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Feb. 17th, 2008 05:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckBooks read in the first half of February 2008.
Andrews, Donna. The Penguin Who Knew Too Much - I don't read Andrews' books for the mysteries. I read them for the humor. This one didn't disappoint. The mystery was there and so were the insane relatives, the absurd situations and all. It wasn't at all deep, but I had fun.
Arm of Kannon 4 - Wikipedia has let me down on this title by providing no spoilers. That means that, if I want to know what happens, I have to soldier on through the gore and monsters. Do I care? I'm not sure.
Beet the Vandel Buster 9 - Right. Blogging shonen manga right after reading it doesn't give me more to say. I'll keep doing immediate blogging because it's giving me more to say about non-manga reading, but... Anyway, v.9 has more monsters, more fights and the promise of a lot more fights in the future. No surprises.
Black Cat 2 - I like v.2 better than I liked v.1. I'm now actually curious about where the story will go as opposed to merely not being averse to trying another volume. Sadly, I don't have ready access to more, so I'll have to be patient. Still people fighting with odd powers but hints of backstory and future arc.
Bray, Libby. A Great and Terrible Beauty - I read between half and two thirds of this, working from both ends toward the middle. I gave it up when I realized that I was viewing it as a chore and had rushed through at least half of what I'd read. The book is well written, and Gemma has a distinct voice, but I found the tone of Impending Doom anxiety inducing and claustrophobic. I wouldn't mind a plot summary, and I might look at sequels, but I don't think I'm going to go back to read the rest of this one. I'm returning it ot the library so that the next person with a hold on it can have it (and, with luck, enjoy it more than I would).
Case Closed 3 - More mysteries. I know I've seen the associated episodes, but it's been long enough that I'd mostly forgotten the details of the solutions. Detective Mouri struck me as smarter here than in the anime. He still misses things, is arrogant and so on, but he's not an utter idiot.
Ceres 13 - I'm now half waiting for the world to end, and I think I've lost track of who wants what. Some of that is that it's been months since I read v.12 (v.13 was overdue. I'd actually nearly given up on seeing it from the library). It is good to see Aya finally demanding more explanations from Ceres.
Children of Magic - This is an anthology. Some stories I really enjoyed and some I didn't. There were one or two that I simply found opaque. That is, I finished them and had no idea what had happened and whether or not the plot had wrapped up or how or why.
Deming, Sarah. Iris, Messenger - This was nicely fluffy for reading while ill. My main quibble was in the first few pages when there was a bit about nobody worshipping the Greek or Roman gods any more. It may not be common, but there are people out there who still do, both Reconstructionists and others. Anyway, our main character, Iris, is a twelve year old girl who gets some mysterious presents for her birthday and starts meeting people who may or may not have once been gods. The book's short and relatively superficial, but it's not aiming for depth. It skirts the outermost edges of Pinkwater weirdness territory closely enough that I could see a definitely influence, but it never quite hit that level of head over heels insanity. Not quite.
Dodd, Christina. Tongue in Chic - This romance managed to keep me liking both lead characters. I also didn't get too frustrated over the deception/misunderstanding at the heart of it. Part of that, I think was that both characters were using each other to start. Meadow breaks into a house that she believes belongs to her grandfather in order to retrieve a valuable painting that her grandmother left there but discovers that the house has changed hands and now belongs to someone else. She falls and bangs her head and pretends amnesia. Devlin, the new owner of the house, takes advantage of Meadow's 'amnesia' by insisting that she's his wife and introducing her to local society.
Dunn, Mark. Ella Minnow Pea - This reminded me vaguely of The Pushcart War. I suspect that it's the way that both books deal with discussion of utterly absurd events in a very serious way. This is an epistolary novel (which is really the only way to pull off the central conceit effectively). It takes place in the fictional island nation of Nollop which is named for the man who originally came up with the well known panagram 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.' When letters start falling off of the statue of Nollop, the ruling council starts banning the use of the letters that no longer appear in the panagram. This starts with Z and goes on from there. By the end of the book, all that remain to be used are L, M, N, O and P. Reading the last quarter of the book is hard work as the writers struggle to express themselves without using letters that will get them beaten, exiled or even killed.
