Plain, intellectual Agatha wishes she could have both a husband and her fertilizer experiments. But given that no man has ever been interested in her, and she doubts any would let her continue her studies, she's resigned herself to the loveless life of a spinster.A chance encounter with the horribly scarred Lord Leighton leads to a swift private marriage. Both Agatha and Magnus used up all their courage just getting to the altar--neither has any left to try to bridge the gap between them. Weeks pass, and it looks like their marriage will remain unconsummated and fulfilling.
Then Agatha starts experiencing terrifying accidents. The threats to her life give her even more determination to have a true marriage with her husband.
I quite liked this. Agatha and Magnus are fairly unique in the Regency world--neither is handsome or popular, and although Agatha is smart she's not witty. There's no make-over scene where Agatha gets loads of new clothes, helped by a simpering French modiste, there's no courtship, there's no waltzing. The couple falls in love after their marriage, powered by their animal attraction to each other and their kind deeds toward others. It's far from perfect (Magnus seems inordinately focused on the "berries" that apparently sprout from Agatha's breasts, and near the end everything is swamped in matchmaking other characters), but it was good enough that I've sought out another book by the same author.
Emily Townsend is the paid companion of the dowager Countess Bradleigh. When the dowager's grandson, the Earl of Bradleigh, announces his engagement, the Countess sweeps her household to London to get a good look at the girl. There she finds that Bradleigh is planning on marrying for an heir, not because he has any real affection for his fiancée. To his surprise, the more time he spends with his grandmother's companion Emily, the more he feels for her--and he begins to suspect his engagement is a terrible mistake. Emily, meanwhile, has more suitors than she'd ever dreamed of and a scheming pair of relatives to deal with besides. Her cousin inevitably kidnaps her, Bradleigh goes to rescue her, in so doing sundering his engagement, and they all pair off and live happily ever after.Workmanlike. There's nothing here I objected to, but also nothing I was excited by. It feels written by rote.
Peter Grant once looked forward to a police career made of boring paperwork, but then he discovered magic. Now he's apprenticed to Inspector Nightingale, the last known British mage, and has more excitement than he can handle. The latest case: an American art student is found dead on the railroad tracks, and the murder weapon has a whiff of magic to it. Before he knows it, Peter is tracking pottery smugglers and slogging through sewers, all while trying to keep his supernatural ability hidden from his co-investigator, an enigmatic FBI agent.Lots of subtle build-up of the magical community here. In the first book, the only magic seemed to be in Nightingale's Folly, but by now we've gotten a hint of magicians from all over the world, plus beings and magic systems hidden in London that even Nightingale did not know about. I think there might be something cool going on with Lesley's face--the half-goblin seemed fascinated by it. Perhaps magical people see it not as a barely healed mask, but as something beautiful or powerful? And I'm looking forward to seeing more of the Little Crocodiles plot.
In the near-future Tris grew up in, Chicago is a walled city. Within it, teens are assigned to a faction based on their personalities. Tris demonstrated the rare ability to think like multiple factions at once, meaning that she is a "Divergent" with the ability to choose how to live. To her family's surprise she chooses the Dauntless faction, and barely survives its bone-breaking initiation and training. After another faction uses mind control to make the Dauntless into slave-soldiers, only Tris and the few other Divergents are able to break free and stop the mind control.Insurgent takes place immediately after [b:Divergent|13335037|Divergent (Divergent, #1)|Veronica Roth|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328559506s/13335037.jpg|13155899], and Roth throws you right into the action. There's no summary, no quick reminder of who is who--it's just straight into Tris and friends trying to get allies against the Erudite and their Dauntless soldiers. It took me a few chapters to remember who each of the characters were, and even longer to decipher the tangled relationship webs. The plot is equally confused and confusing--Tris and her allies switch allegiances and goals nearly every chapter. But all of that could have been forgiven if only this was a smarter book. The first book focused first on the selfless Abnegation faction, then on the brave, fierce adrenaline-junkies of Dauntless. In this book Roth spends more time with the Erudite, and wow, she is terrible at writing smart characters. They outright recite dictionary definitions at each other. This, apparently, is the pinnacle of intellectual achievement. What's really sad is that the smartest Erudite of them all is actually possibly the most foolish--to protect her inner sanctum and most secret information, she sets up a security system that can identify and drug any intruder instantly. So when Tris blindly stumbles into this, she is immediately captured or killed, right? Nope. The security system identifies Tris, names her as "Divergent" (which means she can break out of mind control simulations at will), and then puts her into a mind control simulation. Which Tris is of course able