2059 and counting...

The Mime Order Samantha Shannon
Publisher:  Bloomsbury (January 27, 2015)
528 pp
3.5 stars (3 for the first half, 4 for the latter half)
Genre: YA series, science fiction, dark fantasy, paranormal, urban fantasy, romance; now also known as New Adult (half YA//adult, graphic, violent)
Sequel to The Bone Season
Author:
Samantha Shannon is a British novelist, recently graduated from Oxford University (read English language and literature at St Anne's). Her first novel, The Bone Season, (2013/14) was well received, published as one of expected seven series. She is an interesting young writer with a vivid imagination and the ability to translate this into riveting reading. If you don't like cliff hangers, wait until the series is more advanced. Each book picks up right where the other left off. Read the charts, maps and glossary first to familiarize yourself with her terminology. They must be read in order.
Novel:
London in 2059 is governed by Scion, a security force that uses Oxford as a prison (Sheol 1). The heroine, 19 year old Paige Mahoney(#40) is an intelligent, impetuous,  clairvoyant (dreamwalker) who works in Seven Dials within the criminal underbelly, as people with unnatural gifts are targeted (and have been since 1859, hence 20 Bone Seasons). It's a fairly simplistic plot, although the characters are complex and complicated by her world building/foundation.
Her keeper there, the Warden (Arcturus) provided mysterious, initial tension, and indeed I was waiting for him to appear in the second novel where they have escaped the prison and are hunted. The action promptly picks up with his arrival (halfway through!). He balances Paige, having age and experience to her youth and instability.  While he challenges her, she provides the hope he has lost. Romantic tension will be resolved eventually, but is an important story element.
Paige remains a fighter, and is strong and resourceful, a strong female lead, with a lot to learn. She returned to her old Mime boss (Jaxon Hall), who is slowly revealed to be quite a vile human, yet he is protecting Paige. While using her of course. The first half of the book reflects youth with indecision and inaction, although that can also be prudent while fact collecting. Steeped in politics, personal agendas, dickinsonian / penny dreadful details I became frustrated with where the story was going.  Then it galloped right along, with twists and turns to yet another cliff. I am not sure I would reread this when the next installment appears. I do want to know what happens to the characters, but 5 more years? I was lucky to have recently read The Bone Season in the library, and delighted to be chosen to review this book. I loved her command of language, her creative world building (rotmonger, thaumaturge, Gutterlings), her nods to the old order (EA Poe, title, plus Raven - member of Guard Extraordinary, from the ravens of the Tower of London). I am still very impatiently waiting for Patrick Rothfuss to provide us with his trilogy. If you haven't read that, drop everything else.

Read on:
If you like Christopher Paolini, Trudi Canavan's Black Magicians trilogy, Richelle Mead's Gameboards of the Gods, and the Shadow and Bone series by Leigh Bardugo
NPR quoted a UK source which stated her as the next JK Rowling, but I don't think there is much similarity. I liked it better than the Hunger Games.

Quotes:
Opening: "It's rare that a story begins at the beginning. In the grand scheme of things, I really turned up at the beginning of they end of this one."
"Hope is the lifeblood of revolution, without it we are nothing but ash, waiting for the wind to take us."
Rephaite- pl. Rephraim. A biologically immortal, humanoid inhabitant of the Netherworld. ...known to feed on the aura of clairvoyant humans.

Read as an ARC from Netgalley - thank you!

eco-gothic!

Perdita. By Hilary Scharper
Publisher Sourcebooks Landmark (January 20, 2015)
(2013 by Canadian Touchstone)
448 pp
4.5 stars
Genre: historical, literature, gothic, eco gothic, paranormal, mystery, romance, nature and art themes, Canadian sensibilities.
She is a Canadian author, (Phd Yale, Assoc Prof Cultural Anthropology, Univ Toronto). Scharper with her husband also spent a decade as a Bruce Peninsula  assistant lighthouse keeper, later stewards for the Cabot Head Light House and Bird Observatory.
This is her debut novel, very much a product of her love of nature (she describes her fiction as Eco gothic, a new literary genre building on traditional 19th century  gothic, with the landscape as an active, central character).  As a scientist myself I am thrilled with this new genre, as society as a whole should create a sustainable respectful relationship with nature. In our anthropogenic centric society we need to become more aware and familiar with nature but still are over consumers.

