Category Archives: book review

Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassotti

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Clockwork Heart
Clockwork Heart
Dru Pagliassotti

I’d seen this book mentioned a couple of times online but for some reason I had labelled it in my mind as not so intriguing until I read a review at the Book Smugglers blog (they gave it a 9 – “damn near perfection”). I put it on my books to read list at that point but I wasn’t salivating over it like some other books.

A couple of weekends ago, my husband and I decided to go for a walk and ended up at Barnes and Noble. I saw a copy of Clockwork Heart and picked it up. I started reading a few pages. At first some of the terminology confused me.  What’s a wireferry? Lictors? Decator? Icarus? I would read for a bit then go back a page or two to reread something to understand a bit better. But the story itself started out in the middle of some action, so I was already interested.

The premise: This story starts when a metal car suspended by wires starts to tumble towards the ground as our heroine was stopping nearby for lunch. Taya is a citizen of Ondinium, a city divided into castes, “Primus for the exalteds; Secundus for the cardinals; and Tertius, for the plebians”. Taya herself is an icarus, someone who trained to fly with wings made out of the metal ondium (which is lighter than air), and who is allowed to freely pass between the city’s sections. She and her kind are messagers as well as trained for search and rescue, so of course Taya jumps into action to help the two passengers in the falling metal car.  This chance encounter pushes Taya into the world of the exalteds and soon she is caught up in betrayals and political plots happening within the city.  In particular, Taya is sucked into the world of two brothers – Cristof and Alister Forlore. Alister is the gracious, charming one who works as a decator (I translated this to something like – minister/politician), and Cristof is the gruff, abrupt one who works as a clockmaker.

By page 20 I was hooked. 50 pages in and I had the terminology down. I could not stop reading! And how did I miss Angie’s pimping it too? She only put it on her best of 2008 list! I really chastized myself for not having this book on my radar earlier.

What I really loved was the world building. I have a very basic idea of steampunk so I came into this book with no expectations and was just blown away at the images of Ondinium while I was reading this book – from a city with winding, intricate streets, to the costumes of members of the different castes, and all the little nooks and crannies in between like the interesting things in Alister’s crowded, paper filled office and in Cristof’s watch shop. I also enjoyed the idea of card-punch computing (old-school!) being a large part of the plot and a system built upon this that is used to help run Ondinium. It was fantastic! The cherry on the top of all this was the slow moving romance that did not take over the book and worked alongside the mystery of what is going on in Ondinium.

The only negatives I can think of for this story were very minor. One was that at times I ran into a few typos like repeated phrases next to each other and missing words. I’m not really the most observant person about this type of thing so when I do catch it I figure others will. The other comment I had was on the ending well there was a really satisfying HEA for the romance, but the mystery part somehow didn’t tie up to my complete satisfaction. The reveal was a bit of a surprise (when I mull this over I think that perhaps I was distracted by red herrings thrown in by the author), and yet WHY also didn’t fully make sense to me. Maybe I expected to understand the reasons for the villains’ actions more fully than was presented.

Overall: Already one of my favorite reads of this year, I think it’s a shoo in for my best of 2009 list. This combines fantasy, steampunk, romance, action, and intrigue into something new and fresh.  If you are the least bit interested go find this book. I was so addicted I just read this straight for hours and when I came up for air I was disoriented about how much time had passed.

I’d compare the romance aspect to Sandra McDonald’s The Outback Stars (where the hero isn’t exactly who you’d think he’d be at first, and there’s caste/rank issues, but he turns out to be more compatible and honorable than other characters seem to allow), and the world building to Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age or Snow Crash (this blew me away like those books did).

This is the debut novel by this author, however she has published some short stories. Dru Pagliassotti is currently working on a sequel to Clockwork Heart tentatively titled Obstruction Currents.  According to her blog she’s also working on another (unrelated) novel called King’s Monster. Which means no backlog for me to glom onto, and I have to wait for the next book. Meanwhile, new author to stalk and put on the auto-buy list. I’m excited to read whatever comes out next!

