Shalador's Lady, by Anne Bishop, was a much anticipated continuation of the Black Jewels series that I've read in the past. The Shadow Queen (the previous book in the series) started the story of Lady Cassidy and Gray, with this book continuing the story.
In this story, Theran Grayhaven has met Cassidy's rival, Lady Kermilla, and is determined to put Kermilla into position as Queen of Dena Nehele. Cassidy is devastated when she learns this and runs away to Shalador, leaving her rival at Grayhaven. Kermilla uses Cassidy's absence to abuse the staff, rack up huge bills with the local merchants and cause trouble. However, in Shalador, Cassidy used her time to help enrich the land and the lives of the people around her. Even Gray has started to flourish with the help of Daemon Sadi's tutelage and has taken it upon himself to learn the role of First Escort to prevent his cousin from disbanding Cassidy's court.
When Cassidy split Dena Nehele into two with her own Territory to rule (Shalador Nehele), the Warlords in the provinces left behind quickly join ranks with her. The ones who do not give Theran an ultimatum: get rid of Kermilla or lose Grayhaven. Since Kermilla has caused many of the Warlords to remember what it was like to live under the rule of bad Queens, the Warlords refuse to serve under her. Taking Talon's advice, Theran breaks his own heart instead of breaking his honour.
While I think this story will continue, I think that Gray and Cassidy (as the main characters) are finished - now that Theran has a new Queen, a Sceltie by the name of Lady Rhahn.
I really like Anne Bishop's books - all of them. She has strong female characters and tender males (which, I'll be honest, confuse me sometimes). I'm used to male authors who have graphic war scenes; however, with Anne Bishop, her war scenes are more anti-climatic, simply because the issues are solved in only a page. As such, I feel almost cheated when, instead of going to war, Cassidy's Steward solves the issue by dividing the Territory.
Another disclaimer: the later books are milder than the first three. The witches in the Dark Jewels Trilogy are much crueler and the rule under those Queens involved rape and torture to control their subjects. Sometimes graphic, sometimes just implied, it is a way of life for the characters until Jaenelle created the Witch-Storm. So, if you can't stomach that sort of thing, don't read the Trilogy. It is possible to fully enjoy the series without having read the Trilogy.
Having said that, I would call this a chick lit series as there is a huge focus on family and family ties. There is brotherhood between brothers, comrades and strangers with common goals. Though the men can rise to "the killing edge" they are also quick to rein in their brothers, as well as offer advice and friendship which is something that you don't normally see in books with warriors. Unless it's written by a female author. The one thing that I think the author has nailed is the dynamics of female cattiness and female friendships.
While I do recommend the book and the series, I do think a reader's preferences for a series should be taken into account. I personally really enjoy the series, but others may not.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig is a book within a book.
It starts out in contemporary times with Eloise Kelly, an Harvard grad student searching for information about the Purple Gentian for her dissertation "Aristocratic Espionage during the Wars with France: 1789-1815". However, her real passion lay with uncovering the true identity of the Pink Carnation. Luckily for her, a relation of the Purple Gentian had kept the correspondences and diaries of Lord Richard Selwick (the Purple Gentian) and Miss Amy Belacourt, a half French girl bent on joining the Purple Gentian's League.
Reading the papers, the focus shifts from Eloise's perspective to that of Amy and Richard. A chance meeting on a boat to cross the channel separating the French and English countries ignites a spark of interest between them that grows each time they encounter each other. Amy's discovery of Richard's work (he was Napoleon's Egypt Antiquities specialist) causes Amy to think of him as a traitor to the country; however, Richard decides that her dislike is for the best as it will prevent her from distracting him from his mission - which is to prevent Napoleon from invading England.
While hiding in her brother's study, Amy meets the masked Purple Gentian and offers help, without knowing that it is Richard. After that meeting, Richard is determined to keep her from his alter ego, but decides that courting her as himself is safe. Confused, Amy eventually discovers his true identity - after both her chaperone, Miss Gwen, and her beloved cousin, Jane, have figured it out.
In an attempt to thwart Amy from following him on a raid of Napoleon's treasure, Richard, as the Purple Gentian, repudiates her and breaks her heart in the process. So, after finding out who he really is, Amy and her cohorts decide to form the League of the Pink Carnation and to steal the treasure from the Purple Gentian. Unfortunately, Amy was captured and Richard was forced to reveal himself to the Assistant Minister of Police, Delaroche. A rescue was planned and executed, causing Richard and Amy to flee Paris for England.
