Holiday Reads

A lucky quirk of fate has resulted in my having five days off in a row this week - hurray for unexpected holidays! I've read two books - Emma Newman's 'Any Other Name' and Catherynne Valente's 'The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There'. 

Angry Robot, £8.99

   'Any Other Name' is the follow-up to this Spring's release in the Split Worlds series - 'Between Two Thorns' (you can find my review here). It's due for release on June 6th. 'Any Other Name' picks up directly where the first novel leaves off, as Cathy prepares for the very advantageous match which has been made for her by her family and their Patron. It doesn't matter in Fae high society that this marriage is the last thing that Cathy wants - her parents and family elders have total control of her fate. 'Any Other Name' continues some of the plotlines introduced in the first novel, as well as presenting new locations, characters, and phenomena - Max the arbiter continues his investigation into the strange events concerning his colleagues, Sam the mundane (person untouched by Fae magic) tries to help some of the 'innocents' captured by Fae in the first book, and we discover London society and its brightest stars, and the mysterious members of the Elemental Court.
   The strange conventions of Fae society continue to bear more resemblance to the Edwardian era than to the modern day, which makes it particularly hard for Cathy - who has lived for a time in the modern world - to accept once again her place in her family and next to her husband. She is expected to attend to interior decorating, hiring of servants, embroidery, and the perpetuation of her husband's family name. It makes interesting reading from this perspective alone, as we see how Cathy struggles to figure out how exactly she is going to bring about wholesale change in this backward social group.
   This seems like a classic 'middle book' in a series, with the accompanying issues. How to develop characters and plotlines, achieve perhaps minor but no major resolution, while maintaining the interest of readers. This novel does manage the feat quite well, but I didn't feel that it also forms a novel which could satisfyingly be read as a standalone, which is disappointing. I have to say that, while so many of them are amazing (and this one is very good), I'm very bored at the moment with the obsession of publishers for making any science-fiction or fantasy novel into a series. I'm dying to read a couple of good new standalone novels! (Suggestions in a comment, if you have any!) Having said all of that, this series is well worth the read, and Cathy is a fantastically sympathetic creation - I rooted for her as I haven't for a character in a while.
   As you may know if you've come across my blog before, Catherynne Valente is one of my

Constable and Robinson, £9.99

absolute favourite authors (my review of 'Deathless' is here). 'The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There' is the sequel to the much-lauded 'The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her own Making', which was released last year (my review is here).
   I really want to avoid any spoilers of either book here, as I love them both so much and really want everyone to read them. Suffice it to say that September is a little older and wiser in this instalment - she returns to the magical world of Fairyland and discovers that all is not well there. In the course of her adventures she meets a host of new characters - the Duke of Teatime and his wife the Vicereine of Coffee, Aubergine the Night-Dodo who is a student of Quiet Physics, gets a Watchful dress, and takes a ride on an Electric Eel. The illustrations are once again by Ana Juan, and are simply beautiful. These are marvelous adventures, written with a clarity and fluidity which is just miraculous.

Illustration from The Girl Who Fell Beneath.., Ana Juan

  

The Lives of Tao

  Here's another big release from Angry Robot books - 'The Lives of Tao' is out on April 30th. It's the debut from Wesley Chu, and it's been very well received so far. I have to admit, it's not

