Backlist Burndown: Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
Posted on June 25, 2015 14 Comments
As book bloggers, sometimes we get so caught up reading review titles and new releases that we end up missing out on a lot previously published books. As a result, one of my goals this year is to take more time to catch up with my backlist, especially in my personal reading pile. And it seems I’m not the only one. Backlist Burndown is a new meme started by Lisa of Tenacious Reader. Every last Friday of the month, she’ll be posting a review of a backlist book and is inviting anyone interested to do the same. Of course, you can also review backlist books any day you want, as often you want, but be sure to watch for her post at the end of the month to link up!
Speaking of which, I’m doing my Backlist Burndown review a day early this month…
Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of October Daye
Publisher: DAW (September 1, 2009)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
October Daye is one of those urban fantasy series I’ve been meaning to read for a long time. And unless you count her novels written under the name Mira Grant, I’ve never read anything by Seanan Mcguire before either, so this was a good opportunity to knock out two birds with one stone.
The series’ eponymous protagonist is a half-human and half-fae changeling with an incredible and downright uncanny history. The book’s prologue takes us back fourteen years ago as October “Toby” Daye investigates a missing persons case for her liege lord Duke Torquil, but her stakeout ends in disaster when she is ambushed by the fae suspect and magically transformed into a fish. And in that form she stayed, for fourteen damn years.
The book officially begins not too long after Toby returns to herself, but she’s only a shadow of who she once was. The world has passed her by while she was trapped in that koi pond. Her human family who long thought her dead are now having trouble coming to terms with her reappearance, and Toby herself is unable to face old friends, especially Duke Torquil, whom she believed she failed. Turning her back on both the human and the fae worlds, Toby retreats into herself and attempts a solitary life of night shifts and takeout, but those plans are shot when a pureblood fae countess is murdered and Toby is charged to find her killer. Now not only is Toby forced back into fae society, she also has no choice but to step back into her old role as a private investigator.
Many people I know who have read both Seanan Mcguire’s books and also her Mira Grant books have told me that the writing styles under each name could not be any more different. Those folks are right. The author also uses her names to write very different genres, which is probably the reason for their disparate styles – and from what I’ve read, I think I enjoy her urban fantasy more than her horror. The two Grant books I’ve read, namely Feed and Parasite both suffered from very hackneyed plotlines and stunted character development, but Toby Daye was a breath of fresh air with her very unique and natural voice, along with the author’s vision of fae politics and their interactions with the human world. McGuire’s writing flowed a lot better for me in this novel.
That’s not to say the book was perfect, though. The story in Rosemany and Rue itself didn’t blow me away – it’s a paradigmatic UF murder investigation which involves a lot of talk and little to no mystery in the traditional sense. After that awesome prologue, the intro drags on while we follow Toby through a tour of fae country as she makes stop after stop to tell others that the great Countess Evening Winterrose is dead and/or to ask for help. As the main protagonist, Toby is also prone to seriously bad decision-making, and maybe I just missed something, but I’m very skeptical of the author’s warped, cynical reality where a young woman can bleed all over a public bus from a gunshot wound and everyone around her can just pretend it’s not happening.
Still, it’s the background elements and potential for good side stories that really caught my attention here. The stage is set and all the players are in place, now all we have to do is sit back and let things take their course. I have a feeling the complex social hierarchies in the fae world itself should add a lot of flavor to this series and make it stand out, and I’m also interested to see if Toby will ever connect with her human fiancé Cliff and their daughter Gillian again.
I’m not typically that picky about my urban fantasy; all I’m looking for in any first book to a series is that it’s entertaining and that it serves as a good escape, and Rosemary and Rue passed the test. What I do know is that I think I’m done with Mira Grant books for now, but I’m definitely open to continuing with Seanan McGuire’s October Daye. As with most UF, I expect the books will get better once the series finds its stride.
Tough Traveling: Fathers
Posted on June 25, 2015 27 Comments
The Thursday feature “Tough Traveling” is the brainchild of Nathan of Review Barn, who has come up with the excellent idea of making a new list each week based on the most common tropes in fantasy, as seen in (and inspired by) The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynn Jones. Nathan has invited anyone who is interested to come play along, so be sure to check out the first link for more information.
This week’s tour topic is: Fathers
Comes in two types in fantasyland. Either a semi-mystical figure proving impossible to live up to or the overbearing type who doesn’t understand why his daughter doesn’t accept the traditional princess role. He may be tough to get along with but usually does think he has his kids interests in mind.
Tiara’s Picks:
Hal Creed (Hero by Perry Moore)
Hal Creed, once known as the non-powered hero Major Might before scandal caused him to be kicked from the team, works hard and takes a lot of abuse to take care of his son, doubly so after his wife leaves him to raise their son Thom on his own. Hal is very protective of his son and goes to great lengths to make sure he’s always present in his son’s life in some way despite work or anything else. He’s also very strict about talk of superpowers (which Thom has), which he doesn’t tolerate, and has problems coming to terms with his son’s sexuality. I’ll just leave this here for posterity:
Mr. Chau (Scott Pilgrim vs The World by Bryan Lee O’Malley)
When Mr. Chau finds out his daughter is dating a white boy. Well, he’s just not going to stand for that. Thus begins a period of Scott being chased by Mr. Chau with pointy things that slice. Mr. Chau is literally un-fuck-with-able, but eventually, he decides that he actually likes Scott and is okay with his daughter dating white boys.