At the end of the tale, Eloise finds out that there is more information to be found at Selwick Hall and agrees to a weekend jaunt with Colin Selwick, the current occupant of the hall. And the tale continues in the next book, The Masque of the Purple Tulip.
There's only one word to describe this book: cute. Or fun. They both work. The flavour of the stories as it switches between Richard and Amy to Eloise and Colin doesn't change. The bantering is equal in both, as is the behaviour between the couples. Since the relationship between Colin and Eloise develops much slower (being stretched out over the next several books), it will be interesting to see it play out in full as Eloise learns more about Colin's ancestors.
This book has been repeatedly referred to as chick lit, a genre that I had always associated with romance novels. Apparently the main difference is that the character's relationships with their family is just as important as their romantic relationship. Thank you, Wikipedia! And the other characters in this book are just as fun, especially Richard's family. Amy's brother is a deplorable toady (described as such several times), but Richard's family is warm, protective and hilarious. Jane, is refreshingly level headed, considering Amy's impulsiveness, and Miss Gwen is surprisingly romantic beneath her shrewish chaperone demeanour.
Like I said, it's cute and fun. I laughed, repeatedly, throughout the book at Amy's antics and the repertoire between the main characters. It is entirely fluffy and fictional, so if you are looking for a serious book based on historical events, you will be disappointed. But, if you're looking for brain candy, you will be well pleased. I really liked the story and will continue on with the series. And if Lauren Willig's other books have the same dialogue I will definitely venture into her other novels.
It starts out in contemporary times with Eloise Kelly, an Harvard grad student searching for information about the Purple Gentian for her dissertation "Aristocratic Espionage during the Wars with France: 1789-1815". However, her real passion lay with uncovering the true identity of the Pink Carnation. Luckily for her, a relation of the Purple Gentian had kept the correspondences and diaries of Lord Richard Selwick (the Purple Gentian) and Miss Amy Belacourt, a half French girl bent on joining the Purple Gentian's League.
Reading the papers, the focus shifts from Eloise's perspective to that of Amy and Richard. A chance meeting on a boat to cross the channel separating the French and English countries ignites a spark of interest between them that grows each time they encounter each other. Amy's discovery of Richard's work (he was Napoleon's Egypt Antiquities specialist) causes Amy to think of him as a traitor to the country; however, Richard decides that her dislike is for the best as it will prevent her from distracting him from his mission - which is to prevent Napoleon from invading England.
While hiding in her brother's study, Amy meets the masked Purple Gentian and offers help, without knowing that it is Richard. After that meeting, Richard is determined to keep her from his alter ego, but decides that courting her as himself is safe. Confused, Amy eventually discovers his true identity - after both her chaperone, Miss Gwen, and her beloved cousin, Jane, have figured it out.
In an attempt to thwart Amy from following him on a raid of Napoleon's treasure, Richard, as the Purple Gentian, repudiates her and breaks her heart in the process. So, after finding out who he really is, Amy and her cohorts decide to form the League of the Pink Carnation and to steal the treasure from the Purple Gentian. Unfortunately, Amy was captured and Richard was forced to reveal himself to the Assistant Minister of Police, Delaroche. A rescue was planned and executed, causing Richard and Amy to flee Paris for England.
At the end of the tale, Eloise finds out that there is more information to be found at Selwick Hall and agrees to a weekend jaunt with Colin Selwick, the current occupant of the hall. And the tale continues in the next book, The Masque of the Purple Tulip.
There's only one word to describe this book: cute. Or fun. They both work. The flavour of the stories as it switches between Richard and Amy to Eloise and Colin doesn't change. The bantering is equal in both, as is the behaviour between the couples. Since the relationship between Colin and Eloise develops much slower (being stretched out over the next several books), it will be interesting to see it play out in full as Eloise learns more about Colin's ancestors.
This book has been repeatedly referred to as chick lit, a genre that I had always associated with romance novels. Apparently the main difference is that the character's relationships with their family is just as important as their romantic relationship. Thank you, Wikipedia! And the other characters in this book are just as fun, especially Richard's family. Amy's brother is a deplorable toady (described as such several times), but Richard's family is warm, protective and hilarious. Jane, is refreshingly level headed, considering Amy's impulsiveness, and Miss Gwen is surprisingly romantic beneath her shrewish chaperone demeanour.
