Where Tress Surprises Everyone

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a cute book. I liked it, and I think people from a lot of different fandoms would enjoy this.

It didn't quite match my expectations, tbh. I thought the story would be classical and traditional, the ocean-going variant of a Greek pastoral romance, or maybe sparkling and magical like a fairytale, but it aligns more closely with traditional folktales or tall tales, and a bit like a mock epic. The tone I expected was something more wistful, sweet, maybe melancholic, but it turns out to be chatty, a little lighthearted and silly, yet somehow still earnest and kindhearted.

Tress is a likable character, like a 30s or 40s Hollywood leading lady who's kind and polite but still has moxie, the country girl who doesn't give up. She fights to save her prince, but she doesn't really want to put anyone else out. Very cute.

Many of the characters are Wizard of Oz strange--a talking rat; an immortal but slightly sociopathic doctor who would like any body parts you would be willing to spare; a nonsense-talking sailor who's really a powerful sorcerer under a curse; and many others--and all that's entertaining on its own, but the strange characters also allow the MC to show her range and her tolerance for the who are different from her. Ultimately, it's her ability to see the humanity in weirdos that helps her survive and succeed in this story. They are also the friends she makes along the way...

I always rather like Brandon Sanderson books, and this is my current favorite. I never quite love them the way many readers do, and I wouldn't say I love this one. But I'm pretty confident that lots of readers who have set their hearts against ever reading his stuff for one reason or another would actually be charmed by this book. He probably should have written it under a pseudonym.

Recommended.

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Where I Embrace Yet Another Sherlock-type Series

The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes by Leonard Goldberg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading this book and thought to find everyone else thought the same, but I saw a lot of super negative reviews. So I dunno. Anyway, I'm sticking with my score, because it's how much I personally liked it. Well, I liked it a lot. 5 stars.

As a rule, I like all the Sherlock Holmes stuff: pastiche, sequels, fan fiction, reimaginings, graphic novels, and crossovers, so this is right up my alley. I especially like it with a female lead, as in Brittany Cavallaro and Sherry Thomas's series. (Serieses? Serii?) This novel, and apparently this series, fits right in that groove, and I liked it.

I also like novels where capable main characters like and respect each other and are impressed with each other. Awesome characters being awesome, clapping one another on the back for it. We've got that here, and I'm ready for it.

I can't really account for the negative reactions other readers have, but I suppose we have different expectations. Weird.

The setting is London, just prior to WWI. Doctor John Watson is still alive, though obviously getting on in years, and his adult son is also a doctor. They are investigating a death which seems suspicious. Both play their part in the story and are a pleasure to follow, but it is Joanna Blalock who is the hero. (Can we dispense with "heroine?" Does anybody want to keep that? I'm always double-checking the spelling...)

Joanna Blalock, the unacknowledged daughter of Sherlock, is brilliant, confident, brash, and brave, so right in the Sherlock tradition. She also has an emotional life, showing genuine warmth in places, which is staking out different territory from her "father." To me, that only adds to the story, and I like how it was managed. In many other ways, though, this novel is true to the original, particularly in tone.

The plot is remarkable for not being remarkable. It was reminiscent of many Sherlock stories, similar enough to be a pleasure for fans but not seem out of place. As always, this is IMO. And the pace seemed about right, with little slowing down the action.

So, yeah; I liked it.

Anyway, I'm looking for the sequels. A good amount of my fellow readers enjoyed it as much as I did, so maybe you're one of us and will love it. Maybe not. Whatevs.

Conditionally recommended. Not for grumpy people. LOL. :)

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Meteorite Hits America, but at Least We Got "Lady Astronauts"

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this novel. I love everything I read by Mary Robinette Kowal (this being the 5th title of hers I've read). I won't lie--it's best at the beginning and trails off (for me), but I still mostly liked it and want to read the sequel.

My bummer is that where we arrive in the last sentence is where I thought we'd be about halfway through the novel. It was the stuff that should probably come next that I was most wanting to read. Like we had an act I and act II, but no act III. (IMO, always.)