to triumphantly break out of. Surprise! Not that any one else in this book has better reasoning skills: Four/Tobias surrenders to Johanna for torture, drug testing and eventual death so he can find out where central control is located. He is able to get this information back to the rebels only because Peter unexpectedly turns traitor and helps him escape. He couldn't have counted on that, so how on earth did he think this plan was going to work? Or, another instance: Tris and her crew want to prevent Tobias from killing Johanna before she gives up certain information. Instead of just going with Tobias into Erudite, so they have all of his resources and are in position to stop him at the precise moment he needs to be stopped, they get several members of their party killed while storming Erudite headquarters and arrive too late to stop Tobias. Or something else that blew my mind: Dauntless train with weapons from an early age, sleep with them, and are basically paranoid soldiers. They form an uneasy alliance with the factionless near the end of the book, although (like most factions) they've spent their lives despising the factionless. Together they storm Erudite headquarters. As soon as they've secured the Erudite leaders, the factionless ask for their weapons. Apparently suspecting nothing, and apparently willing to give up their weapons IN ENEMY TERRITORY (even though just a few chapters ago they wouldn't give up their weapons even when it was a requirement of receiving sanctuary from certain death), all of the Dauntless completely disarm and hand the factionless all their weapons. The factionless immediately proclaim themselves the new rulers; the Dauntless are super! shocked! at this betrayal. For goodness' sake! And then, the idiot cherry on the blockhead sundae, the reason everyone is living in a walled-in Chicago is revealed. Generations ago, people were upset at all the cruelty in the world, so volunteers erased their minds and entered Chicago as part of an experiment. The hope was that someday, Divergent people would be born, and this would be the end of all suffering and war in the world. lol, what?
The flimsy worldbuilding, blocky writing (The word window was repeated FOUR TIMES in a single sentence. Come on.) and just plain stupid plots have overpowered this series. Tris is still a badass, but the story is just too silly and nonsensical for me to care about any longer.
When this series began, Aoife was a well-behaved engineering student. Her mother was mad, her brother was also mad and possibly a traitor, and necrovirus monsters surrounded Lovecraft City, and but Aoife just wanted to keep her head down and her mind clear long enough to graduate and work with engines. But then her brother sent a mysterious message, calling Aoife out of safety and on the run. Since then, she discovered that the necrovirus is really magic and that she herself has fairy blood, and shortly thereafter destroyed the barriers keeping the fey and human worlds separate. Now Aoife is in more danger than ever.Aoife's universe is a fascinating mixture of steampunk, malevolent fairies, and magical forces so much more powerful than us that they would rip our brains apart if we so much as thought of them. It's fab! Aoife herself is wonderfully complex. That said, I did enjoy this, but less so than the first book. The plot is so convoluted, and Aoife's goals change so often, that by the end I was pretty tired of it.
This book contains:"Winterfair Gifts" by Lois McMaster Bujold. The reason I read this book. I always love returning to Bujold's Vorkosigan series, but this, like the last several novels, felt a bit slack to me. Miles's marriage is the background to Armsman Roic's love affair with Taura. Despite poison and intrigue, the plot never had the sense of urgency that used to make me tear through these books. Instead, it kinda felt like Bujold was wrapping up her time with the series by pairing the last spare characters off.
"The Alchemical Marriage" by Mary Jo Putney. Two mages have to work together to prevent the Spanish Armada from invading England. In so doing they join their hearts, their magic, and their ~bodies~. Purple prose, silly plot.
"Stained Glass Heart" by Catherine Asaro. Yet more purple prose and silly plot, but at least it's a twist on that old tune, the arranged marriage: to ensure his family's success, would-be dancer Vyrl is engaged to the Matriarch of Majda, but loves a simple farm girl he grew up with. The Matriarch is an experienced woman, older and wiser than Vyrl; although it's an arranged match, she hopes they'll grow to like each other in time. Which woman will Vyrl choose? Not that I gave a crap, but he chooses the girl described as having "waist-length curls flying in the wind, streaming around her, shiny and red-bronze, touched with gold sun-streaks." (She also has violet eyes, naturally.) He and his luvah experience no hardships for dissing a powerful leader of a planet, and instead get an epilogue about all their babies. Blegh.
"Skin Deep" by Deb Stover. A ghost is given one last chance to get into heaven: get his ex-wife to fall in love with her old boyfriend. Apparently the ghost had framed the boyfriend as a cheater, thus getting the girl. In the guise of a hot lady, the ghost pushes his ex-wife into the path of the boyfriend she should have stayed with. There's a subplot about the boyfriend being a DEA agent, but it feels pretty unnecessary. I don't really know what I was supposed to think about this story: was I supposed to care about the selfish ghost character? The bland ex-wife or blander boyfriend? Another slog.