P.S Yes it really does kind of look like Leelee Sobieski on the cover.

Reviews elsewhere:

Hope’s Folly by Linnea Sinclair

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Hope's Folly
Hope’s Folly
Linnea Sinclair
Hope’s Folly is the third book in the Dock Five universe. First two books focus on hero and heroine Gabriel Ross Sullivan and Chasidah Bergren as they expose a corrupt empire and go on the run together. They are:

The premise: In Hope’s Folly, Chaz’s ex-husband Admiral Philip Guthrie, who has converted to the side of the Rebel Alliance, is starting duties on a newly minted ship – Hope’s Folly. Actually, this new ship is an old clunker but beggars can’t be choosers. Philip must command the ship with a new, bare-bones crew, and when one calamity follows another it’s hard to tell if it’s because Hope’s Folly is barely held together with chewing gum and duct tape, or because of deliberate sabotage. In the meantime, one of his new crew is someone Philip is attracted to – Rya Bennton. She’s the daughter of his dead friend, Cory Bennton, a death Philip feels directly responsible for, but Rya doesn’t know about his role in her father’s death.

My Thoughts: I think you MAY be able to get away with reading this book without reading Gabriel’s Ghost and Shades of Dark if you just understand that our hero and heroine are ex-Fleet and now rebels fighting against a corrupt Empire. They are also fighting against the Farosians who have their own agenda against the Empire (they support another – Sheldon Blaine,  for the thrown, but have no problem with capturing key rebels like Philip to use as collateral to free Blaine from the prison planet Moabar). I did a decent breakdown of enemy factions in my Shades of Dark review if you need reminding.

This book has about equal parts romance and intruigue/action (trying to discover if there’s an enemy aboard ship while fighting off attackers and keeping it running). The reader discovers before Rya who is responsible for some of the problems on the ship, but there’s a good reason for this (the clue is while she’s off page), so she makes believable mistakes.  I liked the action because it proved how good both of them were at their jobs – Philip as the Admiral of the ship and Rya as security. They have to work together and in the meantime they discover how much in they have common – particularly when it comes to guns (their gun conversations were too cute).

Of course another thing they have in common is Rya’s father – Cory Bennton, an officer who Philip respected who was killed by the Empire because of close ties to Philip. Philip considers himself responsible and now worries about what Cory would think about Philip’s interest in Rya. Rya on the other hand remembers meeting Philip when she was 9 and he 25. She was crushing on him then. Even now, she thinks of Philip as her “long-long always-forever dream hero” but isn’t sure how serious he is about her, which made me laugh because meanwhile Philip’s imagining her dad killing him and isn’t sure how serious she is about him.

Overall: As usual, pure escapist fun that I have come to expect from this author. Either this or Shades of Dark could be my favorite on of the Dock five series, I haven’t decided yet (I liked Shades of Dark for it’s dark bits and Hope’s Folly for it’s light ones). I was interested to see how Philip would be portrayed when he got his own book – turns out he’s learned to trust his instincts over “the rules” and has become better for it. I really liked Rya’s character too, possibly one of my favorite Sinclair heroines – a tall, strong-minded, amazonian woman with a penchant for guns – really liked her.

News: I just peered at Linnea Sinclair’s website and there’s a fourth book under way with the working title Tracking Trouble! Yay! Looks like the protagonist will be Philip Guthrie’s younger brother Devin. From her website:

“OUT OF OPTIONS…Devin Guthrie can’t forget Captain Makaiden Griggs even though it’s been two years since she was in his family’s employ. A Guthrie does not fall in love with a mere shuttle pilot. Going against his wealthy family’s wishes isn’t an option—not with the Empire in political upheaval, much of it caused by Devin’s renegade older brother, Admiral Philip Guthrie. The Guthries must solidify their standing—financially, politically and socially—or risk losing it all. But when the Guthrie heir—Devin’s nineteen-year old nephew— goes missing, Devin’s loyalty to his family’s values is put to the test. And suddenly the unthinkable becomes the only option available: Devin must break the rules and risk allying himself with the one woman he could never forget—and was forbidden to love.”

