This has been a lazy on-my-butt weekend. So it was an excellent time to finish a Shinn book and this one kept me up until 5am last night because I couldn’t put it down and had to find out how it ended. Haven’t done this in ages.
It has been forever since I’ve read on of Shinn’s Archangel books. At one time, I’d have to reread her trilogy at least once a year. Then I get a pile of unread books and you get busy and you get into other stuff (aka Harry Potter fandom). Not to mention this one was first published in trade paperback size and I decided to wait for the mass market paperback. So all my fault really.
But I want to talk about Angel-Seeker. In the land of Samaria, there are humans and angels. The angels pray to Jovah on behalf of the humans for help in the weather or medicine, etc. The angels need the humans to reproduce. Angel-Seekers are women who entice angels to sleep with them, hoping to conceive an angel baby. If that happens, the Angel-Seeker gets to move, as a beloved member, into the Angelhold (the communities where the angels live. For a woman with no family or prospects, this seems like a good deal. The problem is, angel babies are quite rare and this can lead to a number of unwanted babies.
This story is told from the point of view of three characters. The first one is Elizabeth, a servant girl, who moves to the new Cedar Hills in the hopes of falling in love with an angel or conceive an angel baby. The second is Rebekah, who gives us our first inside look into the harsh world of the Jansai. She finds an injured angel in the desert, Obadiah (the third character) and this meeting springs their lives into a completely different direction.
I had been so worried that this book might have been a bad idea, sort of one of those staying too long at the party type of scenarios (Cough!StarWarsCough!). I loved the Archangel books and this is the first to break away from that setup. These books have a world I’d love to visit. Experience the Gloria (which is a yearly Woodstock) or walk through Luminaux or just people watch with a drink at a café in Cedar Hills. It is the world you fall in love with, but the stories keep it interesting.
Another fun game is to compare it to Lord of the Rings. I’m figuring that the Edori are very Hobbit like except they really like to travel. The Oracles could be considered the Wizards as they are good to go to for counsel and know lots of stuff. The angels have an ethereal or mystical quality that is rather elf like. The Jansai are not exactly as scary as an Orc but they are not nice people either. And I’m still trying to figure out the dwarf connection. … This is what happens when you read this book way too late at night.
But it is fun and I enjoyed walking in that world again. It also made me want to pick the old ones up again which is a good sign that Shinn didn’t ruin it for me. That was all I was asking for.
Monday, March 13, 2006
The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
Review by Red Bonney
This was a fun little read. I'm not sure how much of it I missed because it was actually in a Readers Digest condensed book with three others that I probably won't get to or even think about ever again (one of them was a memoir of Bob Dole and I have to say how just the thought of reading that makes me sleepy.) Anyway, whatever it was that was cut out, it didn't seem integral to the main theme of the story.
It begins with Samantha Sweeting, a high powered big City Lawyer trying to "relax" at a day spa, though she's hidden her cell phone and her blackberry under her robe, unbeknownst to her masseur ... until she tries to send a clandestine e-mail. This does not open Samantha's eyes to the fact that she may be spending too much time working, though it does give the reader a bit of insight into the mental processes of our heroine. She's a hopeless workaholic.
Then, through a twist of fate, and on the very day she's about to make partner at a very powerful and prestigious law firm, she is thrown into a tailspin and finds herself miles away from the City and in a small country village where she unwittingly takes a job as a housekeeper. Earlier in the book, it had been proven that Samantha couldn't sew a button on a shirt. Shameful. I had to keep laughing at her thought processes, it almost seemed that she had always lived outside the real world and this was her first trip into it. Her employers also seem a little blind to her ineptitude. Only Nathaniel sees her for what she really is.
The romantic sub-plot, really more than a sub-plot (maybe this is what I missed by reading the condensed version), added to the hilarity, because everyone acts foolish when they first meet someone they're going to fall in love with later. I actually think this story is a morality tale on the dangers of lying and then exaggerating those lies later on when you're too afraid to tell the truth. The truth come will out, and it has the potential to explode in your face. Or throw a cream pie in your face if you're reading comedy.
It's a sweet story, and I say 'sweet' with it's old-fashioned meaning, as in light and slightly honeyed, but I felt the end came too soon. Again, the condensed book syndrome. Then again, it may be the sign of a good book if you don't want it to end. It's the books you can't wait for the end to come that you might want to shelve in an out of the way box in the basement, or sell to your local used bookstore, or release into the wild.
In case I haven't made it clear, I did like this book, and recommend it. I'm quite discerning with the books I rave about, and I don't think I'm raving here. It's a nice light read ... read it with a coffee crisp and you'll be floating home.
This was a fun little read. I'm not sure how much of it I missed because it was actually in a Readers Digest condensed book with three others that I probably won't get to or even think about ever again (one of them was a memoir of Bob Dole and I have to say how just the thought of reading that makes me sleepy.) Anyway, whatever it was that was cut out, it didn't seem integral to the main theme of the story.