Looking back over it, evaluating it for the novel it actually is, I would say that it's a nice alternate history of America's space race, focusing on one of the first women to become trained as an astronaut. It works on that level, and I like it about 4/5 stars as that kind of novel. I thought we had been set up for an action story, more like a 50s science fiction novel, but it isn't that. Okay. That's cool. It's a bit smaller in scope; more intimate; more realistic, frankly, than I expected; and more grounded (no joke intended).

I'm betting the second book will be more like what I was looking forward to. I will definitely find out.

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Who Doesn't Fall in Love with Agatha H?

Agatha H and the Airship City by Phil Foglio
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is a lot of fun, and I enjoyed every page. A steampunk novel (clockwork, really, I suppose) with a comic-pulp-action sensibility and a hint of mystery and romance, it has a plot that just rolls along. There is so much inventiveness here that I wonder if the authors ever run out of ideas.

Agatha H is a clever girl, a "madboy" wannabe, in a retro-futuristic Europe where geniuses called sparks invent contraptions and creatures of all types, using them to forge empires. When she is captured by Klaus Wulfenbach, tyrant and inventor, and dragged to his immense airship, she begins to show signs of true genius that even she didn't know she was capable of. Most of the action takes place on the airship, with a big cast of characters. Agatha herself is a great character--interesting, sympathetic, flawed, fun--and I definitely want to read more stories about her.

In fact, characters come at the reader at a Dickens-like pace at times, but most of them are so distinct (Dickens-like there, too) that you can generally keep them straight, though I'll admit I wasn't 100% here.

For inventiveness, which I value, I have to give this book an A+. The creativity in this novel is so pronounced that I almost imagine events and objects in the novel in kaleidoscopic colors. (The Jägers are my favorites. Constructed soldiers serving Wulfenbach, they are both comic and impressive, capable of both witty, sarcastic banter and amazing physical feats.) Stylistically, I'm sure this novel won't work for everyone, but I can't see any way steampunk fans don't love this. For such folks, I give this a big recommendation.

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Immoderate Praise for Another New Sherlock. Much love.

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an impressive novel.

I love the main character--which I was predisposed to, already approving of most incarnations of Sherlock--but Charlotte in this book is unique and impossible not to adore. She enjoys the usual suite of Sherlockian skills, but her solution for an intractable problem--how to achieve an independent life of her own, something the original Sherlock never had to think of--was ruthlessly brilliant and somewhat heartbreaking. I also loved Mrs. Jebediah, who adds so much color and interest to the story and became someone to root for. Lord Ingram and his wife and Inspector Treadles (and his wife!) are all interesting in their own ways, and sympathetic, and they all point to the same theme.

Regarding the theme of the novel, I enjoyed and agreed with it, which was an analysis of the "woman question" and the restrictions placed on women at this time. Seeing the pressure put on remarkable women (Charlotte and Inspector Treadles' wife, Alice, and others) to be subservient and perform no useful work brings the question into stark relief, illustrating for the reader what a waste such restrictions were, and how damaging to women's lives. But the effect on average women, those with no power, money, or connections, is shown to be even more cruel, and such women's hopes for fairness even more illusory. Over and over, the actions of characters and the plot are propelled by this asymmetrical tension, by men holding down and taking advantage of women while those women fight to maintain as much autonomy and control as they could manage in an unjust society.

And yet it's a murder mystery. With romance. And Sherlock's signature parlor-trick discernment. All fun things.

A good novelist invents engaging plots and maintains reader interest with effective pacing, which the author does here. But a good novelist is also a good writer, and Sherry Thomas is that. The prose here is wonderful and always tied to her purpose--clues and plot points laid out in clear language, characters speaking in unique voices, beautiful passages where appropriate. In fact, I would say that it is noticeably good writing, which is not a thought I often have. Satisfying, engrossing, and fun--nice combination.