The Cruellest Lie by Susan Napier

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The Cruellest Lie by Susan Napier
The Cruellest Lie by Susan Napier
I bought this for 75 cents at Salvation Army because I liked the other Susan Napier I read.

Premise: Claudia was the girlfriend of a famous race car driver (Chris Nash) who died on the track while she was pregnant with his baby. A few months later, Claudia is seven months along into a difficult pregnancy when Morgan Stone arrives at her door, assuming she’s sleeping with his son Mark and is having Mark’s baby. Morgan makes several withering assumptions about Claudia and won’t let her get in a word edgewise to clear up the mistakes. During his visit, Claudia falls and when she’s taken to the hospital she discovers she’s lost the baby. It’s not Morgan’s fault, but in her grief Claudia allows him to believe he was responsible.

Fast forward two years – Claudia hasn’t seen either Mark and Morgan since she lost her baby, when she runs into them both at the hotel she’s working as a PR rep for. The father and son have a better relationship, but there’s a bit of a weird competitive edge to Morgan about Mark where Claudia is concerned. Morgan decides to offer the hotel (and Claudia) a chance to work with him on race-oriented functions surrounding a five-hundred kilometre sports car race in Wellington and sparks fly.

My Thoughts: When they first met, Claudia seemed to have a backbone, mocking and getting angry at Morgan for what he says, but the second meeting – while she tries at first, it seemed like he’d always win the conversation, never really listening to her or twisting things around his way. It was really annoying to read! It did not make me like either of them very much – him for being a jerk, her for being a doormat (she’s also described as fragile and actually swoons at one point).  Morgan was definitely the more annoying of the two characters however. Here are some examples:

  • Morgan jumps to some conclusions and makes an ass of himself on a regular basis but actually has the gall to point out to Claudia that: “people generally do seem to prefer making unflattering assumptions from the bare facts.” When she assumed something I felt much more minor than what he believed of her.
  • Mark calls Claudia while Morgan was in her office about an apartment for rent she may be interested in. Morgan puts it on speakerphone (Claudia somehow doesn’t realize this until Morgan tells her to say no), then takes the phone and tells his son she’s going to be busy and then makes innuendos about the two of them. The weird competitiveness Morgan has for his own son over Claudia was creeping me out. I have no problem with Morgan being almost 40 and Claudia in and Mark in their twenties, but it got weird.
  • Morgan actually figures out some of the misunderstandings from their first meeting but never tells Claudia he knows. No, he just uses it and her guilt to further his agenda. When she she tells him the truth and is shocked he didn’t tell her, he says “it was your story to tell Duchess, not mine”. EH? WTF excuse is that?
  • At one point he gets very angry, calls her a bitch a couple of times, and “he used a word which made her flush violently, then pale again as he continued with coruscating contempt.” – Isn’t this verbal abuse? So not romantic.
  • This also creeped me out (Morgan vs. his own son again): Morgan decides to get very jealous, cups Claudia’s breast in front of Mark, kisses her, and tells her to tell Mark that Morgan is the most important man in her life. Then he calls Claudia Mark’s stepmother and then acts like this is a proposal! A nugget from this particularly wallbanger-worthy seciton of text:

‘Or I could just throw you on that bed and strip you,’ he threatened silkily. ‘You never say no to anything I want there. Hell- a few minutes of foreplay and you’re usually the one begging…’

‘Er-Dad–“

RIGHT? Isn’t this inappropriate? He’s saying this crap in front of his son? Aieiee!!

Also there really is a scene here with a bodice, but no ripping of said bodice. OK I’m done.

Overall: I liked the other Susan Napier book I read, The Price of Passion (reviewed here) MUCH better than this one. Here I found both the hero and the heroine hard to identify with, and the hero was particularly offputting. I believe this is because this book was written a long time ago (1993), and the author’s writing has improved quite a bit since then.  I’m still going to look out for this author and try another one if I find it.

