More Books than Time

Book Reviews - Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction - By an Adult for Adults

Excalibur Rising – What Happens When a Crime Boss Wants a Sword?

by 2 Comments

Author Eileen Enwright Hodgetts has a unique answer to why the legend of King Arthur is so strong yet we have little to no historical evidence the man existed.  (Best theories put him as a war leader fending off the Saxon invasion, not as a larger-than-life heroic king of all Britain.)  Her answer?  The king ruled in an alternate Britain around the 1100s and his knights slid through into our world to quest and run off their wild oats.

The novel Excalibur Rising picks up today, when an English historian offers an acquisitive Las Vegas crime boss the chance to purchase King Arthur’s legendary sword.  The boss assigns his curator, Marcus, a former television treasure hunter, to verify the details and get the sword if it’s authentic.  That starts a whirlwind of murder, trips to Florida, England, environmental protests, kidnapping, car chases, and semi-psychic tracking.

 

Characters

The main characters are Marcus and Violet, the semi-psychic that the mob boss contacts to help with the search.  Both are well written. We meet Marcus first and he’s about what you would expect from a man once famous, now slightly on the seedy side.  His television show is long gone as is his money and most of his self-respect.  He has not contacted his ex-wife or children in years and lives in his boss’s casino hotel.

Violet is pretty but plump, not at all active and lives in Key West with her brother and sister.  All three were adopted and no one knows anything about Violet’s background.  Violet’s brother is a wannabe actor and adds a lot of humor and snark to the story.  Violet herself is pretty greedy – that Conch house eats money! – and can often find recent history just by touching something.  She wants the mafia boss’s reward.

Despite initial reservations and distrust the two join forces before the meet a whole crowd of extra characters, some nasty, some nice and all too many dead.

Mordred (or his latest descendant) makes an appearance and is the same conniving, greedy, care-for-nobody that we all detested in the original Arthur stories.  His evil minions are alive and well and join to terrorize the people in their version of Albion.  King Arthur himself is the central point of the novel but appears only at the very end.

Plot

The author is telling a fantasy and writes well.  She sets her plot to move fast, from Las Vegas to London to northern England to Wales, picking up people and clues along the way.  The book moves fast enough that it’s easy to suspend disbelief, although after Marcus once more said there was no evidence for King Arthur whatsoever I wanted to raise my hand and point out the Saxon invader theory.  (As a theory it explains a leader, but none of the knightly trappings or round table or any of the Grail quest.)

Overall

I thoroughly enjoyed Excalibur Rising, in fact it was a very pleasant surprise to read a book as well-written with so many engaging characters.  It sets up for a sequel at the end, but can be read and enjoyed as a standalone.

Excalibur Rising is right between 4 and 5 stars.  It’s not quite there to get 5, but better than many 4 star novels.  I eagerly look forward to reading the sequel.

Note the links to Amazon are commission links.

Reclaim by J. A Scorch – Alien Invasion

by Leave a Comment

I admit it.  I’ve a weakness for stories about aliens invading Earth, provided they are reasonably well-written, with interesting characters and a modicum of believability.  Reclaim by new Australian author J. A. Scorch fits the bill.  Reclaim has its weaknesses, namely some implausible character interactions, but it is well-plotted and full of likable people, all fighting to have a home and a future for humankind.

Plot and Writing Style

One real problem everyone who writes about desperate-humans-fighting-alien-invaders (DHFAI for short) has is the basic issue of why would there be many human survivors at all?   And why wouldn’t the huge invader ships orbiting Earth simply blow them away?  Lots of writers assume that the survivors are tiny remnants and the invaders simply haven’t gotten around to them yet.  (Think Independence Day.)  Scorch took the challenge of devising a reasonable answer, which the Earth forces are likewise trying to discover and exploit.

Reclaim is a fast read, clear and easy to follow.  There weren’t an weird names nor did Scorch spend much time detailing all the wondrous weapons which all too many writers like to do.  He combined narration and dialogue to tell the story

Characters

The story splits between two brothers, Teve in the united Earth army near the remnants of Los Angeles, and Bradley, a fighter pilot from the Mars space navy.  Scorch alternates viewpoints, with Porter giving us a bird’s eye view of the overall war plus the Martian response and dedication, and Teve sees the on-the-ground mess and desperation.