Like I said, it's cute and fun. I laughed, repeatedly, throughout the book at Amy's antics and the repertoire between the main characters. It is entirely fluffy and fictional, so if you are looking for a serious book based on historical events, you will be disappointed. But, if you're looking for brain candy, you will be well pleased. I really liked the story and will continue on with the series. And if Lauren Willig's other books have the same dialogue I will definitely venture into her other novels.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Fahrenheit 451
I finally finished reading it! I postponed writing this until after the B&C Banned Book Club meeting, but I don't think I'll wait in the future. The main reason being that it contaminates my thoughts on the subject if I discuss different aspects of the books that we covered at the meeting. Especially if it was a subject that I didn't even think about. The only downside to writing immediately is that sometimes I remember something that I did/did not like after I've finished the blog. Ah well.
On to the book!
Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopic novel written by Ray Bradbury in 1953. Originally written as a short story called The Fireman for a Sci-Fi magazine, it was later expanded and then published in Playboy for $400.
This story features a society that lives in a fast-paced world, teaches destruction in school and promotes an introverted way of life plugged in to the radio or watching the wall screens. It is also a society that has chosen to stop reading anything more substantial than comics and has taken to burning books as well as the homes they're found in.
When Guy Montag, a fireman by trade, meets his new neighbour, Clarisse McClellen, he begins to question the world as he knows it. A conversation with his fire chief leads Montag to read the books that he'd been stealing from homes as they burned and a meeting with an old man in a park proves the old man to be a scholar - a closet book reader by the name of Faber. After an outburst (involving poetry) in front of his wife and her friends, Montag's hidden cache of books is burned. In the confrontation, Montag murders the fire chief and goes on the run. The infallible mechanical hound is sent to track him down and he runs to Faber for help.
To hide his scent, Montag travels downstream on a river until he comes to a farm on the outskirts of the city. Montag then meets up with some fellow scholars to discuss books and who has retained what book in their memories. In the end, the city is obliterated after repeated warnings on the radio regarding the incoming war.
I found this book to be incredibly interesting - and informative. Considering this book was written over 50 years ago, it is almost scary how Bradbury could have thought this stuff up. I found that the parts of the story that I was most intrigued by really didn't have anything to do with the immediate story: it provided information to the society that Montag was a part of and the problems that were prevalent in that era (ie, how groups of kids aged 12-16 would joyride around and run people over for the fun of it; how little parents interacted with their children outside of shipping them off to school or plunking them down in front of the tv; how people stopped interacting with eachother and would "interact" with the characters on tv - their "family").
In an age where books are already losing a battle with the internet and cell phones, it is fascinating to read about a world that is already there. And it's frightening to think that one day we may soon arrive.
The next book on the Banned Book Club list is Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie.
On to the book!
Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopic novel written by Ray Bradbury in 1953. Originally written as a short story called The Fireman for a Sci-Fi magazine, it was later expanded and then published in Playboy for $400.
This story features a society that lives in a fast-paced world, teaches destruction in school and promotes an introverted way of life plugged in to the radio or watching the wall screens. It is also a society that has chosen to stop reading anything more substantial than comics and has taken to burning books as well as the homes they're found in.
When Guy Montag, a fireman by trade, meets his new neighbour, Clarisse McClellen, he begins to question the world as he knows it. A conversation with his fire chief leads Montag to read the books that he'd been stealing from homes as they burned and a meeting with an old man in a park proves the old man to be a scholar - a closet book reader by the name of Faber. After an outburst (involving poetry) in front of his wife and her friends, Montag's hidden cache of books is burned. In the confrontation, Montag murders the fire chief and goes on the run. The infallible mechanical hound is sent to track him down and he runs to Faber for help.
To hide his scent, Montag travels downstream on a river until he comes to a farm on the outskirts of the city. Montag then meets up with some fellow scholars to discuss books and who has retained what book in their memories. In the end, the city is obliterated after repeated warnings on the radio regarding the incoming war.
I found this book to be incredibly interesting - and informative. Considering this book was written over 50 years ago, it is almost scary how Bradbury could have thought this stuff up. I found that the parts of the story that I was most intrigued by really didn't have anything to do with the immediate story: it provided information to the society that Montag was a part of and the problems that were prevalent in that era (ie, how groups of kids aged 12-16 would joyride around and run people over for the fun of it; how little parents interacted with their children outside of shipping them off to school or plunking them down in front of the tv; how people stopped interacting with eachother and would "interact" with the characters on tv - their "family").
In an age where books are already losing a battle with the internet and cell phones, it is fascinating to read about a world that is already there. And it's frightening to think that one day we may soon arrive.
The next book on the Banned Book Club list is Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie.
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