King Ashe (Princeless by Jeremy Whitley)
I used Queen Ashe for Mother’s Day, so it’s only fair I use her husband for Father’s Day. King Ashe is the seemingly cold father of the Ashe children (three daughters, including the heroine of this title, and a son). He believes in gendered tradition and rules. He believes this is how order is kept in a kingdom. He believes his daughters should be locked away in towers for knights to rescue and his son should learn to fight even though that’s not a thing he really likes. So, how does the staunchest, manliest king in all the land end up with kids who throw all their gender roles in his face?
Maes Hughes (Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa)
Hughes is probably actually one of the best manga/anime dads (because everyone knows that 90% of manga/anime dads are trash). Hughes is probably one of the best anime characters period. He’s cheerful and friendly to the point of downright annoyance, and his soft spot is his wife, Gracia, and his daughter, Elicia. Hughes is so protective of his family that he’s actually threatened three-year-old boys about his three-year-old daughter. Did I mention they’re all three-years-old?
Father (Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa)
Also, in the FMA universe, we have Father and his Homunculi children. Unlike Hughes, Father is confident, cold, and thirsts for power. Father takes many forms as suits his purposes. The only things he seems to care about are his children, his creations named after the seven deadly sins, which is ironic since it’s believed he’s purged himself of each of these sins, leaving behind nothing but his ruthlessness.
Father in God form.
Kenji-papa (Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi)
Kenji Tsukino is Sailor Moon’s dad. He’s another good sort. Helping where he can, failing gloriously as only a dad can when he tries to help in areas that he can’t (cooking). However, he was pretty much convinced that if Usagi even looked at a boy, she’d become a delinquent. This was even before she actually started dating. Also, he had pretty strict ideas about who she shod date. Despite this, Usagi believes that her dad is the standard to which all boys must live up to.
You okay, dad?
The Clockwork King (City of Heroes by Paragon Studios)
So, this was my favorite MMO ever before it shut down. Being that it was like a comic book, it had many comics based on it. One of my favorite relationships from the game/comics was the relationship between the Clockwork King and Penelope Yin. Pen has her own father, but one day she’ll be the greatest psychic in the world. The Clockwork King is rumored to be the current most powerful psychic in the world and (former, depending on when and how you encounter him) major archvillain. Somehow, he’s basically mind-melded with Penelope. Despite his mistrust of heroes, he becomes an ally with many for her sake and won’t hesitate to protect her from whatever he feels threatens her–hero or villain.
Father (The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins)
Father collects children during what is known as “adoption day.” His children remember a life before him, but by the time he’s done with them, they’re so disconnected from who they used to be that it doesn’t feel like that used to be their life. Father can do great and terrible things, things that he teaches his children, but not nearly on the same level of his own power. Father is almost godlike. Now, Father is gone, and some of his children have aspirations beyond their station.
Mogsy’s Picks:
Hello! This is how we say Happy Father’s Day in Westeros…
Rivers of London/Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch
The following is one of my all-time favorite dad-related quotes ever (because Peter’s awesome jazz-playing dad sounds a lot like my dad):
Could it have been anyone, or was it destiny? When I’m considering this I find it helpful to quote the wisdom of my father, who once told me, “Who knows why the fuck anything happens?” ~Peter Grant
Zack Lightman has always wanted to know his father, the man who died in an accident before Zack even reached his first birthday. All of Zack’s interests have been influenced by the elder Lightman’s, from the boxes of games, books, movies he discovered in the attic that belonged to the father he never knew. It is also his dad’s old journal and the contents within that starts everything rolling…
Kick-Ass by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.
Before Hit-Girl (real name Mindy McCready) got her own series, she was a supporting character who first appeared with her father Damon McCready AKA Big Daddy in the Kick-Ass comics. Damon trained his daughter from an early age to be a costumed superhero and a deadly assassin.
The Everness series by Ian McDonald
Everett Singh’s father Tejendra Singh is a brilliant scientist and a leading researcher in the study of parallel earths. Then Tejendra is kidnapped from the streets of London one day, leaving his son only a single clue with which to find him: a mysterious file on his computer called the Infundibulum. With the help of some friends, Everett travels to different parallel earths to find and rescue his dad.
The Rebirths of Tao by Wesley Chu
Cameron Tan kind of has two dads — Roen Tan who is his biological father, and another one who is an alien in his head. The quasing Tao is the “third parent” in this scenario, training Cameron to be a Prophus agent to fight against the Genjix. But Roen watches over his son too. Even though he no longer has Tao to guide him, Roen is determined to be the best dad for Cam. He and his wife Jill work hard to give their son a normal and happy childhood while trying to keep their family safe in the midst of the quasing war.
The Powder Mage trilogy by Brian McClellan
Field Marshal Tamas is an interesting kind of dad. He and his son Taniel are both powder mages, though at the beginning of this series there appears to be no love lost between the two. They are estranged at the start of Promise of Blood, but eventually father and son reach better terms as the series progresses.
Your Brother’s Blood by David Towsey
What do you do when your dad’s one of the walking dead? That’s the question Mary has to ask herself in this unique zombie western. Thomas left his family to fight in war, only to die and wake up again. He knows going home will put his loved ones in danger, but the pull towards love is too great. In the end, his arrival in town sends him on the run again, with Mary in two. It becomes a race against time as Thomas fights to evade their pursuers while keeping his little daughter safe.
And finally of course…
Wendy’s Picks
Now, now. Not all fantasy dads are bad. Some suffer from bad daddying because of the evil influence of others. I found a few that don’t fit the negative tropes, while the others, well…
Normally, I don’t include LOTR, since it generally covers all the Tough Travelling categories by default. But how could I not include such great dads?