Both characters have good friends and fellow fighters who are close comrades and the interplay between these gives the novel its life and moments of humor.  Scorch uses dialogue to tell the story and show us the people involved.

Moments of Implausibility

Books like this have to be carefully and tightly plotted to feel real; it’s a tough challenge to write about Earth being conquered by aliens while still allowing for life and resistance and a story.  If you read this type of novel you know the wince feeling you get when something truly stupid glares through.  Reclaim had a couple of small wince moments.

Porter has to crash land into his carrier, towed by his wingman and flung through the door.  Porter and his wingman both joke that the Mars higher ups would probably rather they had blown up than caused the dings and dents on the hanger.  That didn’t feel right.  Given the fact over 70% of humanity is dead, and that it takes years of experience for a pilot to be as good as Porter, I had to believe the higher ups would far rather keep him and others alive.

There were several comments along similar lines, suggesting the Mars leaders were perfectly happy to throw people and ships at the invaders’ ships orbiting Earth, even accepting 90%+ losses for what appeared small gains, dropping packages off to Earth and getting updates back.  (I could understand they would accept almost any loss if it meant destroying the invaders’ ships.)

There were similar scenes in the Earth-based forces, where the Teve’s commander seemed willing to throw people away.  These seemed more realistic because the losses were mainly newbies. This same commander also threw a tantrum when Teve was not able to achieve the impossible.

There were incidents between Brad and his superior officers that didn’t feel right either, especially when he was punished for questioning the strategy to throw everybody and everything at the invaders, knowing that left Mars essentially defenseless in the event of failure.

My one complaint with the plot is the ending.  There are plenty of set up moments to point us in the direction Reclaim goes, including Teve’s supplier of Diazepan and his fascination with alien tech, the general prohibition on touching the alien’s constructs.  Nonetheless the final ending seemed like a bit too pat, and a bit of a sideways jerk, not quite right.

Overall

I will surely read the second book in the series since I enjoyed Reclaim and am a sucker to find out just how Scorch intends to free the Earth and hopefully maintain the unity between Earth and Mars and among the Earth countries.  Reclaim was one of the better DHFAI novels with an ambitious premise, rather good writing and interesting people.

4 Stars

The Return of Sir Percival – A Different Arthurian Romance

by Leave a Comment

King Arthur is dead.

The Knights of the Round Table are dead.

The Table is broken.

There is no leader left and Albion is disintegrated.  The dream of a united kingdom is dead.

Queen Guinevere has fled and all have deserted Camelot.

Morgana enslaves Britain’s people, conspires with murderous Saxon war chiefs and seeks the head of Merlin the wise.

The Return of Sir Percival is no ordinary Arthurian romance, no mere retelling of the rise and fall of a magical realm.  Instead author S. Alexander O Keefe bases his story on the historical invasion of Celtic/Roman Britain by the Saxons and sets it after Camelot falls and King Arthur dies at Cammlan.  In this retelling Guinevere was not unfaithful to Arthur; Morgana and Merlin were from the Eastern Roman Empire and bitter enemies and Morgana seeks revenge, power, wealth and status.

People

Morgana is a critical character, here a vicious, scheming, malevolent woman. Arthur and his kingdom defeated Morgana at the battle of Cammlan, but lost overall when no strong leader emerged to keep the British people united.  Instead the kingdom devolved into small pockets, some ruled by thugs like Ivarr the Red, others by family and clan groups, others more or less left alone.  Morgana seized the lucrative silver mines and allied with the Saxon invaders who will turn on her the minute she is unable to pay them off.  Morgana is a noblewoman from Byzantium, related to the Emperor, and is in Britain at his behest (and also from a well-founded fear she would be killed if she returns).

It’s hard to show the character of someone as despicable as Morgana without making them cardboard, and O’Keefe does his best to show Morgana is motivated by more than spite and hatred.  She doesn’t like the northern climate and longs to return home to the Empire but dares not leave without securing the Emperor’s goals.  Characterization is moderately good.