"The Trouble with Heroes" by Jo Beverly. On an alien planet, people with extra powers are named "Fixers" and tasked with everything from healing to preventing alien incursions. Then a lady falls in love with a Fixer and finds out that a lot of people have a tiny amount of Fixing power, and that they can all work together to make the world a better place. I guess? I started skimming this about 10 pages in; it felt very scattered.
"Shadows in the Wood" by Jennifer Roberson. Merlin emerges from a tree and asks Marion and Robin Hood to help him return Excalibur to its rightful place. Fans of the Mists of Avalon and that kind of pagan fantasy would undoubtedly appreciate this a good deal more than I did. I thought it clunky and artless.
A surprisingly uninspired, uninspiring collection, overall.
Dr.Maxwell is a historian, but that doesn't mean her job is stress-free. If she's not dodging dinosaurs then she's trying to evade the flames of Alexandria. Because Max isn't just any historian--she can travel back in time.Hilarious, wonderful grasp of history (and delightful historical in-jokes!), and really fab character creation.
When a curse zombifies much of Boston, the world is horrified. In this time of crisis, other supernatural beings (werewolves, vampires, witches, etc) agree to help humanity in exchange for a few rights. They still don't have equal rights, and they're segregated into areas (such as "Deadtown" in Boston, where the original zombie outbreak occurred), but at least they're not shot on sight. Vicky is a shapeshifter who makes a living killing demons. While on a routine demon hunt, Vicky perceives clues that a far more powerful demon is approaching. And not just any demon--the one that immolated her father and marked her for possession when she was just a girl.This is a far more dystopic world than in most paranormal/urban fantasy. Vicky literally does not have any rights in most of the US, and even in Boston habeus corpus doesn't apply to her. Her romantic options are equally (and just as plausibly) shadowy--one is more interested in civil rights than his passion for her, while the other may or may not be married. Vicky can't even count on herself, because the demon mark makes her more prone to darker emotions. Still, she's tough and resourceful; I liked this book and intend to read the next one.
After Garin stands up to a royal herald, Prince Alar takes him as his slave. Garin was raised in a small peasant village where homosexuality was punished, so his time with the prince is an eye-opening experience. The royal court is as decadent and deadly as rumored. But before Garin grows completely disgusted with Alar, the prince saves his life, possibly at the cost of his own. This is an odd book to review, because the first few chapters are not particularly thoughtful or innovative erotica. Just another blue-blooded perfect-at-everything type topping the hell out of an innocent farmboy. But then the plot kicks in and the characters start caring for each other, and it gets rather more engaging. The female side characters were actually my favorite part of this, from the rough-voiced physician so invested in studying the human body that she tortures people, to the princess with an economist's mind.
Centuries ago, the ancient vampire Don Simon Ysidro fell in love with a mortal woman. Entranced by the idea of eternal life, Lady Irene managed to get turned into a vampire as well. It was only then that she discovered the truth of Ysidro's warnings--that upon becoming Undead, all interests and morals are overwhelmed by the seduction of killing human prey. She and Ysidro have had little contact since...until she hears a rumor that the war-mongering Kaiser has recruited a vampire. Ysidro enlists the help of James Asher, formerly of the Queen's Secret Service, to accompany him on his search for answers.This is a beautiful book. Hambly's stories of the Ashers and Ysidro (which began in the equally superlative [b:Those Who Hunt the Night|176261|Those Who Hunt the Night (James Asher, #1)|Barbara Hambly|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1223642807s/176261.jpg|1229981]) are always the very best that vampire fiction can be. Her grasp of history is sure and faultless. Her characterizations deep and multi-faceted. And her vampires are the creepiest, scariest, most seductive creatures of the night I've ever read.
Vadin is a squire, new to the service of Han-Ianon. His greatest wish is to serve Moranden, greatest warrior in the land and bastard son to the king. The king is old and knows he nears the end of his reign, and so day after day he stands on the battlements, hoping that his daughter will return home. Decades ago she traveled south to be a priestess, and has sent no word since.But then a small young man in shabby priest's garb walks into the capital. He resembles the late princess and in fact, is her sole child, fathered by no less than the god Avaryan himself. The king immediately proclaims that Mirain to be his heir. Moranden has always hoped he would get the throne, and is incensed. Vadin is ordered to be Mirain's squire and watches their rivalry unfold from an intimate vantage point.