It's impossible, reading this novel, not to think about the intelligent and gifted women in my own life. I think how different things are now from 100 or 120 years ago, how their lives (and everyone else's) have been impacted by generations of change, but at the same time I am confronted by things which have not changed yet. I was pushed to an awkward amount of thinking while reading and reflecting on this novel, and for that, I'm grateful to the author.

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Tea and Sympathy and Ghosts

Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thought this book sounded pretty good, and it ended up being awesome.

I already liked Mary Robinette Kowal's Glamourist Histories (though I have only read the first two so far) and I was happy to get this novel at a convention and get it signed by the author. However, I'm not super interested in the WWI period of history. Or so I thought. I put it aside, and passed over it a bunch of times.

Finally picked up the book. Loved the main character, the set-up, the conflict, the mystery--whole thing. Yes, even the setting. It was a pleasure to read, with steady action, intriguing twists, lots of conflict, and many wonderful "British novel" touches all the way through. (My term--and I will not define it, because I can't.) The author did a terrific job of making WWI France a true fantasy setting that did not feel too real-world (the greatest sin of fantasy) nor too unreal (the second greatest). It really worked.

Not much good being a convert if there's only one book in the series. (Can you call it a series if it's a standalone? I guess it's okay if you imagine all the nonexistent but potential books to come, like zeroes after the decimal point.) I'm pretty sure no more are planned, but I would be in line to get the next one if the author changed her mind!

A note on characterization: Ginger is, IMO, a wonderful example of the "strong woman" protagonist who doesn't have to literally be strong (although there's nothing wrong with that). She confronts her challenges with intelligence, courage, determination, and the assistance of friends and allies, and keeps on when it gets difficult even though she is physically typical and not a badass fighter. (She has skills that count, of course, but no magic bullets.) The interaction of abilities and vulnerabilities is part of what makes the novel so entertaining.

In her own way, Mrs. Richardson, with her knitting and no-nonsense courage, is another example. Nicely done. Taking notes. :)

Recommended if you like fun things.

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The Badass Nice Ladies

Fog Season: A Tale of Port Saint Frey by Patrice Sarath
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bit by bit, Port Saint Frey, Guildmaster Trune, the missing Main Chance, and the Mederos sisters give up their secrets in this second book in the series--only to see new mysteries get added, and new characters enter with their own stories. What's happening with Jone? The sisters' parents? Who are the Harriers, and what's behind them? What really happened to the fleet six years ago? What is behind the Guild's attempt to destroy their family?

Also: Can they defeat their enemies? Will their past catch up with them?

The setting, the tone, the pace, and the multiplying conflicts add up to a very entertaining, layered story, and tease many to come. I'm curious about the lives of the main characters, but also Dr. Reynbolten, the lawyer, and Mrs. Francini, the cook, and Elenor Charvantes, the frenemy, and Albero and Jone and Inigho, as well as gray-area villains like Abel and Malcroft and [spoiler]. I hope all of them figure in the next novel and supply some of the answers. (There is going to be another, right? Several?)

Like the first in the series, this novel is very entertaining on its own, with a satisfying arc and genuine conclusion, but it also supplies pieces in a longer multi-story arc that promises more to come. It feels like a drawing started in the corner that expands in outward and upward, and one wonders just how big the canvas will be when it is revealed in full.

I look forward to seeing much more--without putting undue pressure on the author--though I also hope we never quite see all of it. There is charm in the slow revelation as well as the expanding mystery.

Recommended. A genuine pleasure.

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Alexia Tarabotti doesn't care what you think. A review of "Soulless"

Soulless by Gail Carriger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am totally over vampire stories and werewolf stories--but the premise of this book intrigued me, so I got it. I'm glad I took a look, because it's a fresh approach to the genre (even bearing in mind that I'm reading it 9 years after its first publication). It took me halfway through to get a fix on the author's tone, but once I did I enjoyed it very much.

Speaking of tone, here's my take on that: this is a (mostly) light-hearted, witty book, almost as much a romance as it is an action novel, and it is as charming and as comedic as it can be with genuine bloody monsters about. And dirigibles.