Theoden is one of those dads that really is a good man, but that damned Wormtongue got all up in his business, causing him to almost lose his kingdom and forget his kids. Fortunately, he got his mind back just in time for Father’s Day.
Sometimes, when you look this good and are as awesome as Thranduil, it’s totally acceptable to be a bad dad. You have so much to learn, young Legolas.
Denathor just wanted to protect Gondor and do what was best for his sons. He didn’t mean to get carried away with all the burning.
RG Veda by CLAMP
Sometimes, a father loves their child so much that they are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. Or so it seems. But there is so much more to the words Ashura-ou whispered to the evil emperor that usurped the throne.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
When you decide to mess with science and create life, but that life scares the crap out of you and you run away, don’t be surprised when said creation comes to find you and isn’t pleased with your abandonment.
Birthright by Joshua Williamson
Imagine the pain of not only losing a son, but being blamed for his disappearance even by your own wife. When an adult stranger returns, claiming to be the long lost boy, dad has a chance to say “I told you so” and redeem himself. Sort of.
The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin
Of the Three, Nahadoth is both mother and father to many of the godlings, but none does he love more than Sieh. The Nightlord us a creature of chaos, death, and destruction, but when he loves, he loves hard, and when he hurts the darkness is unbarable.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Really great parenting means making sure the children you raise are all part of a long standing rivalry and can be used against each other in a competition they are mostly ignorant of.
In Midnight’s Silence by T. Frohock
Surprise, Daigo! You’re a father! Oh and also, we need you to sacrifice the child you want to raise better than your father did for you to save the world from utter destruction. Best father’s day ever!
There is nothing Marko won’t do for his little family, whether it be slaying those who want them dead, or being a stay-at-home-dad taking little Hazel to dance lessons. Whatever it takes.
Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman
You have no idea how you’d act during a zombie apocalypse. You don’t get to judge the Governor. At least not in Woodbury, where he is the law and that means if he wants to keep his zombified daughter in a closet on a leash instead of putting her out of her mindless misery, we don’t question his parenting.
Batman
While Bruce Wayne has only officially fathered one child in canon, Damon Wayne, he’s taken on the responsibility of raising quite a few kids along the way. Some of them were in dire straits, orphaned by murder, surrounded by violence, and it can be said that he saved them from a potentially bad life. But just how responsible a dad is he by letting his proteges don the garb of Robin and teaching them how to willingly step into far greater danger…
You had one job, Batman… (Jason Todd feels go here)
Comic Stack – 06/24/2015: Graphic Novel Review: Gotham Academy Vol. 1: Welcome to Gotham Academy by Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher
Posted on June 24, 2015 3 Comments
Full Disclosure: A review copy of this comis was provided to me by DC Comics via NetGalley. I would like to thank the author(s) and the publisher for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed from here forward are my own.
I know I said that I was going to start my House of M reread this week, but I totally forgot that I actually have two DC books that I’m going to review this week and next. I thought I’d just lump them together in one post, but I have enough to say about this one for it to warrant its own post. I know I said I wouldn’t focus so much on mainstream comics when I started back to doing this, but I’m capricious if you haven’t figured that out. You’ll get a little bit of everything. Besides, Gotham Academy is definitely a departure for DC, and we need to talk about this book!
Genre: Superheroes, Young Adult, Leading Ladies
Publisher: DC Comics (June 23, 2015)
Tiara’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
When you think of schools in mainstream comic books, you think Marvel. Admit it, after years of Marvel pounding this into our head every which way they can, you start to think of this as their thing. However, no matter how much Marvel does it, it usually ends with them getting decent results love it or hate it. Despite featuring many kids with extraordinary powers, they still manage to make them relatable, especially to children and teenagers. Their problems, struggles, hopes, and dreams feel greatly like our own. I think about 13-year-old me who saw more merit in loving Kitty Pryde and Jubilee than Batman at that age. You still can’t tell me “Jubilee’s Fairytale Theater” from the old cartoon, “Kitty’s Fairy Tale” (Uncanny X-Men #153) and “God Spare the Child” (Kitty-centric, Uncanny X-Men #129) aren’t the greatest comic book stories of all time. Hell, even Mekanix, which is about Kitty going to college, came out when I was in college getting all wrapped up in science when so few women in my college were into the sciences. Do you know what that kind of stuff can mean to kids? So, don’t think there isn’t a need for kids and young adults to see images like these and that they don’t make an impact.
Now, DC has entered the arena with Gotham Academy, a book that follows a group of Gotham’s youngest and finest at a private school full of mystery. Maybe DC has tried their hand at this before. I admit to being a bigger Marvel fan, so I’m more familiar with Marvel’s lore. I’ve never really been into the Teen Titans comics much despite loving the cartoons, so I don’t know what their approach to school was. I can only speak for the titles I have read. However, whenever I read a DC book, even with its younger characters, school always seemed like some foggy, vague thing that may or may not happen in the DC universe. The scene that always sticks out in my mind about school and DCU is during Batman R.I.P. when Tim had this injury (a burn, I believe) and I was thinking, “How is he going to go to school like that?” because of all the stress he was going through as Robin, his personal life, and school. I think I remember him actually carrying a backpack once during that time. It was surreal. I just thought Batman taught everyone everything they needed to know. Now, they give me Gotham Academy.
Olive Silverlock and Mia “Maps” Mizoguchi are the leading ladies of this story along with a supporting cast of characters such as Pomeline Fitch, the mean girl who toes the line of posh goth as much as she can, Heathcliff, the boy whose throat Pom shoves her tongue down, Colton Rivera, the cool kid who has a unique skill set, and Kyle Mizoguchi, Maps’ older brother and (maybe-ex?) boyfriend to Olive.