Flint, Eric and Virginia DeMarce. 1634: The Bavarian Crisis - I enjoyed reading this book, but it also frustrated me. The narrative is like a road paved with pebbles. All of the pieces are tiny, and they often only connect to each other indirectly. I felt like, while I was reading it, I was too close to see what was going on. So maybe a mosaic is a better analogy because there is something to see. It's just that working my way through the book was like figuring out the image on a mosaic by looking at it one tile at a time. I suspect that matters in this book are going to be hugely important in setting up things in later books in the series. It's all stuff that matters, that can't be elided, but there's a lot of detail, a lot of characters, a lot of people doing small things now that will be big much, much later.
Girl Got Game 5 - I'm not sure if I'm going on with this series. I'm having trouble remembering who the characters are. This volume surprised me by having the main character's roommate move out and then not making that the center of everything that happened afterwards.
Kenner, Julie. Aphrodite's Kiss - My largest quibble with this book is that the world building seemed inadequate. Admittedly, I don't tend to expect a lot of world building from romances, but I found the rules by which the super-secret cabal of superbeings operated kind of confusing. I'll probably try other romances by Kenner as this one was neither offensive nor difficult to read. Admittedly, taking this book to an appointment with a very long wait may have had an impact on my managing to read it, even with both humor and superheroes.
LaFevers, R.L. Forging the Blade - A boy goes on a quest to find his father who's been kidnapped by the Evil Usurper. This was very short and read more like it was the first part of a longer book. Since it's the first in a trilogy, I expect that the trilogy was written as a whole and then chopped up. The books are aimed at kids, probably elementary school age. I picked this one up from the library because I liked Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos. I don't think this book was as good, but it was okay.
LaFevers, R.L. Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos - I had one technical problem with this book-- The verb tenses kept shifting. I *think* it's written as if it were a journal, but it's not formatted that way. That is, it's a first person narrative, and each chapter reads a lot as if the narrator doesn't yet know what happens in the next chapter yet but is still talking about things that have mostly already happened. Theodosia is an overly clever child who can see magic. This is as much curse as blessing because it mostly means that she sees the curses on the artifacts that her parents bring back from Egypt. She's taught herself how to break or contain curses but doesn't always get it right. I found her an amusing and engaging narrator. Knowledge of history makes this book a little sadder, I think. Theodosia spends a good portion of the book trying to deal with a curse that a cabal is trying to use to cause a big war, with maximum chaos and pain. Given that the story's set not that long before WWI... This is a kids' book, so Theodosia succeeds, but a reader who knows history knows that the war is coming anyway. Unless this is more an AU than I thought.
Little Snow Fairy Sugar 3 - The last volume of the series. I'd say that this one will definitely be Delia-safe when she's old enough to manage all the words (which won't be all that long, actually). We got to find out what 'twinkles' are. Each season fairy needs a different type, depending on his/her temperament.
Mar 4-6 - We've started a Tournament of Doom. I hope there's more to the rest of the series than this. I think there will be because just fights can't resolve the plot, but who knows?
Naruto 27 - Now I have to wait for more. ::sighs:: Also, is there anybody in this story who doesn't have a tragic backstory? I could see Doom coming the moment the flashback started.
Palmatier, Joshua. The Cracked Throne - When I bought this, I missed that it was a second book in a series. Fortunately, that didn't matter too much as I read. I was able to pick up on who was who and what the setting was like fairly well. I think that missing the first book did leave some gaps in the character relationships. I could tell that some relationships were supposed to be deep and in what ways, but I didn't buy the depth without history. I was willing to let it go on the theory that the author would build the relationships later. I ended up not finishing the book in spite of liking what I did read. I'm curious about the story but not enough so to deal with the stress that reading was giving me. I'd recommend it to people who like darkish fantasy with politics and ancient threats.