Alexia is a fun heroine, a rule-breaker with a great deal of confidence and unrelenting stubbornness, which is what is needed for a female MC in an alternate-Victorian setting. I like that this is an action story, and she is not simply watching the action (as is found in some novels of this type). She is engaged, and her action is integral to the plot. She has a mystery to solve that she investigates on her own rather than waiting for others to act, and she makes progress using her intelligence and nerve. She prefers comfort and propriety, to a degree, but doesn't back down when things become uncomfortable or unpleasant. Even when the action becomes more than a lady of the period can deal with--even a plucky woman with a strong will--and other characters come to the fore, she still engages and makes a significant contribution. She's not window-dressing; she's driving the action.

Plus, it's a witty book. I seldom laugh out loud when I read, but I actually did several times. Like at this point:

"Mrs. Loontwill fainted.

"Alexia thought it the best, most sensible thing her mama had done in a very long while."

The naughty bits were also written with a good amount of humor. I thought it a good balance for the romance.

Partway through, before I had gotten properly dialed in, I had thought I would finish the book but not get the sequels. I've changed my mind, obviously--now I'm eager to find the rest. It looks like Alexia has a lot of interesting, exciting stories to live, and I'm looking forward to reading them.

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More good stuff from John Scalzi

Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an easy one.

I like John Scalzi's writing. Just in general. He's got a sound, a patter, that is recognizably his, and he doesn't screw it up.

This is a good story, with a proven plot, good pacing, sympathetic and interesting characters, and (as always) clever dialogue.

It was interesting to read the same story as the previous novel told from a different POV. It wasn't, of course, the same story, but something new. I liked it.

(Only quibble--what do the aliens look like? Come on! Not every species, but a few, please! Anyway...)

Five stars, of course.

So, read the book already. Off you go. :)

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Why the novel "Fire" is perfect for 2018

Fire by Kristin Cashore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Like her father, Fire is a monster in a world filled with monsters. In this land, monsters are outrageously beautiful but also able to sense and influence the minds of others. Monster animals, like raptors and big cats, use their gift to lure the dull-witted out to be killed. Her father, a human monster and a true psychopath, used it to control and hurt others. Fire, however, isn't like her father, and uses her power a different way. This is her story, and it's thought-provoking as well as being a genuine pleasure to read.

Fire is a great character--round, dynamic, well-drawn and empathetic, with an arc that makes sense. Surprisingly, although it's almost a decade old, it feels like her story was written for 2018. The themes, of course, are timeless: the abuse of power; the right of women to be treated with dignity and respect; the right of women to feel safe; the ethics of "the greater good"; and others. What is most striking, though, is Fire's constant need to protect herself from men who desire her and want to possess her and want to hurt her because of her incredible beauty and desirability. Men literally lose their minds around her, and though they have a variety of reactions, from annoying to deadly, they all reduce her to a single external attribute, and they almost always fail to control themselves or restrain their impulses. Because of them, she needs to constantly protect herself.

It is striking to see the world through her eyes, to see the men who fall at her feet in adoration, or those who want to rape her or possess her, to see her strategize moment by moment, month by month, how to avoid the worst of them and how to defeat or escape or manipulate the others. She is the desired object, harassed and attacked and adored and coveted and fought over, who, with allies, insists on her right to be a person and not a possession.

To be in her mind, to feel her revulsion because of the relentless male gaze, the unrestrained waves of toxic male desire, is an education. She is not flattered or enchanted; she is repulsed, and frightened, and wants to be left alone. In the course of the story she is forced to learn new ways to use her gifts, to fight back, to assert her rights, to demand to be seen as herself and not as the object of desire and fantasy. It is this dynamic that makes the story feel so current.

To be clear, this is not a rant or a political tract. It is a fantasy novel, with brilliant action, a well-conceived world, and many engaging characters, and it is entertaining and a joy to read. It just also happens to be deeper and more provocative and more eye-opening than most.

Highly recommended.

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