My favorite of these kids easily is Maps. I adored her. They never go into why she’s called Maps. Instead they show you by displaying her love of charting, exploring, and map-making , which proves very useful in their adventures. She’s a lovable bundle of energy who talks non-stop about her gaming adventures such as how she led her party to an abandoned tower to face an evil wizard, but it was totally okay because, and I quote, “We were all, like, 9th level, anyway, so I wasn’t worried…” and how all her “dungeon crawling fantasies” were about to come true. She made me genuinely smile with her nonstop optimism and nerdiness. She was the just the right blend of cute, precocious, and geeky without the writers going overboard, which could’ve led into problematic territory if they had. Maps also proved to be a good contrast to the somber Olive.
The two girls find themselves on a real quest when strange things start to occur frequently at the school and many of the students blame the ghost of Millie Jane Cobblepot, obviously a long-dead relative of Penguin’s. This adventure proves somewhat good and somewhat triggering for Olive who has weathered a particularly hard summer. She avoids her boyfriend even though she still cares for him, but she finds needed sisterly companionship in Maps as they try to solve the mystery of Millie Jane along with their motley crew. In some subtle way, I guess you can see Batman and Robin’s (in a Dick and Tim supercombo kind of way) personalities mirrored in these two girls.
I was a little skeptical going into this book. As this is something totally different for DC and for me (as far as my DC reading goes), I wasn’t sure if they’d be able to pull off the vibe you expect from a book about teenagers. Marvel has mostly nailed it, but you expect that from them. DC’s brand has always seemed darker, edgier, more adult than Marvel in many ways, and as a reader, I was curious as to how this would translate to a young adult story. I was afraid that the characters would feel way “too old” in this school setting, or they’d completely lose what makes them different from Marvel and basically give me a “hip” Marvel book with DC characters.
Somehow, though, the writers have managed to make this work. The book is severe and edgy when it needs to be. Dark and mysterious when scenes call for it. And yes, there are even scenes that are bright and vibrant (something I don’t associate with many DC books) that all work well together to create this unique mix of stark and bold while maintaining the dynamic, younger feel of this book. With this, they have made these kids relatable, likable, and even contemptible at times. You feel for the characters on an emotional level because of their struggles and triumphs. You’re allowed to appreciate them as normal kids and not just capes and cowls, though they are heroic in their own right. They’re teens and you’re going to get some melodrama, but it’s tempered out with scenes like this where Kyle asks Olive not to break his sister’s heart as implied she’s done to him.
While Batman doesn’t feature prominently in this, he’s an ever exasperating presence in Olive’s life and it doesn’t seem to be because his light shines rather prominently in her room all the time. I’m curious to see how that will play out, but I’m afraid they’ll tread on too familiar territory in the story of Olive’s seeming contempt for Batman. I could be surprised, though. Most of the adults don’t feature more than to be authority figures. They spew wisdom here and there, but they’re mostly background characters. The story really focuses on the kids and their adventure. Sometimes, I think that’s where Marvel gets it wrong in their books with a ton of children–the adults’ problems start to take over the story when you’re expecting them to focus more on the kids.
I still wonder how books like this will translate years later when the lingo has changed and my kids are reading my comics. However, to DC’s credit, this book feels much more like something that will stand the test of time better than Marvel’s young adult books. Maybe because there’s less DOGE going on in this book and a more general young adult behavior (gaming nerdiness, pranks, urban legends about your high school, mean girl behavior–behavior that never really changes no matter what year you’re living in). I tried really hard to find something I didn’t like about this book because I’m supposed to be the curmudgeonly, critical one, but I really don’t have a bad word to say about this book if you don’t count some of the melodrama, some general unworthy of mention Scooby Doo moments that annoy me at times, and (what I believe is intentional) cheesiness at some points. I was highly surprised how much I enjoyed this book, but I know this may be too “kiddie” for some tastes. I’m actually glad they didn’t go HARDCORE with this book. There are so many books that already fill that gap. We need more books like this for young adults, too. While this skews a little older than my oldest, it’d probably still be right up my son’s alley since he’s getting more into tween/teen things.
Final Note: Maps’ “Crit Plz” shirt is awesome. I want it! Gaming nerds, you know I’m right! I don’t care what you play that has crit in it. You know we love it (or either you’re screaming about it being OP and needing to be nerfed when used against you). UNITE!
Waiting on Wednesday 06/24/15
Posted on June 24, 2015 19 Comments
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
Mogsy’s Pick:
The Death of Dulgath by Michael J. Sullivan: November 15, 2015 (Riyria Enterprises LLC)
Whether you’re a fan of Sullivan’s or not, no one can deny his achievements in self-publishing. His Riyria Revelations books were self-published until Orbit picked them up after they became so successful, and then he released two more books in the Riyria Chronicles with the publisher. This third Chronicles book was supposed to come out with them, but due to stipulations in the author’s new publishing deal with Del Rey on his new series, it was determined that The Death of Dulgath would have to go the self publishing route (the whole story is here on Michael J. Sullivan’s blog). And so we have this Kickstarter, which has already blown away its goal and is still going strong. I had backed it on the first day, though quite frankly I don’t care how this book gets to me as long as it does get to me, because I’m a big fan of Riyria and good old Hadrian and Royce. Can’t wait for this book.
“Three times they tried to kill her. Then they hired a professional. She hired Riyria.