Rave Master 13-14 - I like that this series adds complications in addition to fights with more powerful opponents. One character died in v.14, and I'm curious as to whether or not he'll stay dead and, if he doesn't, how bringing him back will be justified.
Shaman King 12 - I'm starting to lose track of characters and their backstories. It's not in a way that makes continuing to read hard because I don't care that much, but I'd kind of like to see someone's story resolved rather than seeing two dozen stories all aiming at the same cataclysmic big fight. Then again, I suppose that the added characters are meant to make the Big Bad seem bigger and badder. Or something.
Someday's Dreamers 1 - I suspect that, if I hadn't previously seen the anim, I'd remember very little about this manga volume even though it's only been a few days since I read it. It's a slimmer volume than most manga and didn't really give me much to hang a sense of the characters on. Our heroine is young and naïve and in training to be a mage. The training is so that she knows when and how to apply magic rather than to teach her magic. She already has power. She simply has no judgment in its use. I'm not clear what the repercussions are if she fails the training. She's one of those characters who always means well and who loves people but who isn't very bright about people and their motivations.
Sun in Glory and Other Tales of Valdemar - I picked up this anthology at the library bag sale, and I'm not sorry I did. There were a few stories that I liked quite a bit. There were also a few stories that I didn't finish (typical for an anthology). It was good for the bus trip and doctor's appointment during which I read it, and buying it at the bag sale means that I paid a few cents for it.
Tramps Like Us 5 - It took me almost four weeks to finish this. Today's the 13th, and the book's due on the 15th. Maybe I should stop fighting my embarrassment squick and stop reading. Except I like the characters and want to know what happens. Still, I can tell that I want fantasy because I don't want to see the main character have to make realistic choices. I want her to have everything she wants and needs.
Andrews, Donna. The Penguin Who Knew Too Much - I don't read Andrews' books for the mysteries. I read them for the humor. This one didn't disappoint. The mystery was there and so were the insane relatives, the absurd situations and all. It wasn't at all deep, but I had fun.
Arm of Kannon 4 - Wikipedia has let me down on this title by providing no spoilers. That means that, if I want to know what happens, I have to soldier on through the gore and monsters. Do I care? I'm not sure.
Beet the Vandel Buster 9 - Right. Blogging shonen manga right after reading it doesn't give me more to say. I'll keep doing immediate blogging because it's giving me more to say about non-manga reading, but... Anyway, v.9 has more monsters, more fights and the promise of a lot more fights in the future. No surprises.
Black Cat 2 - I like v.2 better than I liked v.1. I'm now actually curious about where the story will go as opposed to merely not being averse to trying another volume. Sadly, I don't have ready access to more, so I'll have to be patient. Still people fighting with odd powers but hints of backstory and future arc.
Bray, Libby. A Great and Terrible Beauty - I read between half and two thirds of this, working from both ends toward the middle. I gave it up when I realized that I was viewing it as a chore and had rushed through at least half of what I'd read. The book is well written, and Gemma has a distinct voice, but I found the tone of Impending Doom anxiety inducing and claustrophobic. I wouldn't mind a plot summary, and I might look at sequels, but I don't think I'm going to go back to read the rest of this one. I'm returning it ot the library so that the next person with a hold on it can have it (and, with luck, enjoy it more than I would).
Case Closed 3 - More mysteries. I know I've seen the associated episodes, but it's been long enough that I'd mostly forgotten the details of the solutions. Detective Mouri struck me as smarter here than in the anime. He still misses things, is arrogant and so on, but he's not an utter idiot.
