Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder

Posted on August 23, 2008 by janicu

Maria V. Snyder

Fire Study is the final book in the Study trilogy which follows Yelena Zaltana, a prisoner turned food-taster in Ixia, then magic student and ambassador in Sitia.

I reviewed Magic Study (the second book) last month here – vox | livejournal . Poison Study is the first book.

When I read Magic Study I was comparing it to Poison Study (which I loved), and noticing the differences in the books. They felt like very different reads despite being in the same series. Besides a different "feel" they are also not set in the same location and we see an almost completely new cast of characters. Magic Study moves away from the people Yelena knew in Ixia. Instead we start to learn about Yelena's family and Sitia and about Yelena's problems with coming back home where she isn't exactly welcomed or trusted.

In comparison, Fire Study fits very well with Magic Study. The plot of Magic Study seems written with Fire Study in mind, so there are strings left in Magic Study that directly relate to much of what goes on in Fire Study. These two books have the same feel – mostly set in Sita, with a lot of Yelena's rushing into things and hoping things will work out. Her modus operandi. We have the same villians in Fire Study as with Magic Study, and the her brother Leif along for the ride in both books. The story continues where Magic Study left off with Yelena trying to pursue the villians, and she travels throughout Sitia to do so. In the meantime she is also trying to understand her magic and what it means because she's discovered that she's a Soulfinder – which isn't taken well by some people.

The main thing in Fire Study is Yelena finally finding her place in the world. I think that's probably why this time we see more Ixians – the Commander makes a couple of appearances, Valek is around a bit more, and so are Ari and Janco. The point seems to be so the reader sees Yelena someone who bridges both Sitia and Ixia. Before I read this I saw reviews that it was worth the read also to see what it meant for Yelena to be a Soulfinder - her real role gets revealed. This is true, though I sort of figured out the point a long time ago and was a bit surprised that it wasn't obvious to many people. Maybe I've just seen a lot of shinigami anime. Anyway, here too Yelena finds her place.

Good bits and nits:

Good:

I liked all the parts where Valek was around. I think the chemistry between the two is well written, and you feel that despite the long-distance relationship, they still feel strongly about each other.
As I said above, It did feel more cohesive with Magic Study.
I've commented on this in other reviews: usually Synder's villian's aren't black and white, we see why they are motivated to do what they do and they kind of make sense in a twisted way.

Nitty:

There was a complete wild goose chase in half of this book. It seemed like a lot of effort was put into getting Yelena to go off somewhere running around in Sitia, but why? I wasn't completely sure. Maybe it was the villians' diabolical plan, muhahahaha? but still rather… well, it's strange and I'm confused about it.
I didn't buy into the parts of the book where everyone was angry at Yelena. The reasons were silly, and then I just saw that everyone is annoyed at her, but I didn't see her as being particularly worthy of all the snits everyone was in. The only argument I bought was the one with Valek. And when these issues got resolved it was really quickly without much discussion.
So many villians. Making things too complicated – as in I"'m not sure I believe that there could be so many villians all up in here! Why, another one! Where'd you come from!". I think because of this, the villians started becoming more caricature-ish than in past books.

Overall: worth reading to finish the series. I'd say a decent read and nice to see how the people in Poison Study turned out. However Poison Study remains my favorite book in the series by far. Loved that book when I first read it, probably should reread it.

Did you know there is a Study livejournal community? I did not until today.

Also cool thing – Maria Snyder has short stories online to read: Assassin Study (starring Valek), and Power Study (with Janco and Ari).

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Meme – sf books to movies

Posted on August 21, 2008 by janicu

Jace over on Jacescribbles tagged me a couple of days ago. Looks like a meme involving books that are sf (or maybe futuristic?) that were turned into movies. I think this is the first meme on this blog too.

Here are the rules:

The rules:

Copy the list below.
Mark in bold the movie titles for which you read the book.
Italicize the titles that you’ve watched.
Tag 5 people to perpetuate the meme. (You may of course play along anyway.)