When the last member of the oldest noble family in Avryn is targeted for assassination, Riyria is hired to foil the plot. Three years have passed since the war-weary mercenary Hadrian and the cynical ex-assassin Royce joined forces to start life as thieves-for-hire. Things have gone well enough until they receive the odd assignment to prevent a murder. Now they must venture into a forgotten corner of southern Avryn—a place whose history predates the empire. As usual, challenges abound as they try to anticipate the moves of an unknown assassin before it’s too late. But that’s not their only problem. The Countess of Dulgath has a dark secret she’s determined to keep hidden. Then there’s the little matter of Riyria’s new employer…the Nyphron Church.”
More Audiobook Narrators We Love
Posted on June 23, 2015 14 Comments
Since it’s Audiobook Month, we decided that now would be a good time to update our favorite narrators list from 2013 (yikes!). Despite the long gap since we talked about favorite narrators, that has given us plenty of time to grow as audiobook listeners and discover new and amazing voices. We still love our initial picks and Simon Vance still holds a special place in our hearts, but we’ve found no shame in collecting more voices for our favorites list.
KATE READING
Mogsy says: Jennifer Mendenhall is best known to the audiobook world as Kate Reading. Her voice radiates strength and class, making her perfect for the character of Isabella in Marie Brennan’s Memoirs by Lady Trent, one of my favorite fantasy series. I first heard her though, from the audiobooks of Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive, narrating alongside her husband Michael Kramer. Every performance I’ve heard from her has been a stellar experience, including the books in the Young Adult series The Goddess War by Kendare Blake.
KHRISTINE HVAM
Tiara says: I’ve recently started listening to the Jane Yellowrock books, and I really love Khristine’s slight twang that she gives Jane. However, I’ve heard Hvam before in an audiobook that collected the short stories of Eudora Welty. I’ve also listen to her narration for Cast in Shadow, Snow White and the Huntsman (yes, based on the movie), Pretty Little Dead Girls, and as one of the narrators in Vampires: The Recent Undead. She has a great range and does so well with the voices of the characters. She’s an absolute joy to listen to. Favorite Book Narrated: Pretty Little Dead Girls: A Novel of Murder and Whimsy by Mercedes M. Yardley
DICK HILL
Wendy says: I’ve got a thing for deep, rich voices and Dick Hill definitely fits that description when it comes to narration. Yet, he also narrates female characters, including Lessa, the dragondrider of Anne Macaffrey’s Pern series, and the sisters in David Anthony Durham’s Acacia series. Though I’ve only listened to two books narrated by him, I’m certain that his Audie and Earphone awards are well-earned, especially when it comes to presenting stories on as grand a scale as Acacia, which features varied locations, cultures, and many people, each of whom Hill uniquely brings to life.
R.C. BRAY
Mogsy says: I believe I’ve only listened to one audiobook narrated by R.C. Bray ever, but already his name has shot its way up to the top of my favorite narrators. The book I listened to is, of course, The Martian by Andy Weir. If you haven’t read this book yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! Read it. Or better yet, listen to it. I highly recommend the audiobook version, in which Bray delivers one of the best performances I’ve ever heard. It’s been nominated for multiple audiobook awards, and for good reason; Bray gave Mark Watney the perfect voice, and from from what I could hear in his performance, I’m guessing he had a great time narrating the book too.
BERNADETTE DUNNE
Tiara says: Bernadette Dunne is one of those narrators who surprises you with what she narrates and how good she is at those narrations. She narrates everything from young adult to nonfiction bringing her own style to everything she narrates. She’s narrated such notable books as Memoirs of a Geisha, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, the Under the Never Sky series and The Year of the Flood. My personal favorites of hers are the horror stories she narrates, though. As a long time horror fan, nothing scares me anymore, but even I have to give in to the eerie vibe that Dunne brings to a story. Favorite Book Narrated: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
JUSTINE EYRE
Wendy says: Reading for an ensemble cast can’t be easy, yet narrators like Justine Eyre certainly make it sound so. She narrates a recent favourite, Patrick Weekes’ The Palace Job, which features several main characters. The kicker? Eyre also gives them very distinct accents to go along with their unique personalities, and wraps her tongue smoothly around nouns and phrases that are far outside any language we might know in the real world. You try yelling “Kun-kabynalti osu fuir’is!” five times fast, and instill within those few words, all the different meanings a warhammer imbued with the soul of an ancient king can express.
MACLEOD ANDREWS
Mogsy says: When I was looking through my library of audiobooks, I realized I’ve actually listened to a lot narrated by MacLeod Andrews. No surprise there; Andrews is an accomplished stage actor and award winning audiobook narrator, with over two hundred titles under his belt according to my Audible search. He lends his voice to a lot of Young Adult audiobooks too, so it’s not a surprise either that my favorite performances of his are the from titles like Talon by Julie Kagawa, The Dragons of Dorcastle by Jack Campbell, and Firefight by Brandon Sanderson. It’s this last one that made me sit up and pay attention, because he did an amazing job delivering a full range of voices for the characters of The Reckoners and even made protagonist David Charleston’s strange sense of humor and bad metaphors work for me. No small feat.