It begins with Samantha Sweeting, a high powered big City Lawyer trying to "relax" at a day spa, though she's hidden her cell phone and her blackberry under her robe, unbeknownst to her masseur ... until she tries to send a clandestine e-mail. This does not open Samantha's eyes to the fact that she may be spending too much time working, though it does give the reader a bit of insight into the mental processes of our heroine. She's a hopeless workaholic.
Then, through a twist of fate, and on the very day she's about to make partner at a very powerful and prestigious law firm, she is thrown into a tailspin and finds herself miles away from the City and in a small country village where she unwittingly takes a job as a housekeeper. Earlier in the book, it had been proven that Samantha couldn't sew a button on a shirt. Shameful. I had to keep laughing at her thought processes, it almost seemed that she had always lived outside the real world and this was her first trip into it. Her employers also seem a little blind to her ineptitude. Only Nathaniel sees her for what she really is.
The romantic sub-plot, really more than a sub-plot (maybe this is what I missed by reading the condensed version), added to the hilarity, because everyone acts foolish when they first meet someone they're going to fall in love with later. I actually think this story is a morality tale on the dangers of lying and then exaggerating those lies later on when you're too afraid to tell the truth. The truth come will out, and it has the potential to explode in your face. Or throw a cream pie in your face if you're reading comedy.
It's a sweet story, and I say 'sweet' with it's old-fashioned meaning, as in light and slightly honeyed, but I felt the end came too soon. Again, the condensed book syndrome. Then again, it may be the sign of a good book if you don't want it to end. It's the books you can't wait for the end to come that you might want to shelve in an out of the way box in the basement, or sell to your local used bookstore, or release into the wild.
In case I haven't made it clear, I did like this book, and recommend it. I'm quite discerning with the books I rave about, and I don't think I'm raving here. It's a nice light read ... read it with a coffee crisp and you'll be floating home.
Saturday, March 4, 2006
Outbreak by Marianne Ruuth
Review by Red Bonney
I blame LoisAbductions Inc and InCoHerEnt for this. I can't read a book now without reviewing it. Any little slip of a book. The copious amounts of rum help too. (Host here... hehehe, my work here is done.)
First thing I have to say is that this book was written in 1977. Which might explain what I thought was basically a B-movie in print. It was about a Utopian society that was foolishly run by men. I mean by foolish power men. Everyone in the society was a blue eyed, blond haired specimen of human being, labeling themselves a "Primaries". Everyone else, presumably the dark eyed, dark haired people, were, as a result, called "Secondaries". The secondaries were servants, or to put it another way, slaves to the Primaries and thought to be other than human. It was illegal for a secondary to mate a primary. Not only illegal, but immoral.
It's meant to be a metaphor, the whole book, for racism, but it's very generalized, very black and white, not to put too find a point on it. It's supposed to shock the readers with it's immorality. I was shocked, but at the many typos and bad grammar. The dialogue was overly simplified, but I was able to think my way through, rewrite it in my head, so to speak. Still, it was almost embarrassing.
But getting past all the technicalities, the story takes you through some intense bigotry, from both sides. It's a fine piece of societal commentary. It's a warning against the dangers of technology and a reminder to look at history and learn the hard lessons. A glimpse at one possible future.
Then, there's the romantic subplot. Oona, a "Primary" woman tries to escape the coils of her perfect society, because perfection doesn't sit very well with her. Perfection consists of a drugged, semi-conscious existence, where most people are pliable and easily controlled by the all knowing, all powerful Father. In her bid for freedom, she meets Garth, a tough, worldly-wise Secondary man. From the very start, she feels an attraction to him, but she is confused by her feelings, having only ever been taught that such a relationship is an abomination, that he isn't really human the way she is.
Of course, it's not always black and white, sometimes it's hard to tell who to root for. That's what makes it a fun story. It's a little tattered around the edges, metaphorically speaking, but I think it's worth wading through. If you like early futuristic sci-fi ... well, it's not a great book, but if you're a die hard, it won't take you long to get through it.
I blame LoisAbductions Inc and InCoHerEnt for this. I can't read a book now without reviewing it. Any little slip of a book. The copious amounts of rum help too. (Host here... hehehe, my work here is done.)
First thing I have to say is that this book was written in 1977. Which might explain what I thought was basically a B-movie in print. It was about a Utopian society that was foolishly run by men. I mean by foolish power men. Everyone in the society was a blue eyed, blond haired specimen of human being, labeling themselves a "Primaries". Everyone else, presumably the dark eyed, dark haired people, were, as a result, called "Secondaries". The secondaries were servants, or to put it another way, slaves to the Primaries and thought to be other than human. It was illegal for a secondary to mate a primary. Not only illegal, but immoral.
It's meant to be a metaphor, the whole book, for racism, but it's very generalized, very black and white, not to put too find a point on it. It's supposed to shock the readers with it's immorality. I was shocked, but at the many typos and bad grammar. The dialogue was overly simplified, but I was able to think my way through, rewrite it in my head, so to speak. Still, it was almost embarrassing.
But getting past all the technicalities, the story takes you through some intense bigotry, from both sides. It's a fine piece of societal commentary. It's a warning against the dangers of technology and a reminder to look at history and learn the hard lessons. A glimpse at one possible future.