How many of you remember the Greek myth of Perdita ("lost one")?
Or Shakespeare's Winter Tale?
Or Walt Disney's 101 Dalmatians? (Pongo's mate)?
I was absolutely enthralled with this tale: it is beautifully written, has well paced parallel stories of the present day and late 1800s through journal entries and letters and has a complex message.
Well developed characters include:
1. Marged Brice, 134 year old, who has outlived her time, but needs to pass on Perdita.
Also called dark eyed junco. She gives her diaries (from 1897) to Garth to convince him of her story, and they become a fascinating time capsule. And so much more.
2.Tad or Hugh Brice (Welsh for Dad) who was a light keeper at Cape Prius, Georgia Bay for 30 years, father to Marged.
3. George Stewart, acknowledged by the Group of Seven, and one of Canada's finest painters (I couldn't find any information on him!? I love the Group of Seven (and the latter Canadian Group of painters) and would love additional Scottish connections to this region). George is the mysterious love interest to Marged, but perceptive landscape master.
4. Garth Hellyer, distinguished professor, currently working on a Longevity research project. He is asked to interview Marged, and is entrusted with her journals/diaries and letters. The reader is taken back to 1897/8 when so many things happened to Marged.  Garth, a WWII historian, won the Governor General's Award for Literature. But he's recovering from love and loss, perhaps once burned twice shy.
Clare (no last name for childhood friends?!)
Clare had a job as curator for British Museum, currently back to the Bay to summer and  sort through her life.
This has a charming, romantic story between Clare and Garth while also untangling the mystery of Marged, Perdita, and George Stewart. Nature is a major character in this book, with evocative descriptions of bracing waters, rocky shores and all those who have gone before.  There is tension between city and country life, differences between surface appearance and moral character, wild vs domesticated. There is also an element of artistic temperament, beautiful,descriptions of the process of painting, but also the character of painters. Her language is lyrical when describing nature,  of wind, trees, waves and water.

I am hoping there is a sequel. Or at least a continuation of her themes. While I enjoyed the parallel stories, each could have been further detailed, delving deeper into their times. There is SO much more to the  Marged story after the diaries end and when we find her in the home. I had to look up additional information on George Stewart. I read this in one sitting, just delighted with the detail and coming of age story. It passed the test of second reading, looking for quotes, finding additional clues, finding myself transported to the Georgian Bay shores. I want the painting Sylvan Chapel to exist.

Read On:
Historical fiction, mystery, supernatural, Canadian gothic (see Robertson Davies, Margaret Atwood, Susanna Kearsley) as well as traditional (see Bronte, Stevenson, Doyle and Wharton).
Read if you like Kate Morton (2009) House of Riverton or Diane Setterfield (2006) The Thirteenth Tale.
Of note  Scharper also has a story collection titled: Dream Dresses and God and Caesar at the Rio Grande (UMinn Press, which won the outstanding academic book award). She has several fascinating nonfiction articles as well.

Quotes:
What was the nickname my father had given her smile? Aurora borealis- he had always referred to Clare as his northern lights. 
The secret for old age is that we should sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon, and sleep like a dog.
George called my eyes a Great Lakes blue.
I thought most long stories had a short version. 
What would your trees say about you?
May the wind and the trees always carry your name- branch to branch, breath to breath- across my beloved Bay.

Of special note: the cover art by Amanda Kain is particularly fine and evocative.

Read as an ARC from Netgalley - thank you!
Available at the Rochester Public Library (I requested all three of my libraries to order this book, and will purchase a copy myself!)