Ceres 13 - I'm now half waiting for the world to end, and I think I've lost track of who wants what. Some of that is that it's been months since I read v.12 (v.13 was overdue. I'd actually nearly given up on seeing it from the library). It is good to see Aya finally demanding more explanations from Ceres.
Children of Magic - This is an anthology. Some stories I really enjoyed and some I didn't. There were one or two that I simply found opaque. That is, I finished them and had no idea what had happened and whether or not the plot had wrapped up or how or why.
Deming, Sarah. Iris, Messenger - This was nicely fluffy for reading while ill. My main quibble was in the first few pages when there was a bit about nobody worshipping the Greek or Roman gods any more. It may not be common, but there are people out there who still do, both Reconstructionists and others. Anyway, our main character, Iris, is a twelve year old girl who gets some mysterious presents for her birthday and starts meeting people who may or may not have once been gods. The book's short and relatively superficial, but it's not aiming for depth. It skirts the outermost edges of Pinkwater weirdness territory closely enough that I could see a definitely influence, but it never quite hit that level of head over heels insanity. Not quite.
Dodd, Christina. Tongue in Chic - This romance managed to keep me liking both lead characters. I also didn't get too frustrated over the deception/misunderstanding at the heart of it. Part of that, I think was that both characters were using each other to start. Meadow breaks into a house that she believes belongs to her grandfather in order to retrieve a valuable painting that her grandmother left there but discovers that the house has changed hands and now belongs to someone else. She falls and bangs her head and pretends amnesia. Devlin, the new owner of the house, takes advantage of Meadow's 'amnesia' by insisting that she's his wife and introducing her to local society.
Dunn, Mark. Ella Minnow Pea - This reminded me vaguely of The Pushcart War. I suspect that it's the way that both books deal with discussion of utterly absurd events in a very serious way. This is an epistolary novel (which is really the only way to pull off the central conceit effectively). It takes place in the fictional island nation of Nollop which is named for the man who originally came up with the well known panagram 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.' When letters start falling off of the statue of Nollop, the ruling council starts banning the use of the letters that no longer appear in the panagram. This starts with Z and goes on from there. By the end of the book, all that remain to be used are L, M, N, O and P. Reading the last quarter of the book is hard work as the writers struggle to express themselves without using letters that will get them beaten, exiled or even killed.
Flint, Eric and Virginia DeMarce. 1634: The Bavarian Crisis - I enjoyed reading this book, but it also frustrated me. The narrative is like a road paved with pebbles. All of the pieces are tiny, and they often only connect to each other indirectly. I felt like, while I was reading it, I was too close to see what was going on. So maybe a mosaic is a better analogy because there is something to see. It's just that working my way through the book was like figuring out the image on a mosaic by looking at it one tile at a time. I suspect that matters in this book are going to be hugely important in setting up things in later books in the series. It's all stuff that matters, that can't be elided, but there's a lot of detail, a lot of characters, a lot of people doing small things now that will be big much, much later.
Girl Got Game 5 - I'm not sure if I'm going on with this series. I'm having trouble remembering who the characters are. This volume surprised me by having the main character's roommate move out and then not making that the center of everything that happened afterwards.
Kenner, Julie. Aphrodite's Kiss - My largest quibble with this book is that the world building seemed inadequate. Admittedly, I don't tend to expect a lot of world building from romances, but I found the rules by which the super-secret cabal of superbeings operated kind of confusing. I'll probably try other romances by Kenner as this one was neither offensive nor difficult to read. Admittedly, taking this book to an appointment with a very long wait may have had an impact on my managing to read it, even with both humor and superheroes.
LaFevers, R.L. Forging the Blade - A boy goes on a quest to find his father who's been kidnapped by the Evil Usurper. This was very short and read more like it was the first part of a longer book. Since it's the first in a trilogy, I expect that the trilogy was written as a whole and then chopped up. The books are aimed at kids, probably elementary school age. I picked this one up from the library because I liked Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos. I don't think this book was as good, but it was okay.