Then, there's the romantic subplot. Oona, a "Primary" woman tries to escape the coils of her perfect society, because perfection doesn't sit very well with her. Perfection consists of a drugged, semi-conscious existence, where most people are pliable and easily controlled by the all knowing, all powerful Father. In her bid for freedom, she meets Garth, a tough, worldly-wise Secondary man. From the very start, she feels an attraction to him, but she is confused by her feelings, having only ever been taught that such a relationship is an abomination, that he isn't really human the way she is.
Of course, it's not always black and white, sometimes it's hard to tell who to root for. That's what makes it a fun story. It's a little tattered around the edges, metaphorically speaking, but I think it's worth wading through. If you like early futuristic sci-fi ... well, it's not a great book, but if you're a die hard, it won't take you long to get through it.
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
Violin by Anne Rice
Review by Red Bonney
They say that writing about music is like interpreting architecture through dance. Well, Anne Rice has given it a shot. The writing about music, not the dancing about architecture, but wouldn't that have been interesting too? Anybody want to start a petition (either for or against) please contact my host. (Host here... yeah, please don't.)
The book, Violin, was another ghost story. Stefan, a Russian prince and a gifted violinist from the eighteenth century wanders the spectral world, looking for people to haunt and drive insane with his music. He seems to be driven solely by his angst and self-suffering. Then he meets Triana, a fifty something, frumpy sort of woman, from 1997, whose angst leaves Stefan's miles behind. She feels personally responsible for the deaths of her mother, father, daughter and her husband, and revisits their deathbeds repeatedly throughout the whole book. Angst.
Stefan plays for Triana in her grief for her husband, enthralling her with his gift and they develop some weird sort of relationship bordering on lust. They argue with each other like an old married couple and then Triana steals his Stradivarius when his guard is down and poor Stefan is unable to take it back from her. He takes her instead to his past and shows her how he died for his very fine violin.
The story is so jam packed full of angst, I can't say the word enough, angst, that it hardly seems likely there will be a happy ending to it. The two of them compare and contrast their evil doings in life, how they betrayed their parents etc. They battle each other, fighting for the prize of the Stradivarius. Then they embrace like seasoned lovers, and it's hard to say which of them is the more insane.
As I was reading, I kept picturing Anne Rice as Triana, the main character and I get the impression she did too. And come on, snuggling with a young, handsome rockstar. Who wouldn't want that? It was kind of a frustrating book, with few action scenes and more reminiscences than I care to recount. As I said, she revisited the four great deaths in her life frequently, and got off on it too. Also, much of the descriptions went toward music and if a violin is played in a book, does anyone hear it? She described Beethoven's Ninth and I wished I was listening to Beethoven, it might have affected the way I felt about the book.
Maybe I would have understood it a little better. It's definitely something I have to read again, after I find a disk with Beethoven's Ninth to play in the background. I also think you should read it. It's a vivid, haunting (mind the pun), ghost story with a hint of unrequited romance. And so full of angst you'll think a teenager exploded onto the pages.
Cheers.
They say that writing about music is like interpreting architecture through dance. Well, Anne Rice has given it a shot. The writing about music, not the dancing about architecture, but wouldn't that have been interesting too? Anybody want to start a petition (either for or against) please contact my host. (Host here... yeah, please don't.)
The book, Violin, was another ghost story. Stefan, a Russian prince and a gifted violinist from the eighteenth century wanders the spectral world, looking for people to haunt and drive insane with his music. He seems to be driven solely by his angst and self-suffering. Then he meets Triana, a fifty something, frumpy sort of woman, from 1997, whose angst leaves Stefan's miles behind. She feels personally responsible for the deaths of her mother, father, daughter and her husband, and revisits their deathbeds repeatedly throughout the whole book. Angst.
Stefan plays for Triana in her grief for her husband, enthralling her with his gift and they develop some weird sort of relationship bordering on lust. They argue with each other like an old married couple and then Triana steals his Stradivarius when his guard is down and poor Stefan is unable to take it back from her. He takes her instead to his past and shows her how he died for his very fine violin.
The story is so jam packed full of angst, I can't say the word enough, angst, that it hardly seems likely there will be a happy ending to it. The two of them compare and contrast their evil doings in life, how they betrayed their parents etc. They battle each other, fighting for the prize of the Stradivarius. Then they embrace like seasoned lovers, and it's hard to say which of them is the more insane.
As I was reading, I kept picturing Anne Rice as Triana, the main character and I get the impression she did too. And come on, snuggling with a young, handsome rockstar. Who wouldn't want that? It was kind of a frustrating book, with few action scenes and more reminiscences than I care to recount. As I said, she revisited the four great deaths in her life frequently, and got off on it too. Also, much of the descriptions went toward music and if a violin is played in a book, does anyone hear it? She described Beethoven's Ninth and I wished I was listening to Beethoven, it might have affected the way I felt about the book.
Maybe I would have understood it a little better. It's definitely something I have to read again, after I find a disk with Beethoven's Ninth to play in the background. I also think you should read it. It's a vivid, haunting (mind the pun), ghost story with a hint of unrequited romance. And so full of angst you'll think a teenager exploded onto the pages.
Cheers.
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