Library and Bookstore Magic
I have fallen under another book spell. The Magicians series by Lev Grossman has been on my radar for a few years. This summer I picked up a hardback of Magicians Land (2014) to go with The Magicians King (2011) which I had also found in my beloved Friends' bookstore a year before. As I couldn't start mid series, I put myself on the ebook waiting list of the library. It arrived!
I am not even 100 pages into the book The Magicians (2009) and I know I will be absorbed and lose several days consuming this series. I was absolutely delighted with the writing, the characters, the mystery and finally, the magic. Actually it's all magic!

The Magicians won the 2010 Alex award, given to ten adult fiction books appealing to young adults, and the 2011 John W. Campbell award for best new writer. (NB finding this award list has given me a whole new set of authors as I found many favourites including Naomi Novik, Mary Doria Russell, Gail Carriger, Scott Lynch. GRR Martin won in 1973, currently held by Sofia Samatar.) Grossman has been a journalist, essayist, writer for numerous magazines. "I wrote fiction for 17 years before I found out I was a fantasy novelist." (I loved his interview with Neil Gaiman.) The Magicians was labelled "Harry Potter for adults" but it is much better than that. Briefly, it is a contemporary dark fantasy series about Quentin Coldwater and other extremely gifted people who are admitted to Brakesbills, a secret private college of Magic on the Hudson River.

Don't expect Harry Potter. These are intellectually gifted, relatively normal teenagers, self absorbed, bored, insecure, and unprepared. I found it a bit hard to believe that Fillory (Narnia) could be so intensely important to a college bound student. It is an eclectic group of complex students, each dealing with his or her issues, reality and magic. While it is an original tale, there are a few universal truths about understanding the ramifications of your actions. There is a dour realism to this magic and you don't have the benefits of special effects. Magic has to be learned, like Latin. It is taxing and has consequences. The graphic sex, drugs, violence and swearing (with alcohol, cliques, depression) put this firmly in an adult series. I would have edited out at least half the swearing.

Interesting, complicated thoughts and discussion:
You have to grow up to be happy. You certainly need to live.
How to interact with people who are just as bright as you are, or indeed smarter, for the first time in your life. And the rest of your life.
Not necessarily fantasy as I can relate to most of these people.
If I had read some of the reviews, I suspect I would not have started this series. (Disaffected twenty somethings as a sequel to disaffected teens)
Magic might be the tools left behind after the inverse was created.
Reading a series to completion was worth waiting for.
You never know what magic awaits in the Bookstore or Library!

Quotes:
“He who completes a quest does not merely find something. He becomes something.”
“That was the thing about the world: it wasn't that things were harder than you thought they were going to be, it was that they were hard in ways that you didn't expect.”
“It didn’t matter where you were, if you were in a room full of books you were at least halfway home.”
― Lev Grossman, The Magician's Land
"Magic: it's what happened when the mind met the world, and the mind won for a change."
― Lev Grossman, The Magician King
“In a way fighting was just like using magic. You said the words, and they altered the universe. By merely speaking you could create damage and pain, cause tears to fall, drive people away, make yourself feel better, make your life worse.”
"The truth doesn't always make a good story does it?"
― Lev Grossman, The Magicians

Recommend the audio book read by Mark Bramhall.
4 stars, entire series

Read on 
To China Mieville, Donna Tartt, Douglas Coupland
Jo Walton (Among Others, 2011) and Peter Straub (Shadowlands, 1980)

