series would work so well if Mitch Rapp wasn't so careful about protecting innocent people anywhere in the world.

In this essay....

Anyway, I liked it, and I've grabbed a couple more, still way out of order. It's always fun to find a new author to enjoy, especially in a genre that you (I) seldom read in.

Recommended.

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Where He Should Have Risked It

Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Yes. It *is* that good. For real. 5 stars.

I first read this back in 10th grade. Mr. Vanciu (he was awesome) made us do book reports in world history class, and this was one of my choices. Even then, reading it on my own, going into it without a great deal of interest, I liked it. Almost fifty years further on, after enjoying a few different adaptations, I've finally come back to the original (in translation still, obviously), and found it entertaining and engrossing and thought-provoking and touching (and infuriating!) all at once. I'm a big fan of happy endings, but once in a while a really good story can have a sad ending (kinda sad; mostly sad) that still works for my brain and my psyche, and this is one of them.

The language is great. The plot is classic. And the love story is beautifully tragic. (You idiot! Take a risk! Speak to her!) But that's Cyrano. He's brilliant and brave and utterly, immovably stubborn. He loves the beautiful woman, but his appearance prevents him from taking a chance with Roxane. Instead, he puts all of his love and all of his poetry in letters that he sends under Christian's name. He's already handsome; with Cyrano's fine words, his compliments and deep thoughts, Roxane falls completely in love with the young soldier. But it was really the words that won her, not Christian's handsomeness. She has loved the man behind the letters the whole time without knowing it was Cyrano she loved; Cyrano didn't believe Roxane could truly love him until it was too late to matter.

Damn.

Anyway, the updated adaptations are fun, but this doesn't really need any updating. It's perfectly comprehensible as is, and the story does everything it needs to do for a modern audience to totally get it, IMO. Even just reading it, the play works. (I wonder if there's a novelization?) Yes, again, it's that good.

Highly recommended.

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