Although the characters have complex and emotional inner lives, this book is otherwise quintessentially High Fantasy. It's told in a stylized, portentous tone, and although there are no prophecies, the gods really do interfere in the lives of mortal men. In fact, this felt a bit like a Greek epic, complete with gods playing favorites, incredible feats of strength and endurance, and intense (and sometimes homoerotic) bonds between men.
Magic works, and therefore all of history is different. Magic stalled the progress of science and culture, so Europe went stagnant somewhere in the sixteenth century: even in 2010 they wear Elizabethan garb and duel in the streets. Triumff was an explorer for her majesty, Elizabeth XXX, but then he found the glittering skyscrapers and magnificent technological and cultural advances that Australia had achieved by leaving behind magic for science. Now Triumff is not so sure where his loyalties lie...but at precisely the same time plots against Queen Elizabeth arise. Triumff and his friends must foil these dastardly schemes while keeping their own secrets hidden. Abnett owes a great deal to Pratchett's Ankh-Mopork series. Mother Grundy is clearly Granny Weatherwax, for instance, and Abnett's paragraph-long sardonic asides are classic Pratchett. Alas, Pratchett has had years and dozens of books to build up both his style and the Discworld--by comparison, Abnett's characters and worldbuilding feel thin and flimsy. That said, I've always got room for more dry British humor, even when it's as self-conscious as this, and swashbuckling is always fun. Plus, there's an unexpected thread of eldritch horror running through this that set it apart from, say, Peter David's [b:Sir Apropos of Nothing|558833|Sir Apropos of Nothing (Sir Apropos of Nothing, #1)|Peter David|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1290121683s/558833.jpg|1128509] series.
After years of conducting focus groups and collaborative social research, Dodson wrote this book summarizing her findings. Mixing together anecdotes and US statistics on poverty, Dodson examines a country without universal health care, a livable minimum wage, or affordable care for children, the elderly, or the disabled. As Dodson says, poverty created and maintained at an institutional level is bad not only for the well-being of those in poverty but also harms everyone else in society. She breaks down the exact numbers of people's wages and bills, and presents the nearly impossible logistics required to raise children as a low-wage earner. She talks a bit about the strategies individuals have used to combat these structural problems, like allowing workers to have flexible shifts, "losing" diaper inventory, or letting uninsured patients use other people's insurance. She never gets in depth about these strategies for fear of making them more difficult to do, but it's still clear that even though she calls middle class individuals' efforts to ameliorate suffering due to poverty a "moral underground," there really isn't an "underground" in the sense of an organized network. From her descriptions, at least, it seems like it remains very disconnected and individual.None of this is breaking news, but I like the way Dodson frames it all. I could feel her frustration biting through the numbers and her bland but leading questions to those who blame structural issues on individuals' work ethics.
Marie Antoine (Antonin) Carême was abandoned on the streets of Paris in the throes of the Terror. He started working for a pastry chef, and by the time he was a teenager was creating magnificent, imaginative pastry creations suitable for display. He became chef to Talleyrand, a gourmand who entertained ambassadors and royalty on behalf of the Napoleonic government. From there, Carême leapt from the kitchens of one court to the next, from the Romonovs to George IV to Vienna. His meticulous care and innovative recipes made him incredibly sought after, particularly after he wrote his name-dropping first book, Le Pâtissier royal parisien. Carême worked in a number of fraught diplomatic situations, and his food eased the way for peace between Russia and France, and the Rothschilds' entrance into high society. He worked absurdly hard, personally doing much of back-breaking, hand-scalding labor that went into high dining, and slept little. He died at the height of his fame, aged only 48, probably due to chronic carbon monoxide poisoning. Carême left behind nine books (not all of them about food--he was also passionate about architecture), a daughter, and hundreds of recipes. His terms and tests of sugar are still used. He was also the man responsible for popularizing service a la russe (where individual plates are brought to each diner at each course, instead of everyone serving from communal dishes), the tomato, vol-au-vents and countless other recipes that are enjoyed to this day. Kelly is enthused about his subject, and the research he's done into Carême seems far ranging and impeccable. He includes numerous recipes translated into English, with a few notes on how to substitute modern ingredients in for things like isinglass or Maraschino liquor. The recipes also come with little summaries of when and where each recipe was originally concocted or served, along with some historical context. And to add to these riches, there are a number of full-color photos and even some of Carême's own illustrations of his creations. The only minor problem I had with this book was that once in a while Kelly indulged in speculation phrased as certainty, as when he prosed on about Carême's daughter Marie's feelings about her father. We have very little information about her, not even what happened to her after Carême's death, and yet Kelly seems sure that he knows how she felt. Doubtful! But overall, informative and enjoyable. And if you're interested in making historically accurate Regency food, this book will definitely help!