Capussa is a great addition to the story.  He is a Numidian ex-gladiator friend of Sir Percival who joins him on his return home to Albion. Capussa is an excellent military strategist and helps Percival in battle but his biggest contribution is that of wry humor.   We don’t get to know Capussa as a person particularly, but he is a fun character.

The other main characters, Sir Percival, Merlin and Guinevere are interesting and enjoyable to read about but we don’t get to know them well.  In all fairness to the author it is difficult to show the characters of people that we think we know so well from legend, especially since O’Keefe discards much of the romantic trappings.  In this novel Guinevere was never in love with Lancelot; instead she and Percival were good friends on the verge of falling in love when Percival honorably left Camelot, first to build the northern defenses, then for his Grail quest.

Story Line

The plot here is excellent, very well thought-out, enjoyable and interesting.  O’Keefe based his ideas on actual situations to build a story that felt plausible yet was aligned with the romantic Camelot legends.  For example, early Britains did mine silver (and gold) and the Eastern Empire would have coveted the mineral wealth.  Britain was quite civilized after 300 years of Roman occupation, with good roads, some literacy, some sense of national identity.  It would be easy for the Eastern emperor to covet such a pleasant territory and its riches.

Writing Style

Author O’Keefe published a thriller, Helius Legacy, before he wrote The Return of Sir Percival.  He shows himself to be a careful writer, creates clear sentences and narratives.  The book moves a little slowly in parts, most in the beginning, and picks up the pace.  O’Keefe alternates between Morgana, the Saxon leaders and Percival for his main points of view which helps us keep the sense of time and urgency.

One weak point that I’d like O’Keefe to improve is the setting.  He did a good job on the back story and used Capussa and Merlin to help tell the story of what happened to Percival and to Albion, but the physical descriptions were weak.  Stories like this with scenes that depend on our sense of place need more vivid descriptions.  I lost track a few times where the characters were.

Maps would have helped.  It’s not necessary to have the action take place in the real-life locales – this is a fantasy – but something to show us about where Guinevere took refuge relative to London and about where Morgana ruled in her castle would have helped.  I wondered several times why Morgana didn’t take bolder action to follow up upon Arthur’s death and Albion’s disintegration, and knowing about where the various power centers were would have cleared that up.

Overall

This is the first of a planned series and I expect to read the subsequent novels.  I grew up reading imaginative Arthurian fantasy by T. H. White and Mallory and found most later novels set in the same legend (such as Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave) were disappointing.  The Return of Sir Percival uses the legend as backdrop and asks “What if?”.  What if Arthur’s kingdom wasn’t completely dead?  What if Guinevere was faithful and alive and ready to help lead people back to a unified Albion?  Setting the novel seven years after the fall of Camelot helped position this as a separate tale – and a good one.

4 Stars.  If I were rating solely on the imaginative use of the story I would give this 5 stars.  Overall execution and characterization were slightly less.

I received an advanced reader copy for free from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

 

 

Nline Women, One Dress: Fashion Meets Love and Hope

by Leave a Comment

Nine Women, One Dress, Jane L Rosen’s novel of contemporary life in New York City ties nine women together by their experience wearing The Dress.  You know The Dress, the one everyone wants, the dress that makes every woman look good and feel her best.

Four of the women find love because of the dress; one finds her dream job; one discovers her life isn’t what she wants; one discovers her future as a Broadway star; one escapes failure and one finds death.  The novel is unusual in that it tells seven of the stories from the viewpoint of the men who fall for the girl in The Dress or those involved in its creation or sale  Only two of the women narrate their own story, Andie the private detective and Sophie Stiner the wannabe.

Writing Style

Nine Women, One Dress is a fast read.  Author Rosen creates a fast pace by showing us snippets of each relationship in quick vignettes, then moves on to the next one, then circles back.  Even with the multiple characters and points of view the novel is easy to follow and the chapter headings help keep each story clear as we cycle through.

The book was funny.  I smiled most of the way through, especially with Sophie and her wannabe approach to life and the Diva’s Mancubine. The two Muslim girls and the final owner of the dress didn’t have such happy outcomes.

Characters

I  liked the people in the novel.  Felicia, the older secretary in love with her boss, and the actor Jeremy Madison are the most interesting and Rosen spends the most time on their stories.  But the characters I liked the best were Morris Siegal, the pattern maker responsible for The Dress and his grandson Luke.  Rosen tells their stories with great economy but I felt like I would recognize them in a crowd.