1. Jurassic Park
2. War of the Worlds
3. The Lost World: Jurassic Park
4. I, Robot
5. Contact
6. Congo
7. Cocoon
8. The Stepford Wives
9. The Time Machine
10. Starship Troopers
11. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
12. K-PAX
13. 2010
14. The Running Man
15. Sphere
16. The Mothman Prophecies
17. Dreamcatcher
18. Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
19. Dune
20. The Island of Dr. Moreau
21. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
22. The Iron Giant (The Iron Man)
23. Battlefield Earth
24. The Incredible Shrinking Woman
25. Fire in the Sky
26. Altered States
27. Timeline
28. The Postman
29. Freejack (Immortality, Inc.)
30. Solaris
31. Memoirs of an Invisible Man
32. The Thing (Who Goes There?)
33. The Thirteenth Floor
34. Lifeforce (Space Vampires) <— I think I may have Space Vampires in my TBR!!?? It's a movie too? Awesome!
35. Deadly Friend
36. The Puppet Masters
37. 1984
38. A Scanner Darkly
39. Creator
40. Monkey Shines
41. Solo (Weapon)
42. The Handmaid’s Tale
43. Communion
44. Carnosaur
45. From Beyond
46. Nightflyers
47. Watchers
48. Body Snatchers

It's a small number there. 7 of 48 read, and 16 out of 48 watched. I have NO idea what "Carnosaur" or "Solo" are. What is "Watchers"?

I don't know who to tag, so if you feel like it, feel free to perpetuate the meme!

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Freebies

Posted on August 21, 2008 by janicu

Selene – Lilith Saintcrow

I got this in the inbox this afternoon – Lilith Saintcrow is putting up a serialized book for free online. For now the prologue and the first chapter are available. New chapters will be posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

"Selene" is the story of Selene and Nicholai, which continues the short story "Brother's Keeper" which was in the Hotter than Hell anthology I just read. The review for that one is here – vox | livejournal. These are characters that show up briefly in the Dante Valentine series. Here is the teaser from the website:

"Life isn’t easy for a sexwitch. Even your own body betrays you. It’s bad enough that Selene is part slave to Nikolai, the Prime Power of Saint City, but she’s got her brother Danny and she’s got her job at the college. In the postwar wreckage of an uncertain world, it’s pretty much all she’s ever allowed herself to want.

Then Danny ends up murdered, and Selene finds herself a pawn in a dangerous game. Indentured to a bloodsucking Nichtvren and helpless, told to stop trying to uncover the identity of her brother’s killer, Selene has nowhere to turn. If she’s a good girl, Nikolai will leave her a little bit of freedom. He’ll take care of her, and she’ll be safe–if she obeys.

But Selene hasn’t survived this long by being obedient to her cursed powers, or to the men who buy her time. Her brother was all she had, and now she’s ready to borrow, beg, lie, steal or kill–whatever it takes to avenge him.

And if Nikolai gets in the way, Selene will use every tool in her arsenal to make him regret it…"

Any Given Doomsday (The Phoenix Chronicles)

Lori Handeland

And here is something cool from Shelfari. I also found out about this through an email this afternoon. Lori Handeland is an author I've read before (my reviews here – vox | livejournal), and through Shelfari, they are offering 1000 (yup, one thousand!!) Advanced Reader Copies of her new book Any Given Doomsday.

Looks interesting. The email says: The book follows “Elizabeth Phoenix, a former cop with extraordinary psychic powers, who is hot on the trail of a ruthless murderer — and her life is about to change forever.”

Here is where to go to sign up for the free book.

And here is the link to sign up for a free copy of "In the Beginning" , a prequel to the Phoenix Chronicles.

Oooo..

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Hotter than Hell by Keri Arthur, L.A. Banks, Susan Krinard, Marjorie M. Liu, Kim Harrison

Posted on August 15, 2008 by janicu

Hotter Than Hell

I really need to catch up on my reviews – I actually read this book last month but didn't have the time to review it with all the "real life" stuff going on.

The one thing that gets me with this book is how different it seems from the rest of the "In Hell" anthologies that came before it. It really strikes me that Hotter than Hell is more paranormal romance than it is urban fantasy, because the premise in all the stories is sex with a paranormal twist. Pretty much all of these stories have a relationship with sex included, which makes it more romance than not, which isn't the case as much in the other books (which makes them more "urban fantasy"). What do people think – do I make sense? Agree/disagree with this?