JESSE BERNSTEIN
Tiara says: The discovery of Jesse Bernstein came quite accidentally. I used to drive my children to school, and I got really into audiobooks during that time. I never listened to anything too graphic, but I never knew my son was paying attention because he’d always have his toys in the car or his own books. I was listening to Butcher’s Fool Moon one morning, and as I dropped him off, he said: “Don’t listen to the rest without me. I want to know what happens!” That’s when I knew it was time to find some kid appropriate listening for our drives. We chose the Percy Jackson series, and we haven’t looked back since. Bernstein is an excellent narrator of this series combining the perfect amount of wit, humor, and fun in his narration. Favorite Book Narrated: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
ROBIN MILES
Wendy says: It’s one thing to read a book where the author uses phrasing that reflects the dialects and culture of my birth or of my culture. It’s another thing entirely to be immersed in it as I listen to a narrator. I am black so when I hear accents that reflect the various cultures that are part of that instead of the usual North American and European variations, it’s a special treat for me. In Tananarive Due’s The Good House, Robin Miles captures everything from my homeland of Jamaica, as well as the the southern drawl of the United States, with special attention for the very beautiful dialects found in New Orleans.
Audiobook Review: The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman
Posted on June 23, 2015 12 Comments
Genre: Dystopia, Science Fiction, Science-Fantasy
Publisher: Ecco Press (February 10, 2015)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Tiara’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Narrator: Lisa Reneé Pitts | Length: 26 hrs and 38 mins | Audiobook Publisher: Blackstone Audio (June 16, 2015) | Whispersync Ready: No
Full Disclosure: A review copy of this audiobook was provided to me by Blackstone Audio. I would like to thank the author and the publisher for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed from here forward are my own.
I couldn’t decide between 3.5 stars or 4 stars, so I just settled on 4 stars. I’m going to be 110% honest with you here. This book is not for everyone. The frustration doesn’t arise so much from the story itself rather than the language it’s written in. Newman has taken AAVE (African American Vernacular English) and tweaked it even more with various dialects like Louisiana French, Haitian Creole, even scatterings of Spanish, to give these characters a very nuanced patois. It’ll either click with you or it won’t. If English isn’t your native language (and even if it is your first language but you have a tough time catching patois from any locale whether it’s Southern or from regions up North or if you’re just a person who’s easily bothered/distracted by patois in fiction), I definitely recommend reading the book over listening to it because the language can be quite difficult to grasp by listening to it.
I was able to settle into a comfortable understanding of the language. As a Southerner, I hear similar dialect on a daily basis, especially since I live in this strange nook of the Southern US where I hear Spanish, Louisiana Regional French, and of course AAVE often. You’d be amazed at how those languages can come together and create this interesting “new” language as in Newman’s book. I interact with people on a daily basis who speak these mashup of dialects. I can also point out what I think are some other dialects she’s borrowed from, but with less certainty than the ones mentioned. I also had the print book on hand as well to reference if something seemed a little confusing, but I rarely had to use it other than to make sure how certain things were spelled and there’s another non-English dialect spoken (I’d tell you which, but that would be a spoiler supreme). I think there’d be an interesting case for HOW and WHY language evolved in this particular way for these characters.
In this story, adults over the age of about nineteen have all died, leaving behind children to try to structure a society among themselves for about two generations. Some type of disease has racked the United States (now called the Nighted States in this new patois). It managed to kill most of the white people no matter the age, leaving the world largely inhabited by children of color. However, that’s not to say that all white people are dead. The children have taken to calling a group of white people that roam the “Roos” (like Kangaroos). These are feared groups of people who are said to kidnap and kill any tribes they come across. Also, these children are not completely immune to whatever has killed most of the population. Most children don’t live beyond their nineteenth birthday and usually develop what they call “posie” by the time they’re eighteen. Some die younger from it, but mostly, it takes years for them to die from the mysterious disease. Since there is no cure for the disease, they die a very painful death.
The heroine of this story is Ice Cream Fifteen Star who lives with a nomadic band of children called the Sengles. Her tribe is headed by her brother Driver Eighteen Star. The numbers between their name seem to signify their ages. Ice knows that Driver is sick and will no longer be able to head their group soon. She knows his position will end up going to a seemingly cruel boy named Crow. During one of their scavenger hunts in a town, they encounter and capture a single Roo. Ice learns that this Roo may be thirty-years old. She learns about things happening outside her small world that she’s never dreamed of from him, including a cure for the posie, and it’s with this knowledge in mind that she decides she’s going to find this cure for her brother. She doesn’t care what it means for her life. She only know she needs to find this cure or die trying for the sake of her tribe. Read More
Novella Review: In Midnight’s Silence by T. Frohock
Posted on June 22, 2015 7 Comments
In Midnight’s Silence by T. Frohock
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Horror
Series: Los Nefilim #1
Publisher: Harper Voyager Impulse (June 23, 2015)
Author Info: tfrohock.com
Wendy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
With thanks to the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this novella in exchange for an honest review.
The magic of music, angels, and daimons. There is so much sinister elegance in these things that Frohock combines so beautifully in the first book of her Los Nefilim series.
Diago Alvarez is born of angel and daimon, and, despite the mundane life he seems to lead (teaching piano lessons to bratty kids, avoiding said bratty kid’s mom’s advances), there is obviously something more to him. A darkness that one might think leans more to his daimon side than the angels. But this too is a wonderful deception that Frohock weaves into her story. Angels are not the beautiful and beatific we most often see them as in literature. Frohock manages to make them as deliciously horrifying as the daimons and their minions that Diago must face.
But all of this is not really the heart and soul of this short story. That comes in the form of Miquel, Diago’s lover, and in Rafael, the young boy whom Diago discovers he has unknowingly fathered. The relationship between Diago and Miquel is harsh and realistic, and Diago’s desire to raise this boy as his father did not raise him is heartbreaking. Especially since, in order to save Miquel, Diago must sacrifice the child to a daimon in hopes of stopping a war that will decimate humanity.