Rosen did a very good job coming up with characters that felt real and having their lives touched and changed by one little black dress.  The only character and romance that felt off to me was Andie’s as I think it improbable that so many lies could turn out so happily.

Overall

One of the blurbs described Nine Women, One Dress as chick-lit.  That’s unfair.  Rosen deftly uses multiple points of view and interesting people – not all of whom are looking for romance – to write a novel that is about people.  Men might not quite get The Dress the way we ladies do.  Any of us who hunt hours for just the right outfit instantly understands the appeal of the perfect little black dress.

4 Stars

Quick Reviews of 10 Free Books Fantasy and Science Fiction

by Leave a Comment

Anytime I get books – whether from the library or by purchase – I get a mixed bag.  Some will be good, some so-so, and some are real stinkers.  What about free books?  Is there any reason to download an ebook that doesn’t cost you anything?  Well, yes, sure.

Why do authors offer their books for free?

  • They are new and need someone – anyone – to read and hopefully review their work
  • They want you to read the first book in their series so you continue on to buy the sequels
  • They know the value of marketing and offer free samples

I’ve found several authors via BookBub, for example C. Gockel who writes enjoyable contemporary novels about Loki and his fellow Asgardians, and Raymond Weil who writes novels about aliens invading Earth.  Our library has neither author.  In both cases the first book was free and I followed up buying several more.

All that said, I don’t expect a lot from a free book and when it opens up a new author I’m delighted.

Let’s look at the ones I read this last week from Instafreebie and BookBub.

The pick of the litter was Amateur Grammatics: A Comic Fantasy Novellete by Kevin Partner.  I didn’t expect much with this – funny is extraordinarily difficult to do well – and was happily surprised by the interesting characters, creative and ingenious plot and setting.  Even the odd speech (not quite a dialect but not standard English either) worked.

Rubbish With Names An Interstellar Railroad Story was a freebie from Felix R. Savage by way of his newsletter that I didn’t find on Amazon.  It was OK.

The Trilisk Ruins (Parker Interstellar Travels Book 1) by Michael McCloskey is the first of a series offered for free on Amazon.  I’ll review this in more detail in a separate post as it was good, worth reading albeit with some unbelievable moments.

Return by J. A. Scorch was an excellent short novella about the aftermath of an alien invasion.  His first book in the alien invasion is Return which I’m reading now.  Perhaps this is his first book, period, because I cannot find him on Amazon.  Or perhaps his one-word titles are hard to find given the umpteen other books with the same name.

Carrie Hatchett’s Christmas from J. J. Green was cute.

Mage Lessons was a sample only.  Quite good but not something I wanted to spring $5 to read in full.  If author Ilana Waters offers any of the series for free I will certainly get it.

Not Alone by Craig A Falconer had thi intriguing cover, unfortunately was so-so, similar to Close Encounters of the Third Kind with a heavy dose of public relations shenanigans.

Special Offers by M. L. Ryan had a fun-sounding blurb and was OK, possibly quite good with serious editing to remove fluff like breakfast menus.  I skimmed the middle third.

Felis Catus by A. J. Chaudhury had a white cat on the cover, how could I resist?  This was a novella with uneven quality set in India.

Melanie Karsak’s Chasing Christmas Past: An Airship Racing Chronicles Short Story Prequel featured a whiny character I detested.

Most likely of the 200 or so books I recently got there will be 20 good to very good books and maybe another 50 or so that are worth reading.

Review: That Thing Around Your Neck – Short Stories by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

by Leave a Comment

The first story in this collection, “Cell One”, is set solely in Nigeria, time not given but likely in the last 20 years.  I read this as part of December’s A Season of Stories and it is unforgettable.

As in most of the other stories, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells Cell One through the eyes of a young woman, sister to trouble-making Nnamabia, the brother her parents favor and cosset.  Both young people attend a Nigerian university that is frequently beset by violence as cults (gangs) of young men attack each other, often resulting in murder.  The police arrest and jail Nnamabia after a fatal attack and his sister and parents visit him in jail every day via a 2 hour drive.