a cozy winter read

Gigi Pandian The Accidental Alchemist
This is a rather charming, cosy read, perfect for a winter's afternoon (to be published January 2015). It has quirky characters and could be classified as urban fantasy, perhaps YA, cosy mystery, or a paranormal romp. It's a quick light read.
Gigi Pandian previously has written the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mystery (ongoing) series. Her debut novel Artifact (2012),  won the William F Deeck Malice Domestic award. This  series includes Pirate Visnhu (2014), with Quicksand to be published March 2015. A short story The Hindi Houdini was shortlisted for both Agatha and Macavity awards.
Midnight Ink publishes this tale of a 300 year old herbalist/witch/alchemist Zoe Faust who specializes in spagyrics- plant alchemy which extracts the healing property's of herbs.  She is finally ready to settle down (Portland Oregon), buys and old house, starts to unpack, when all sorts of things happen. 1) The most wonderful character of the book shows up: an impish gargoyle who stowed away in her belongings from France and who desperately needs her help if he is to 'stay' alive (he's turning back into stone). But he is a master French chef and would be my new best friend if he'd just come live with me. I love his charm and name (Dorian Robert Houdin). 2) Handsome detective Max Liu, who is investigating a body that presented itself on her doorstep (thus preventing her house repairs). I hope the continuing series will develop their friendship/relationship. (The only two people in Portland who don't like coffee?!) And 3) the three adolescents (Brixton, Veronica and Ethan) who provide quite some comic relief while being relevant and real. I found them very predictable (except for the green smoothies!) but became so attached to Dorian I sped read through the book. I love that Dorian's father Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin was a French stage magician and clockmaker and the father of modern magic (a master showman and illusionist, 1805-1871).
Pandian is a breast cancer survivor who has learned carpe diem, and eating good food. It's easy to recommend The Accidental Alchemist just for the food- yes, I read the mouth watering descriptions and ever the skeptic (teenagers drinking green goo?? And loving it??!) that I tried several and definitely enjoyed them (I prefer chocolate colour, so used the cocoa instead; adult version?). Visit the website too.
Suspend disbelief, enjoy an imaginative little mysterious gem as a distraction on a chilly afternoon.

Read on
If you like Elizabeth Peters, Agatha Christie or John Dickson Carr
3.5 stars
Read as an ARC ebook from Netgalley

Quotes
"Did I mention that when I was born in Massachusetts, it was 1676?"
"The gray creature looked similar to the famous "thinker" gargoyle with short horns and folded wings. The main difference was that this gargoyle held an old leather-bound book in his arms."
"I have control of myself now, I simply do not understand why anyone would leave France?!"
"I do not think things make much sense when one has left France."
"Life is too short to eat inedible food because it is healthy."
"A false answer is often easier than a complicated truth."
"One of the very few positive things about living so long was getting to read so many books."

Pictures from an Institution

Julie Schumacher Dear Committee Members

Dear Reader,
Buy the book, give it as a gift, loan out your copy, order it from the library. This epistolary novel is a laugh out loud tale not just for academics, but all walks of life. You may spend an enjoyable afternoon reading, but I preferred short bits, perhaps 4 or five letters at a time. (It's only 200 pages, but best if not digested all at once).  If you have any connection to the Ivory Towers you will recognize the biting satire, social criticism, and frustrating quagmire of politics and funding. It could easily be a diary.
The letters are quite clever, and reveal much about the writer, as an academic, as a husband, lover, teacher, at once observant while equally oblivious, generous but also petty, happy but unfulfilled.  One third of the letters are letters of recommendation, which in and of themselves reveal a great deal of society and expectations today. Sadly. It kept me reading to see how much damage he could do.... As a whole, it has a bitter edge, is a rather lacerating commentary on academic life but also full of human foibles, entertaining yet poignant. And lost. No one writes letters anymore, we have several generations that cannot compose an email let alone a letter. In retrospect, it was funny while I was reading it.
But I hope you will pick up this book and enjoy this lighthearted but thought provoking read.

Sincerely,
A Gentle Reader

3.5 stars (note- this book also doesn't work well as an audio book- I barely glanced at who they were addressed to, but the addresses are properly read out, delaying the amusement of the letter.)

Read on:
For other epistolary novels: Jonathan Miles Dear American Airlines (2008), Maria Semple Where'd you go Bernadette? (2012) Joey Corneau Overqualified (2009).
Fans of David Foster Wallace should like this.
Reminiscent (campus, academic, literary lives) of Richard Russo Straight Man(1997, who also favorably reviewed Miles), Sam Lipsyte HomeLand (2004), Jincy Willet's Winner of the National Book Award (2002, recommended by Nancy Pearl).