This book takes place in 1930’s Spain, which initially seems a bit distant and unrelatable, but quickly becomes quite the opposite as it draws the reader into the world that lies beneath the veil of every day society. It also incorporates music as the source of magic, which, indeed it is. But, as I said in my review of Frohock’s Hisses and Wings, I wanted the music and magic connection to go deeper. I wanted it to really dig into the emotions it is meant to evoke and paint a picture, much like what occurs in Patrick Rothfuss’ Name of the Wind, which is pretty much the only thing I truly enjoyed about the latter.
Still, this was another fascinating entry in Frohock’s library. I especially love the way her fantasy and urban fantasy steps so far away from what we typically see in this genre in terms of characters and settings.
Be sure to check out T. Frohock’s guest post at BiblioSanctum, “It’s Not About Sex, It’s About Love!”
Guest Post: “It’s Not About Sex, It’s About Love” by T. Frohock
Posted on June 22, 2015 9 Comments
Sex and sexuality are subjects that we often see touched on in genre fiction, but rarely are they truly explored because it seems like both authors and readers are afraid of them. Oh we’ll get romance thrown in there more often than we need to to ensure that readers are “shipping” accordingly. But sex? Oh dear. *blush* Yet these two things, romance and sex, are very different and should not be so easily confused.
I asked T. Frohock, whose newest series, Los Nefilim, debuts tomorrow with In Midnight’s Silence, to chat with us about her views on writing about sex, sexuality, and love.
It’s not about sex, it’s about love. I think I said something similar to this somewhere else a long time ago, but it’s also something I don’t think you can say enough. Sex and love are not interchangeable.
Sex is simply the physical act of copulation. And sex can be fun. A lot of fun. A WHOLE lot of fun. And don’t get me wrong, I love reading the smexy goodness in a lot of novels. So sex and the smexy is okay-fine.
Problems arise, however, when we confuse sex with love. Sometimes sex can communicate love, but sex can also communicate hate, or domination, or lust, which is not the same as love. However, to say that we express our sexuality only through sex is to shortchange ourselves, and as an author, I’ll say it makes for shallow characterization, which is why I always like to dig a little deeper and look at a character’s sexuality.
Sexuality, you see, is about how we feel about ourselves: our gender, our sexual orientation, our bodies, our desires, our emotional lives. Sexuality is the sum of all of those parts while sex is merely one component of an individual’s sexuality.
Diago Alvarez is my protagonist in my new Los Nefilim series. When I first wrote Diago’s character, I knew he was gay. It was never a question for me. Not knowing what it was like to be a gay man in any context, I talked to people. Part of that research involved a discussion group where several people mentioned they wanted to see LGBT characters who were more multi-dimensional. It was pointed out to me by several individuals that most LGBT characters were portrayed as being always on the hunt for sex with very little about actual relationships.
Their discussion made me think more deeply about how I wanted to depict both Diago and his partner, Miquel. This is the author’s job: to think more deeply about our characters and how we portray them so that the reader may, or may not for that matter, think a little more deeply about the world around them.
So when I wrote Diago’s character, I wanted to focus on his sexuality instead of sex. Here are a few things about Diago (and Miquel), which might not be readily apparent in In Midnight’s Silence, but will surface as the series progresses.
Diago is a musician, who often expresses himself through his instruments. They’re like an extension of himself and his various moods. Music is his god, and he uses it to communicate love and grief and longing, but rarely hate or fury. He is a man who spent his early years furious enough to burn the world until Miquel showed him how to love again. Fiercely protective of Miquel, he doesn’t forget favors, nor does he forgive slights. He is a killer that has never hesitated to take down an enemy.
Depression and dark moods hound him, but Miquel brings levity or most often, simply a sympathetic ear to Diago’s rescue every time. The two men are emotionally compatible because their personalities complement one another. When Miquel’s mouth gets him in trouble, Diago’s shrewd manipulation rescues him. They’ve learned to rely on one another’s strengths and mitigate each other’s weaknesses. Like any relationship, theirs requires patience and understanding with one another, which they can sometimes communicate with a touch, a look, or smile.
And yes, they have sex, but don’t confuse sex with sexuality. Sex is easy. I can write an erotic sex scene in an hour. Love, of self or others, takes more effort, but in the end, the characterization is more complete and real, and that is what I am shooting for as an author. I want you to care about my characters, and you won’t do that if they’re simply caricatures.
T. Frohock has turned a love of dark fantasy and horror into tales of deliciously creepy fiction. Her other publications include everything from novelettes to short stories. She is also the author of the novel, Miserere: An Autumn Tale. Her newest series, Los Nefilim, is coming from Harper Voyager Impulse and debuts in June 2015 with the novella, In Midnight’s Silence, to be reviewed here at BiblioSanctum soon!
YA Audiobook Review Weekend: Hero by Perry Moore
Posted on June 21, 2015 7 Comments
Genre: Superheroes, Science Fiction, LGBTQ, Young Adult
Publisher: Disney Hyperion (September 7, 2007)
Author Information: Website
Tiara’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Narrator: Michael Urie | Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins | Audiobook Publisher: Audible Studios (October 12, 2010) | Whispersync Ready: No
Thom Creed is hiding secrets from his father. First, he’s gay, and he knows well enough how his father feels about gay people, and secondly, he has superpowers and his father hates powers (his father is powerless)–well, superheroes, actually. Thom lives a simple life with his dad since his mother abandoned them years before. His father works hard to provide a decent life for them, though it’s been hard due to trouble in his past as a former hero of a group called The League, which causes both scorn and admiration in the people who know him. I should note that superhero identities are not secret in this book. They wear costumes, but everyone knows who’s behind the mask except in the case of a vigilante hero known as Dark Hero. Thom finds his life taking an unexpected turn when he’s asked to tryout for The League due to his healing powers, which he has to hide from his father.