“Cell One” reaches its emotional height by how matter of fact the sister narrates the events, from shake downs by the highway police to shake downs and bribes in the jail to the endless beatings and humiliation.  The brother tries to spare the life and dignity of an older man who is imprisoned because the authorities cannot find his son; the guards beat this older man daily and the brother risks his own life to try and stop it. We do not know what happens after, whether the brother grows up after this or slides back to being the favored child who gets away with stealing from his own mother.

That Thing Around Your Neck includes several stories set in both America and Nigeria.  One of my favorites is “Imitation”, about a Nigerian wife, Nkem, whose husband is a Big Man back home.  He moved her and their children to America while he spends 50 weeks a year back home.  When the wife discovers he is bringing his mistress to their home in Lagos she decides to move everyone back to Nigeria, standing up to her husband for the first time ever.  I enjoyed the character Nkem and her combination of realistic expectations (of course her husband strays) with determination to have a real marriage and family life.

Several stories showed how both Americans and Nigerians may have nutty ideas about each other, making overly sweeping generalizations about behavior and culture.  One example was “Jumping Monkey Hill” where Edward, the literature seminar leader gently refuses to believe one author’s work is truly African, stating “how African is it for a person to tell her family that she is homosexual?”.  In “The Arrangers of Marriage” the new husband seeks a lighter-skinned Nigerian wife, then has her use only her middle name, Agatha, and tries to turn her into an American, cooking American food, speaking American English.

Many of Adichie’s characters are away from home, are lonely, horribly lonely even when surrounded by people or married.  The stories are good because we connect with the people.  Adichie uses the short story form well, focusing on people’s feelings, their fears and longing, telling stories with small plots and big characters.

5 Stars

Gilded Cage by Vic James – Excellent Fantasy Set in Alternate England

by 1 Comment

Gilded Cage by Vic James will be released on Valentine’s Day, 2017.  This is an excellent novel with a rich backstory and detailed world building, interesting characters and plenty of plot.  Don’t go by the blurb for this novel which make it sound like YA fantasy with teen romance and devoid of original ideas.  It has plenty of themes that adults will enjoy:

  • Slavery.  No, not based on race but on sheer power and ability to dominate.
  • Revolution
  • Peace and prosperity based on a grotesque social compact
  • Power

Gilded Cage postulates an England where Charles I died when overthrown by Skill users, men and women from certain families who have immense mental abilities.  The Skilled can heal themselves, raises entire buildings, adjust the minds of others and kill.  The Skilled didn’t only kill Charles, they abrogated all political power to themselves and now call themselves Equals.

Unskilled people, commoners, live ordinary lives, marrying, having children, raising families, going to school, working, saving, enjoying life, retiring.  Except that everyone – truly everyone outside the 300 or so Skilled families – must spend 10 years as a slave.  The slaves have zero rights, are legally not people.  Some serve the Skilled as unpaid servants while most live and work in slave towns.  Food, shelter, clothing are minimal and work is long and brutal, 12 hours 6 days a week.  Slavery is nothing like our community service and no one comes out the same as they went in.

Backstory – Slavery

James built a detailed and richly thought-out world.   Consider her treatment of slavery, a repulsive idea in any context however configured.

The slavery concept as executed in the novel is unique.  The Equals could  have forced everyone to work 1 week a month for 41 years, which would be about the same total as 10 years all at once.  But if you think about it, a 1 week per month routine would quickly become just a duty, onerous, unpleasant, but not soul-shattering.  To make their power and position absolutely, unequivocally clear, Equals force the 10 years.

When do you do your 10 year slave days?  Young so you have the rest of your life free (if you aren’t killed or maimed)?  At 55 so you can enjoy 35 years of adulthood first?   Alone or with a spouse?  With your children? It’s a horrible choice and there is no good answer.

The Equals also were smart to leave commoners alone to live normally outside the 10 year slave days.  They could have made everyone permanent slaves but that would have been unwise for economic and security reasons.  The commoners are the prime market for the goods that slave towns produce, and the guards and managers are all free people.

I wondered too about the guards, especially the sadistic bullies.  You would think that word would get around and they would be paid back when they too eventually had to serve their days, even if they went to a different slave town.