Other "In Hell" books I've reviewed:

Holidays are Hell (Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Marjorie M. Liu, Vicki Pettersson) – vox link | livejournal link

Dates from Hell (Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Kelley Armstrong, Lori Handeland) – vox link | livejournal link

Prom Nights From Hell (Kim Harrison, Meg Cabot, Michele Jaffe, Stephenie Meyer, Lauren Myracle) – the young adult version of these books – vox link | livejournal link

I am really critical of a book when I just do not believe the relationship – if it seems too contrived or the reason for the two loving each other seems unbelievable and the author just explains it with "love at first sight" and I can't see what one character sees in another, I can't buy into it. If you tell me how attractive either character is, it still does nothing for me. So? You know how many good looking people there are in the world? Attributing good characters to a person just because they are good looking, that's not common sense (I should hope). So tell me, why is this one so special to that one? Do they at least share something more substantial than a cheesy sexual attraction? Otherwise, it makes the story really boring. That is why I feel somewhat disappointed in a lot of the stories in this anthology. In most of them I found too much of the sexual attraction, not enough to make me believe in the relationship. I think that to some extent choosing to make the stories require sex and then making them short was shooting everyone in the foot – there simply is very little space to have a story, have crazy sex, and also make me see a believable relationship developing, a relationship where I can buy into a HEA. Not enough room for it all, and something lost out.

All the stories that managed to keep the three things balanced (plot, sex, believable relationship) – those where the stronger stories in the anthology. Those that relied on cliches which resulted in me not really believing the relationship, were the weaker stories. I'm sorry to say that for me, there were more weaker stories than strong ones. I think that most of the ones that had sex but didn't try to make the story have a fully formed romantic relationship occur within the short story were stronger – Tanya Huff's "Music Hath Charms", Lilith Saintcrow's "Brother's Keeper" (which still has a flaw – it threw the reader in without much information about the world. I recognized characters in her Dante Valentine series though), and "Dirty Magic" by Kim Harrison (also shares a world with her Hollows series, but this one didn't feel confusing). The best romantic one I think was "Moonlight Becomes You" by Linda Winstead Jones because the heroine was funny in a cute way, though I didn't see much from the hero's personality. "Minotaur In Stone" by Marjorie M. Liu was also good because of the lyrical writing, but there is something a bit off with the relationship there, I guess I found it hard to believe the heroine would go so far for someone she just met, but then she's isolated and so is he. That could be their bond, but I felt it could have been more cemented than it was.

deety at urbanfantasy.wordpress.com reviewed this book with a breakdown of the stories, and I found myself agreeing with most of what she had to say.

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Easy Connections and Easy Freedom by Liz Berry

Posted on August 14, 2008 by janicu

Easy Connections

Liz Berry

Easy Freedom

Liz Berry

I'm not sure when I first read a recommendation for Liz Berry's books. I think it may have been maybe 5 years ago. The only book I could find in the US was The China Garden – which was this young adult romance/mystery with paranormal aspects combined with a very British voice. I was very struck by it. The author was really good at creating an emotional atmosphere and a tone of inevitability. I'm partial to books set in England because growing up in a British colony, many kids books I read were set there. I also found Mel, and liked that too – that one had a girl renovating a house all by herself, and I had just moved into the first place I ever *owned* so I was interested in that home-beautifying process. Liz Berry worked in the arts and with high school students, and her characters are on this cusp of adulthood, dealing with serious issues (pregnancy, homelessness, physical attraction, love and sex) and they are often artists (painters, designers, musicians). The person she most reminds me of is Ai Yazawa of Nana and Paradise Kiss fame, except Yazawa uses the slightly different medium of manga).

Anyway, I did some rooting around on the internet and discovered that a lot of Liz Berry books are out of print and hard to find (of course!) – including this duology Easy Connections (book 1) and Easy Freedom which are probably the books shes most well known for. I couldn't find it for under $40. For the longest time I would periodically check to see if there were any cheaper copies but was always out of luck. Finally about a month ago – someone put Easy Connections up for sale on half.com for only $10, so I snapped it up. As soon as I finished it I had to read Easy Freedom, so I coughed up the $40 to buy it from amazon.uk. The website said "one book left in stock"!

Why the huge demand? Well, I can see a lot of people never forgetting these books after reading them. They are actually a lot darker than I expected them to be, not quite the same as the other Liz Berry novels I've read, and I think this is why they were never published in the States – they deal with rape. I feel like I have to put that out there – I don't think it's a spoiler even though the back copy doesn't really say the word – the two books revolve around what happens after the violent act. And in a very controversial way. This is a squick topic for a lot of people and I find it hard to read about without feeling disturbed. So I was disturbed and uneasy for much of these books.