I enjoyed this book for many reasons. First, it’s no secret that I love comics and superheroes. Most of Moore’s characters are thinly veiled versions of Marvel and DC characters, such as Warrior Woman (Wonder Woman), Dark Hero (Batman), American Agent (Captain America) and Justice (Superman). This book even gives most of the characters a similar origin as their counterparts with very little deviation. I think some readers may find that annoying and lacking imagination, but I thought that was a great in the same way that Garth Ennis’ The Boys was great for doing that. It’s meant to be a satirical comment on heroes, even the names are comical.
More importantly, the All-Father Stan Lee gave the foreword, not that I believe for one second he actually read this book because I’m cynical like that.
Mogsy’s Bookshelf Roundup: New Books, Reading Challenges Update, Books I’ve Read
Posted on June 20, 2015 25 Comments
Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every two weeks where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, what I plan to read soon, and what I’ve finished reading in the last fortnight. Sometimes I throw in progress reports like reading challenge updates.
Received for Review
It’s been an amazing couple of weeks with the arrivals of some of my most anticipated reads this summer:
Armada by Ernest Cline – Print ARC, with thanks to Wunderkind and Random House. I confess, I devoured this one already. I just could not in good conscience let it sit on my shelf for one second longer without being read. I think sci-fi fans and gamers will really enjoy this one. It’s cheesy. It’s gimmicky. But I loved it.
Dark Ascension by M.L. Brennan – Print ARC, with thanks to Roc. This fourth book of Generation V was a surprise arrival, and I’m glad I was alone the day the package came because I’m sure there was some major squeeing and embarrassing flailing on my part. If I could make out with this book without rendering it unreadable, I would.
Splintered by Jamie Schultz – Paperback, with thanks to Jamie and Roc. When the author contacted me about reviewing this book, I very enthusiastically accepted. This is the sequel to the dark and highly entertaining heist novel Premonitions I read last year.
Queen of Fire by Anthony Ryan – Hardcover, with thanks to Ace Books. This one came in a surprise package, but I had a good guess from the shape and heft of this huge tome that it might be the final volume of the Raven’s Shadow trilogy. I’m excited to see how it ends.
Dark Orbit by Carolyn Ives Gilman – Print ARC, with thanks to Tor. Sweetness, this sounds good. Any book with a character who is an “exoethnologist” gets my full attention. I have a tour review for this scheduled on its release date, so keep an eye out for it next month.
The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord – Audiobook, with thanks to Audible Studios. I’ve wanted to read Karen Lord for a long time. There was a few months wait after the initial book’s release, but I was pleased to see The Galaxy Game finally available in audio format.
Updraft by Fran Wilde – Digital ARC via NetGalley with thanks to Tor. The concept behind this book’s world just sounds so damn cool! When I saw it up on NG, I knew had to check it out.
The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milán – Digital ARC with thanks to Tor. This one has been on my radar for a while, but I waffled for a bit before caving in to the temptation of dino-riding knights and eventually wrote to the publisher to request a digital galley. 2015 is undoubtedly the year of the dinosaur!
Giveaway Win
Last First Snow by Max Gladstone – I was very excited to win an ARC of this from Tor. I haven’t caught up with Full Fathom Five yet, but I’m hoping all the books in the Craft Sequence follow the stand alone pattern. I’m loath to read books out of order, but it’s nice knowing I can jump right in.
Reading Challenges Progress
Seeing others update their progress on their reading challenges have reminded me we’re about halfway through the year (Already? I know!) and that now’s the time to take stock of where I’m at:
You can see my progress in the update that my co-bloggers and I posted yesterday!
Goodreads 2015 Reading Challenge:
100 books is my usual Goodreads Challenge “default” I set every year, and while there’s little doubt that I’ll hit it, I might end up updating my goals or I might not. I’ll just see how many books I end up with at the end of the year. I had initially decided not to be too ambitious with my goal, not knowing how much I’ll have time to read in 2015 with the birth of my second child, because I knew that if this baby was going to be anything like my oldest, she would want to be attached to me 24/7.
As it turned out, I was able to get A LOT of reading done. What I hadn’t consider was that reading is actually one of the few hobbies I could do one-handed (with an e-reader) whereas my time for everything else (gaming, crocheting, drawing, painting, etc.) petty much went out the window. So whenever I had free time and during 1am, 3am and 5am feedings, I read. And read. And read. I also underestimated the power of audiobooks. Being such a convenient way to “read”, they’ve really bumped up my number of books completed as well.
WWEnd’s 2015 Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge:
Every year I do multiple Worlds Without End challenges, but the most important one to me is Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge. Ever since its inception, it’s been my goal to do this challenge annually with the most stringent adherence to the rules. That means only books by a female author I’m reading for the first time in 2015 count towards the goal, and I’m also not counting Young Adult titles because those go towards another challenge. This year I’m going for broke by taking on the Master tier, reading 24 books towards this challenge instead of 12. Books so far:
What I’ve Read Since the Last Update
Keep an eye out for my reviews of these books in the coming weeks, and you can see my reviews for these books which are up already: Hidden Huntress, A Murder of Mages (with a US giveaway running until 6/28), and Nemesis Games.
Have you heard of or read any of the books featured in this week? What looks interesting to you?
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