Anytime an author establishes a framework so carefully structured that readers think about the economic and political (to say nothing about moral) ramifications we have the makings of a great fantasy.  Once the author sets up the structure then she must create characters and a story that are equally vibrant.  James has done that here.

Characters

James does an excellent job showing us the characters, especially Skilled brothers Gavar and Silyen, one expected to pursue political leadership and the other scheming and exploring his Skill, Gavar’s repulsive fiancee Buoda, commoner Luke and would-be revolutionary leader Dr. Jackson.

She uses small details to show us the people.  For example, Bouda wants to force anyone who is unemployed long term back into slavery and can’t understand why her perfectly logical idea was not adopted.  That tells us about Bouda.  We see people interacting, many interesting minor players and some take risks and some do not.

Gilded Cage stands alone as an excellent, thought-provoking novel but it is also set up for sequels.  It is character-driven with several minor characters positioned for larger roles in the next books as conflicts are primed to start.  I expect we will see more of Luke’s older sister Abi as she escapes at the novel’s end, heartsick at Luke’s fate and from leaving Gavar and Silyen’s UnSkilled (but still noble) brother.  We will see more of Daisy, Abi and Luke’s young sister and her charge, Libby, Gavar’s illegitimate baby daughter who may provoke Bouda to ill-advised cruelty.

I Want to Know More – Skill and Equals

It’s clear that some Skilled can steal Skill from others, some do so unknowingly, and that some are overly fond of humiliating and hurting others.   Gavar’s father mentions he enjoyed his time using “special techniques”, i.e., using Skill to force commoners’ minds or torture.  He expects Gavar to do the same and seems to have almost no normal familial feelings beyond pride.

The man who founded Gavar’s family is the one who killed Charles I in an agonizing, extended execution.  That man’s son established the Equal leadership and set the Skilled as the only ones who lead and govern.  These people are repulsive, but there are hints that some may be rethinking their role.

Silyen wants to learn everything he can and he has more than his share of power, possibly stolen from his UnSkilled brother.  And what about Libby?  Does she have Skill?  Can she play a role to reconcile the commoners and Equal?

Overall

Vic James has given us a fascinating novel with a genuine plot, world and characters.  She balanced writing a solid story with setting up sequels and I hope to follow her through her next novels.

5 Stars

I received an advance copy from NetGalley in expectation of a review.

Juliet’s Answer – Contemporary Memoir of Love and Loss by Glenn Dixon

by Leave a Comment

Juliet’s Answer weaves three stories into one memoir by a Canadian English teacher who answers letters posted to Juliet in Verona.  The letters speak of love, loss, questions, heartbreak and loneliness and most writers only want someone to listen.  The ladies (and one man, our author) who answer the letters don’t try to solve problems or cure misery, they simply acknowledge the writer’s heartfelt cry.

Three Stories

Glenn Dixon volunteers in Verona because he too has a decision to make, whether to continue to hope that the woman he loved for many years will finally turn to him as more than a friend or look elsewhere.  Dixon tells this first story in small vingettes scattered through the book.

Dixon teaches Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to high school students to capture their attention and get them to think.  He believes that the characters’ ages – so close to those of his students – will help them see the play as real, not as yet another boring book to read in class and then forget.  Dixon explores Verona while there and visits the sites where the real people behind Shakespeare’s story lived and died and are buried.  He puzzles why Juliet’s story so resonates that even today people write her letters of grief and want.  That is the second story.

The third story is Dixon’s students.   As Glenn teaches his students the play he too learns about love and loss and his students are perceptive enough to realize this.  Others get interested in the play (despite their aversion to classical literature) and are fascinated by the two young lovers.

One student, a 16 year old Moslem girl, cries quietly in class.  Dixon worries about her – she is an excellent student who wants to go to college – and discovers her father is pressuring her to marry a much older man, drop out of school and forego her plans for college.  Glenn and the other teachers are a bit flummoxed as they simultaneously want to respect her family’s culture yet protect the girl and help her realize her dreams, not her father’s dream.  They tactfully help and the girl is able to resolve the problem with her father.