All Seated on the Ground by Connie Willis

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All Seated on the Ground
Connie Willis
This book was in my library’s FOL sale area and I picked it up because I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything by Subterranean Press used anywhere. They usually have limited edition runs and they are collector’s items no? I picked up All Seated On the Ground by Connie Willis for a dollar. I was surprised to then find that this book sells for over $40 online. Maybe I will keep it now (but don’t worry, you don’t have to spend $40 to read the novella. It’s all online at Asimov’s here).

This is a small hardcover novella and at 126 pages it’s a very quick read. The jacket blurb says that the author is “a huge fan of the holidays and their accompanying frivolity and nonsense, and has written a marvelous array of Christmas stories”. This is one of them. The story starts off in Denver where a space ship has landed on the Denver University campus, and six aliens have gotten out. Instead of doing anything expected like trying to take over the world or kidnap Earth women, these aliens just glare at everyone in disapproval.

In an effort at communication, the goverment formed a commission “consisting of representatives from the Pentagon, the State Department, Homeland Security, the House, the Senate, and FEMA, to study them”.  Months pass by with little result, only more glares. When it failed, another commission was formed. Then another one when that failed. The third commission includes our narrator, Meg, who had written humorous newspaper columns about aliens before and after the arrival of these beings (by now called the Altairi). At this ppint, the fervor over the Altairi has died down and it’s close to Christmas. The only thing the commission has figured out is how to get the Altairi to follow the commissioners to various locations.

One day, they take the aliens to a mall and the Altairi suddenly sit down in unison. Dr. Morthman, the chair of the commission is very excited, yelling orders everywhere and demanding to know what caused this reaction. Despite wanting answers, he never pauses to listen to anyone else, and ignores Meg when she tries to tell him anything. So Meg goes off on her own to figure it out with the help of a choir director named Calvin Ledbetter.

Overall: I thought this was a cute, lighthearted, story with a tongue-in-cheek message. There’s also a lot of Christmas and other holiday season songs, many versions of which I’d never heard of. Probably a nice story to read aloud closer to Christmas season. I wouldn’t say to go buy it for $40 though. Only if you are a diehard Willis fan and need to complete your collection. I mentioned it’s free online right?

Subterreanean press link

The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald

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The Outback Stars (Tor Science Fiction)
The Outback Stars (Tor Science Fiction)
Sandra McDonald

I’ve been keeping this book in mind ever since I was recommended it by calico_reaction based on my love of space opera romances. I think she made the comment on one of my Linnea Sinclair reviews that I should read this book. Finally I broke down and got it, but only the hardcover copy was available when I did. Now, I love the book, but I want it in soft-cover, so I’m going to buy it *again* in paperback, and I want to give away the copy I read to someone who will enjoy it. I’m the type of person who uses bookmarks and gentle handles the book while reading, so the book is practically new, comes with the dust jacket, and it’s a really great read. If you don’t care that this book isn’t completely new, I’ll be hosting that giveaway in a few days.

First of all – isn’t this a great cover? It’s pretty cool and unearthly – conveys outer space, a female main character, and the colors are fantastic. I believe the second book in the series (The Stars Down Under) has a similar look.

Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is an officer whose last ship, the Yangtze suffered massive fatalities when it blew apart. Scott was one of the few survivors, a hero who helped save many crewmembers on that ship. At the start of this novel, Jodenny is bored from being forced to spend months planetside recovering from the disaster, so she pulls some strings to board the Aral Sea as it’s newest crewmember. Unfortunately she is put in charge of Underway Stores, the most troubled department in the ship – rumored to be full of incompetents, criminals and misfits. Past supply officers in charge of Underway Stores are either missing or had mysterious accidents, and Jodenny has to confront suspicious activities going on with her division and elsewhere in the ship.  All of this is set against a backdrop of a military with Australian origins, and odd mystical things that seem rooted in Australian folklore also happen.