Cathy Harlowe is a young artist, only 17 and just out of high school, staying with her brother in the country before going into art school. She doesn't realize she is trespassing on the property of Paul Devlin (Dev), from the band Easy Connections. Apparently he's beautiful, like some kind of elven god, and throughout the book he and his bandmate Chris seem to put everyone into a spell with how dangerous and alive they are. Cathy is "attracted and repelled in equal measure". When they meet Dev is high on alcohol and lack of sleep from a tour and eventually forces her to have sex with him. The messed up thing is that he feels like she is his soulmate, is sorry later for what he did, but then he uses all his money and power to make Cathy marry him. She runs away but nothing she does can escape his influence, and even more disturbing, everyone thinks she should marry him too. They either don't believe she was raped because he seems soo in love with her, or they think she should marry him anyway. Her dreams of being a famous painter sort of get swept away in the tidal wave of Dev's fame, money, and power, and the attention of the media. Feminist SF would have a field day.

I spend a lot of the book speechless. Kind of thinking that surely Cathy will get away, people will come to her side but no, it doesn't happen! In book 2 even more occurs when we have the manipulations of Chris, the lead singer of Easy Connections, trying to get Cathy himself. Cathy goes through a lot where she feels like a doll and wants to be "free" (thus the name of the book), but freedom ends up being a complicated thing. She is also eaten up with anger and resentment at what has happened to her because of Dev. She is physically ill and full of terror when he tries to touch her. We also see the reaction of Dev who sees things and Cathy's actions in a very different way. Everything seems like this big complex, crazy mess. It was really addictive to read because I was wondering where the author was going! I'm not sure I could even say what the message from these books are. Maybe it's about how difficult it can be to be a young woman, without any means to support yourself? Or is it about rape and it's consequences? Or fame and power? Or what freedom is? Or forgiveness? Or all of the above and more? I wonder if the author *wanted* the reader to be shocked and frustrated, or angry at the main characters – in her website, she posted reviews of her books which say things like 'Easy Connections shocked and angered me more than anything I've read for a long time.' ILEA English Magazine (l985).

The only thing a bit off about the book was that it did feel slightly dated – I don't know if people would react the same way today as they did then (ug, well not EVERYONE), and the descriptions of the pop rockers seem very much like they belong in the 70s and 80s – skin tight pants, flowing collared shirts, longish hair.. sounds like big hair bands, not quite what's in fashion today.

A very absorbing read, but also a disturbing read. Only read it if the review above intruiged you rather than made you want to run screaming. If you think you may throw these books at the wall – it is quite possible. Yet you may pick it up and still want to see what the eff is going to happen next. I'm definitely going to remember and find myself mulling them over later on. Doesn't really leave you when you finish reading them.

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Today is the other day!! Winner of my giveaway

Posted on August 12, 2008 by janicu

I had so many more entries than I expected (but I think I'll keep doing this), and looks like there is a winner! *drumroll* and stuff…random number generator tells me its:

ladyvampire2u!!

please send your address to me at janicu [at] gmail.com, and I'll send off you're winnings!

Thanks everyone for all the sweet comments and congratulations. I got married, it was lovely, and I'm not tired, so all is well. I may post pictures sometime in the near future..

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Today is the day!

Posted on August 8, 2008 by janicu

Surprisingly calm. We've been mad organized so it's just checking lists. I hope it doesn't rain. Eeee.

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July Book Blowout Challenge results

Posted on August 1, 2008 by janicu

OK so I finally joined a book challenge which was to read a much as I could in July. My goal was 7 books. I think I did well considering the whole wedding madness! Books read this month:

1) Frederica by Georgette Heyer

2) Nightwalker by Jocelynn Drake

3) I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd have to Kill you/Cross My Heart And Hope to Spy by Ally Carter

4) Seraphs by Faith Hunter

5) Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre

6) Hotter Than Hell anthology edited by Kilm Harrison (still need to review this)

7) Dream Quest anthology edited by Linnea Sinclair and J.C. Wilder (also need to review)

8) Easy Connections by Liz Berry (again - need to review. This one left me a bit speechless).

Right now I started Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs (I'm happy so far and savoring it).

Not bad!! I can't decide if I was just more focused with time management this time, or if I was escaping the wedding plans, or if actually, it wasn't so bad with the wedding this month since we got the major things out of the way. I'll let you know how I feel once the family descends upon me.

Thank you everyone who signed up for the giveaway, passed along the information and sent well wishes. I really like hearing other people's wedding stories and advice too. Giveaway is of course still going on, so if you haven't entered, please do here (vox) or here (livejournal).

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My first giveaway!