Writing Style

Juliet’s Answer is subtitled “One Man’s Search for Love and the Elusive Cure for Heartbreak” and it is a biography/memoir.   Author Dixon writes of extremely personal matters, his feelings for the woman he wants, his despair because she sees him only as a friend, his uncertainty answering some of the letters, his drive to teach and educate his students, to help them grow up.  I don’t know whether any of the characters are masked or are included under their real names.

Dixon writes in an easy, unaffected manner.  This is hard to do with such a personal, emotionally difficult topic!  Had this been a YA fiction we would have had drama and heartburn, not Dixon’s quiet misery and sense of loss.  Juliet’s Answer was a far better book with its adult style and realistic sense of intimacy.  (I would like some of the breathless, over-the-top YA authors to read this and see how to treat love and loneliness so we can feel right along with the characters.)

Overall

I enjoyed Juliet’s Answer, especially the sections where Dixon is teaching his students.  I was never a big fan of the Romeo and Juliet story but Dixon made it lively and helped his students understand how Shakespeare wrote such that we still read him 400 years later.

The book could have been painful to read with its self-revelations; we could have felt as though we were tromping through Dixon’s life and heart, but he did a very good job maintaining a sense of privacy even when sharing personal feelings.

The ending seemed a bit out of character and not as satisfying as the rest of the stories but it still worked and brought the book to its conclusion.

4 Stars

I received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Argent Star by Emerson Fray, YA Science Fiction/Fantasy

by Leave a Comment

Somehow I missed that The Argent Star is YA fiction until I recieved a copy from NetGalley (meaning I’m obliged to read it) and started in.  The book has several events that require leaps of faith, something I see in YA more than in adult fiction, meaning that things just happen, gadgets just happen to be available and people just happen to be around when you need them.

The basic outline could be fleshed out into a fairly good novel:  The Monarchy rules many star systems and has recently rediscovered the planet Novae and selected Ren’s father to be its new ruler.  Ren is no dummy and figures this is not as simple and clean as everyone tells her it is, and soon discovers Novae rebels are not so happy with the Monarchy and Ren’s family taking over.  There are hints of forerunner people and possible interesting back story elements but The Argent Star doesn’t explore them.

Ren is smart and a likable heroine who has a lot of common sense and the good taste to reject the suitor the Monarchy picked out for her. Unfortunately the plot doesn’t keep up with the characters as we have all sorts of events just happen that eventually set up Ren to negotiate with the Monarchy’s military leader for Novae’s independence.

Overall I think younger teens, say 12-15, would enjoy this, especially girls.  Ren is far shrewder than her brother Elian and outwits the Monarchy a few times, making her someone that younger girls will like.  The novel isn’t for adults.

I would rate The Argent Star 2 stars if rating for adults, but 3 stars for teens for whom Emerson Fray wrote the novel.

The Candidate – Far Fetched Fiction, We Hope

by Leave a Comment

Liz Wiehl’s new novel The Candidate featuring star news reporter Erica Sparks uses America’s presidential election as the backdrop for nefarious and increasingly unbelievable events.  Erica interviews presidential candidate Mike Ortiz and his glam wife Celeste for her show and leaves both impressed and vaguely troubled.  Something seems off about Ortiz and the couple’s relationship; in fact, Mike seems to look to Celeste for answers, not a good sign for a president.

Erica is standing right in front of the next two horrifying scenes, first when Ortiz’ leading opponent for the nomination is assassinated and then in the courtroom when the assassin is himself murdered.  Both trouble her because neither culprit has any background to indicate a problem and both have months-long gaps in their history which they cannot account for.

The novel is all plot and it’s increasingly ridiculous.  How many times can Erica be the target for something?  And how will she fight back when no one else was able?  How would she hire a personal assistant/nanny without seriously investigating her?

Wiehl tries to build in a romance/family conflict as Erica worries about and wants to spend time with her daughter Jenny but continues to answer ambition’s call to be that top-rated news show host instead.  She hires an intern to be her assistant and to take care of Jenny, not realizing that the assistant is loony.  These interpersonal conflicts seem pasted on in order to make Erica likable and to give an opening for the personal assistant’s betrayal.

Overall The Candidate could be fun if you can suspend all belief and look at Erica as a cross between Wonder Woman and Brenda Starr.  I didn’t care for it once the basic plot was uncovered.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
2 Stars