Overall: I think if you are a fan of Elizabeth Moon you will like Sandra McDonald’s books, particularly because of the military aspects. If you like Linnea Sinclair and Ann Aguirre you may like this as well. The author was an officer in the U.S. Navy and her knowledge of the day to day workings of he military seems to really show in this novel. In The Outback Stars Jodenny has to deal with a mix of personalities both below and above her in the chain of command. Not everyone is a hard worker and trying to get the bad seeds working in harmony with everyone else is a challenge. However, it was refreshing to see Jodenny tackle the challenge with creativity and toughness, which didn’t always help her make friends, but did make me respect her. She’s a very competent character who knows her job and is good at it. I also liked seeing how she reserved judgement on people until she saw things for herself – particularly with Terry, an accused rapist. It was also interesting to read a book where the main culture was Australian, not American (even though the writer is American!), but there was a also a big mix of races and religions and ethnicities on the ship too. The romance itself was satisfying to read – it wasn’t the main focus, and is slow-building. The tension comes from the fact that Jodenny is interested in a subordinate, which is a no-no within the milirary, so she spends most of the book supressing her feelings. I sighed a happy sigh at the end of this book.  Although it seems like it will continue in The Stars Down Under, this book ended in a good place, without cliffhangers. I didn’t feel like major strings were left undone, but there is enough undiscovered territory to keep me wanting to read book 2.

Links:

Reviews:

The Decoy Princess and Princess at Sea by Dawn Cook

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The Decoy Princess
The Decoy Princess
Dawn Cook
Princess at Sea
Princess at Sea
Dawn Cook

I’ve had The Decoy Princess and the following book Princess at Sea in my TBR for a long time, but haven’t gotten around to reading them till now. It feels like it’s been a while since I read a straight fantasy so it was a nice change of genres. I also have Cooks Truth series and I read the first one of the four, First Truth. That one was a bit slow for me so I haven’t started Hidden Truth yet, but the Princess series is a newer work and the premise seemed more intriguing to me so I decided to take a look.

The title says it all – a princess discovers that she was really plucked from the streets as a baby, to be used as a decoy for the real princess of Costenopolie. Unfortunately, she discovers this truth at the same time her betrothed Prince Garrett does, and as second son of a neighboring kingdom with a chip on his sleeve, he reacts with violent anger at being duped. At first I thought that Tessa was superficial and spoiled, but once she discovers who she really is and things start to hit the fan, she quickly adapts and manages to escape the palace on her own. Her plan is to find her sister, the real princess, and Kravenlow, her parent’s chancellor, but she is being pursued by Garrett’s Captain of the guard, a formidable man named Jeck. Along the way she also meets a cheat named Duncan, who admires Tess for her smarts, but also urges her to throw off her responsibilities and run away with him. The story is told from the first person viewpoint of Tessa, which seems to add to the urgency of the writing. It also felt more real – there was so much detail about how dirty and beat up Tess got from her travelling I wanted to take a shower or soak in the bath. Adding to everything is that Tess, Jeck and Kravenlow are all part of a huge game controlled by hidden “players” who influence history according to their own rules.  Book 2 continues about six months or so after book one, and without spoilers it all starts during her sister’s honeymoon voyage with her new husband on board Tess’ boat. Hmm, can’t say much more than that.

Both books followed the same pattern where at first I was just reading along but not really sucked in, and then something would happen and I just had to know what happened next. I admit I did skim ahead because I was really really curious, but then made myself come back and read it properly. There were a few surprises, and unexpected angst. I found most of the characters had layers which got slowly peeled back as time went by, and some things get revealed that I sort of expected, yet didn’t quite see it going down that way. Tess is also at turns quite quick thinking, but also blind/dumb when it came to people she really loved. So her weaknesses seem to be linked to naivete, and it’s quite painful for her when she realizes them. Once the end of the books came, it felt that the author had planned out the character arcs and plots really well. Both books hint through prophetic dreams at what will happen, but they didn’t give me much information and left me only tantalized. I felt rather satisfied by the final result, but I’d like to keep reading about Tess and I’m a bit sad I can’t find any information about a third book (I really hope there is one). Dawn Cook’s website is very sparse on the details. I know she writes under another name but those books aren’t straight fantasy like this. Sigh, I plan to keep my eye out. And to get around to reading the Truth series sooner.