Posted on July 31, 2008 by janicu

It's eight days to my wedding – which is on 08/08/08. To make everyone participate in the mix of anticipation and dread (haha), I've decided to have a giveaway. If things go well with this, I'm probably going to continue. I've given books to people before, just not in any kind of contest, but I enjoy entering other people's giveaways, so let's spread the fun.

Prize

1. $20 dollar e-certificate to Barnes and Noble (I figure this makes things a bit easier for non-US participants)

2. Your choice of a paperback book from one of the authors in the list below. It has to be currently in print (you can ask for Wanderlust too, just expect to wait a bit until it comes out in order to get it).

Some authors in urban fantasy/futuristic/space opera that tickle me

Linnea Sinclair

Wen Spencer

Ann Aguirre

Ilona Andrews

Patricia Briggs

Eve Kenin

Michelle Sagara

Jocelynn Drake

What you have to do

Just comment with your name here on vox or on my LJ (janicu.livejournal.com) by midnight EST on 08/08/08. Anyone on the planet who amazon/bn ships to can enter. If you spread the word and post a link of where you spread the word, you get two entries in this contest (cause – this blog has um… about 5 readers).

I'll probably be recovering from the wedding so likely won't pick winners till 8/11/08. I'll try to be earlier. We'll see how it goes.

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Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre

Posted on July 31, 2008 by janicu

Wanderlust

Ann Aguirre

This is book 2 of the Sirantha Jax series, book 1 is Grimspace, which I reviewed here.

In this series, our flawed heroine Jax is a jumper, someone with a special j-gene that allows her to navigate ships through grimspace. As with all jumpers she's addicted to the thrill of grimspace but knows that her life expenctancy is low - her next jump could fry her mind and be her last. This has made her rather devil-may-care and self-serving until she is the sole survivor in a horrific crash, and March finds her under arrest by the Corp.

In Wanderlust, Jax is past much of the problems she dealt with in Grimspace, but, as her luck would have it, she runs into another set. Now she discovers that because she was briefly declared dead, this lead to her accounts being frozen and right now she's broke. This means she needs a job, and what's being offered is an ambassadorship to Ithiss-Tor. That's the planet Vel, her would-be assassin-turned-friend came from – where the inhabitants are human-sized insects that can produce a camoflage layer of skin to blend into other societies. Jax and her motley group of friends decide to take the job, but there are other groups around them with hidden agendas. Some want Jax to go and do a good job, some want her to go and fail spectacularly, and some just want to kill her. Action and space opera ensues!

I found a good review of this book, which I agreed with (that also has more detail about the plot, so don't click if you don't want to know) , here at LJ's genrereviews community.

Overall, I found that this book was slower-paced than Grimspace in a good way. Things feel like they take the right amount of time. I don't think the story needs to have constant action, and it was good to have some lulls (resting between battles, a non-eventful space trip once in a while, more planning, more quiet moments). There is still plenty going on of course, lots of suspense and action, its just not all of the book. This was a good thing.

Besides Vel, March, and Dina who were introduced in Grimspace , a couple new people join their crew – Hit, a skilled fighter and pilot, and Jael, an ex-mercenary. Both with complicated pasts, as with everyone in Jax's circle. Hit and Dina get along very well, and there are hints at a blossoming relationship between the two women – I really liked how this was written – like they fit together easily, without much fuss or fanfare, but still it seems like something special. Meanwhile March and Jax's relationship continues to evolve, and it's not easy for them. Aguirre throws an interesting wrench into things, and I'm waiting to see how it gets resolved in later books. I've been quite pleased with the writing in terms of the snappy dialog between people, and the growing friendships in the crew. The characters in the book all intruiged me, not just Jax and March. Even Jax's personal assistant 245 interested me! So - I felt totally satisfied after reading this book because – I still want to know what happens next, which is what you want to have when you know there's another book coming along. And I think my interest will probably last until the next book comes out. Plus, it felt like a great escape to read the book. Good space opera fun.

Wanderlust comes out on August 26th, 2008.

Here's an excerpt.

Book 3 and 4 are contracted and tentatively (?) will be called Doubleblind and Killbox. I believe there is going to be a book 5, but that has no title yet.

Aguirre also has an urban fantasy series in the works, about a woman who finds missing people with her ability to touch things and know what it's history is. The first book is Blue Diablo and is out April 7th, 2009, and book 2 is Hell Fire, which comes out sometime at the end of 2009.

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