LaFevers, R.L. Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos - I had one technical problem with this book-- The verb tenses kept shifting. I *think* it's written as if it were a journal, but it's not formatted that way. That is, it's a first person narrative, and each chapter reads a lot as if the narrator doesn't yet know what happens in the next chapter yet but is still talking about things that have mostly already happened. Theodosia is an overly clever child who can see magic. This is as much curse as blessing because it mostly means that she sees the curses on the artifacts that her parents bring back from Egypt. She's taught herself how to break or contain curses but doesn't always get it right. I found her an amusing and engaging narrator. Knowledge of history makes this book a little sadder, I think. Theodosia spends a good portion of the book trying to deal with a curse that a cabal is trying to use to cause a big war, with maximum chaos and pain. Given that the story's set not that long before WWI... This is a kids' book, so Theodosia succeeds, but a reader who knows history knows that the war is coming anyway. Unless this is more an AU than I thought.
Little Snow Fairy Sugar 3 - The last volume of the series. I'd say that this one will definitely be Delia-safe when she's old enough to manage all the words (which won't be all that long, actually). We got to find out what 'twinkles' are. Each season fairy needs a different type, depending on his/her temperament.
Mar 4-6 - We've started a Tournament of Doom. I hope there's more to the rest of the series than this. I think there will be because just fights can't resolve the plot, but who knows?
Naruto 27 - Now I have to wait for more. ::sighs:: Also, is there anybody in this story who doesn't have a tragic backstory? I could see Doom coming the moment the flashback started.
Palmatier, Joshua. The Cracked Throne - When I bought this, I missed that it was a second book in a series. Fortunately, that didn't matter too much as I read. I was able to pick up on who was who and what the setting was like fairly well. I think that missing the first book did leave some gaps in the character relationships. I could tell that some relationships were supposed to be deep and in what ways, but I didn't buy the depth without history. I was willing to let it go on the theory that the author would build the relationships later. I ended up not finishing the book in spite of liking what I did read. I'm curious about the story but not enough so to deal with the stress that reading was giving me. I'd recommend it to people who like darkish fantasy with politics and ancient threats.
Rave Master 13-14 - I like that this series adds complications in addition to fights with more powerful opponents. One character died in v.14, and I'm curious as to whether or not he'll stay dead and, if he doesn't, how bringing him back will be justified.
Shaman King 12 - I'm starting to lose track of characters and their backstories. It's not in a way that makes continuing to read hard because I don't care that much, but I'd kind of like to see someone's story resolved rather than seeing two dozen stories all aiming at the same cataclysmic big fight. Then again, I suppose that the added characters are meant to make the Big Bad seem bigger and badder. Or something.
Someday's Dreamers 1 - I suspect that, if I hadn't previously seen the anim, I'd remember very little about this manga volume even though it's only been a few days since I read it. It's a slimmer volume than most manga and didn't really give me much to hang a sense of the characters on. Our heroine is young and naïve and in training to be a mage. The training is so that she knows when and how to apply magic rather than to teach her magic. She already has power. She simply has no judgment in its use. I'm not clear what the repercussions are if she fails the training. She's one of those characters who always means well and who loves people but who isn't very bright about people and their motivations.
Sun in Glory and Other Tales of Valdemar - I picked up this anthology at the library bag sale, and I'm not sorry I did. There were a few stories that I liked quite a bit. There were also a few stories that I didn't finish (typical for an anthology). It was good for the bus trip and doctor's appointment during which I read it, and buying it at the bag sale means that I paid a few cents for it.
Tramps Like Us 5 - It took me almost four weeks to finish this. Today's the 13th, and the book's due on the 15th. Maybe I should stop fighting my embarrassment squick and stop reading. Except I like the characters and want to know what happens. Still, I can tell that I want fantasy because I don't want to see the main character have to make realistic choices. I want her to have everything she wants and needs.