Recommended if you like:
Moira Moore’s Hero series (the travelling and action seems similar)
Mindy Klasky’s Glasswright series (for the secret society that can trump even kings)
Maria V. Snyder’s Study series (Jeck/Tess’ relationship reminds me a little of Valek/Yelena’s)

Excerpt of book 1 – The Decoy Princess
Excerpt of book 2 – The Princess at Sea

On the Prowl by Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance, and Sunny

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On the Prowl
On the Prowl
Patricia Briggs

OK, been procrastinating about this review for some reason, better do it before I forget. I picked up On the Prowl because Patricia Briggs is on my buy list for her Mercy Thompson series and her short story in this book is from that world. I’ve also read Karen Chance (who I will keep reading) and Sunny (who I probably won’t), but I’d never read anything by Eileen Wilks before.

In this anthology, all four stories have to do with some kind of shapeshifting, so there are urban fantasy and paranormal elements.

Overall I liked the anthology, but it was a mixed bag. I was surprised in that I liked some stories more than I expected and others less than I expected.

Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs [link to excerpt]- Charles, son of the Marrok (the werewolf King) goes to Chicago to investigate suspicious activity there. At the airport he meets with Anna, the werewolf who called the Marrok, who is an Omega wolf. This was one of the surprises of the anthology. There was more of a paranormal romance rather than an urban fantasy feel to it, and I wasn’t expecting that because the Mercy Thompson series is very light on relationships. I’m not sure that completely worked for me because I thought the pacing was a little fast in the emotional aspect. It just didn’t fit into the constraints of a short story. I wouldn’t say I didn’t enjoy the story. The writing is well done. I’m going to keep following the series that is supposed to stem from the characters in it. Patricia Briggs says on her website that 3 books have been agreed on so far.

Inhuman by Eileen Wilks [link to excerpt] – This story centers around Kai, who is one of the Gifted in an Earth where some sort of unusual wave has caused a lot of people to discover minor pyschic abilities, but she is hiding something about her Gift even amongst her friends. She’s also covers for her neighbor Nathan who is an odd character, even though she’s not completely sure what he’s hiding either. This turned out to be what I thought was one of the stronger stories in the anthology and I enjoyed the subtle world building and the relaxed pace. I’d be interested in reading more books by this author. Hmm, I just realized that this short story is in the same world as her Lupi series. Well I couldn’t tell.

Buying Trouble by Karen Chance [link to excerpt]- This is another story which is in the same world as the author’s Cassandra Palmer series, and I didn’t think it was too hard to follow without reading the series but it’s hard for me to tell. It centers around Claire, a null who works for an auction house and who is avoiding her family and the Fey for some reason. When she sees a Fey noble at an auction, then sees her enemy cousin, she knows things are going to get bad. I was pleasantly surprised by this one, because OK I have ranted about the pacing in Chance’s books before. This story had some pauses in the action of the story which I was pleased by. Less rushing around = good!!! Also there was some mild humor in this one that I enjoyed.

Mona Lisa Betwining by Sunny [link to excerpt]- OK, yet again a story set in the same world as the author’s series, except this time this seems more of a side story in the actual series than a story separate from the series. A warning – major spoilers for book 2 in this short story!!! We have Mona Lisa, the main character of Sunny’s Monere series continuing down her path of sexual conquest and increasing powers. I think that the point of this was to introduce the character Lucinda who will be getting her own set of books, but this was done really awkwardly and I was wondering why Lucinda was even mentioned at all, because she sort of: enters, vaguely threatens Mona Lisa and then goes off somewhere, and that was it. Didn’t fit the context at all. I didn’t like this one and I skimmed it so I’ve already forgotten much of it. I really think this deserves to be in an erotic anthology, not with just paranormal/urban fantasy that’s not as sexual. OH. I remember one thing. At one point I actually paused for a few moments because I had just read the sentence “Crammingly so.”