Read as an ARC ebook from NETGALLY

Holiday short story

Deanna Raybourn Bonfire Night
This is a short story, the last in the traditional English holidays series (silent night, midsummer night, twelfth night and now bonfire night). At 56 pp it is not even a novella, and depends upon reading the previous stories, which are also greater appreciated if you have read the full novels, also in order. What a treat if you haven't discovered this author though! I read this as an ARC as well as purchased the ebook.
It is autumn 1890, amateur sleuth Victorian Lady Julia and her detective husband Brisbane have inherited a country property Thorncross in Narrow Wibberly. It is of course haunted but Brisbane has no difficulty solving this mystery. There is the usual witty banter, the eccentricity and mayhem we have come to appreciate and expect, and a warm family feeling completing a holiday book. This is perfect for an afternoon read, a satisfying story to occupy a train (or plane) journey or just a short break in your day.

4 stars for familiar short cosy mystery

Read on:
To the Amelia Peabody series of Elizabeth Peters.

Quotes:
"I cursed him inwardly. Plum had only ever been third favourite amongst my brothers, and I was reminded why."
"...and besides, strange solicitors showing up at odd hours speaks to an intrigue."
"In my experience," Brisbane said seriously, "gift horses are usually the ones with the most dangerous bite."
"The house was built of grey stone in a haphazard style and betrayed a certain originality of design."
"The woman is mad enough to be related to us."
"I've only just realised. Little Jack is the first Christmas present my father has ever given me," he said. "And he has given me the only thing of his I could possibly want."

Back into the Dark Ages

Alys Clare  Blood of the South
Alys Clare is the pseudonym of Elizabeth Harris, who is well known for her Hawkenlye medieval novels and the Norman novels of the Aelf Fen series. She lives in the region and understands the ecology/ environment well, which coupled with her understanding of human nature and descriptive writing make her novels excellent reading.
This is the sixth novel, closely following the 2013 Land of the Silver Dragons. Indeed I highly recommend reading them in order if you are not familiar with this author. The character development and overarching plots are more interesting, and greater appreciated, although the individual novels can stand alone. I especially enjoyed Music of a Distant Star, read excitedly through Land of a Silver Dragon, and looked forward to the continuation of the story. Her novels can be long (800 pgs) as they are full of evocative description and peopled with fascinating (often interrelated) characters of their times.

Blood of the South follows two stories in Norman (1093) England, that of Lassair, an apprentice healer which takes place in East Anglia, in the fens between Ely and the Wash, and her partner, Rollo, a Norseman who is on a mission for King William (II) to Constantinople.
Lassair is young, but very insightful, learning to understand her healing gift, while growing into her magic under the tutelage of Gurdyman. Her kindness involves her with a stranger and her child. And Jack Chevestrier, Norman lawman, enters her life. Together they are compelled to uncover the mystery surrounding the child, a body ravaged in the severe flooding (torrential rain complicated by tidal conditions, which was all too appropriate this year in the massive flooding in England). This complicated tale is connected through the Mediterranean journey and political intrigues of Rollo. I enjoyed the alternating, complimenting stories equally.
4 stars

Read on:
If you like Susanna Gregory, SJ Ransom, Bernard Cornwell, Ariana Franklin, or Ellis Peters.

Quotes
The opening line: "There is a collective evil that comes over a crowd of people intent on bullying someone."
"Gurdyman is the wisest of the wise; my teacher, my mentor, my companion and my friend. In addition, he is a wizard-..."
"Rollo Guisars, who is my one and only lover; the man who stays in my heart although he is usually far away and we are together only rarely."
"The seriousness of the moment struck home: beeswax candles are fearfully costly, and Gurdyman had just lit four. Somewhere close by, incense was burning; sniffing, I detected the strong heady smell of frankincense; another very expensive commodity. In addition I smelt cumin, dill and garlic. All four substances are used for protection."
"You'd be amazed how many folk don't know not to vomit into the wind."

Read as an ARC ebook from NETGALLY