Angry Robot, £8.99

really my type of thing, and it's not going into my top reads of the year - but it, objectively speaking, did have lots to recommend it. 
   Roen Tan is an overweight and unhealthy IT technician. On the way home from work one night he suddenly finds his body invaded by an alien being - Tao. The next few days are a whirlwind of paranoia and confusion as he battles through the suspicion that he has gone mad, and comes to believe the voice in his head telling him that he is now the host to an alien. Tao tells his new host that he is a Quasing - beings which have inhabited the Earth since before the evolution of humans. Roen learns that the Quasings have split into two factions - Tao is a Prophus, and he is involved in the battle with the Genjix, who want to subjugate the human race in their effort to return to their home planet. Roen has inadvertently become a part of a ruthless war, but in order for him to be useful, Tao must first transform him from out-of-shape office drone into a fit and strong secret agent, with all the skills that involves. 
   It's a fun journey, and the internal dialogue between Roen and his new teacher and partner is lightning-quick and snippy. The most fascinating aspect of the story is the fact that Tao is an immortal being who simply transfers to a new host upon the death of a previous one, so he has seen the entirety of human history from one perspective or another. In the course of this time, the Quasings have accumulated an immense amount of knowledge, and often managed to be in the right place to occupy extremely influential historical characters as hosts. So Tao can teach Roen using stories of the time he occupied Genghis Khan, General Lafayette, Sun Yat-Sen, and lots of others.
   While I did find some passages to lack the engaging quality of others, I found myself thinking frequently about how well this novel would translate to the big screen. It's precisely the type of story which I absolutely love in a movie - an action thriller with a fantasy or science fiction basis. I'm unsure as to how a filmmaker might overcome the narrative difficulty presented by the extensive internal dialogue between Roen and his symbiotic partner Tao, but I suppose that's why I'm not in the screenwriting or directing business! This is an energetic and fun novel, and it's well worth a read for any fan of this genre.
   
   A little while ago I reviewed Emma Newman's 'Between Two Thorns', the first in a planned 'Split Worlds' series. You can find my review here. I've recently received the second in the series, and I can't wait to read it, but in the meantime I've discovered Emma's website, containing links to no fewer than 54 short stories based in the world of the 'Split Worlds' series. I'm planning to read those before continuing with the series. I've read about 20 so far, and they are enjoyably quirky and whimsical. Go have a look!

    I also finally read 'The Rights of the Reader' by Daniel Pennac this week. It's a passionate defence of reading for pure pleasure, and an exploration of the experience of reading from early childhood - from a bedtime picture book for a toddler, through learning letters, to exhaustive comprehension exercises in school. He finishes with ten concise 'Rights of the Reader'. The new translation by Sarah Adams is published by Walker Books and illustrated by Quentin Blake, and Walker have produced this illustration of the ten Rights:

'The Rights of the Reader' by Daniel Pennac, illustrated by Quentin Blake. Published by Walker Books, £6.99.

   The book has made me think a lot about how to pass on a love of reading to the next generation - how could I make sure that a child enjoyed books as much as I do? I'll have to wait and see.

The Explorer and Between Two Thorns

HarperVoyager, £12.99

  Last October, I received an advance copy of James Smythe's 'The Explorer' from the very kind people at Harper Voyager. In what can only be explained as a relapse into a depressed sort of inactivity, I have only just managed to read it. It's not a huge book. It's not dense prose. I had only just finished Smythe's previous book 'The Testimony', so I had a very good idea of the style of the book before me, and I remained frozen. Well, it's now the New Year: the book is in the shops and resolutions have kicked in - I read it last week.
   It's a thrilling and unsettling read. Cormac Easton is a journalist who has been chosen to accompany a remarkable new expedition into space. As a precursor to a manned mission to Mars, the purpose of this expedition is simply to see how far into space it is possible for the current technology to get, and come back with lots of new data. In order to get as far into space as possible, new propulsion systems have been introduced to make the initial take-off many times faster and more powerful than any previous launch. The only way for the human body to withstand the pressure this creates is to place all of the crew into hypersleep for the launch. The first problems of the trip arise when the First Pilot fails to awaken from his hypersleep - he is dead, and has been for many days by the time the crew wake to find him. After that, and all in the first chapter, the rest of the crew follows 'one by one, falling off like there was a checklist', until only Cormac remains alive. What follows is a claustrophobic and suspenseful psychological portrait of a man driven to desperation by a terrifying sequence of events. The sparse prose perfectly suits the location, and the first-person narration (meaning that we only know as much as the main character - not very much) really contributed to the pervading sense of imminent doom and/or madness. 

HarperCollins, £7.99

   While I'm here, it's worth also recommending Smythe's first book 'The Testimony'. I read this in one sitting one surreal night last summer, feeling as if I was reading a news story instead of a novel. It seems to be due out in paperback this month. It has an fantastic concept - here's the blurb: 
   
   "What would you do if the world was brought to a standstill? If you heard deafening static followed by the words 'MY CHILDREN, DO NOT BE AFRAID'?
   Would you declare it an act of terrorism? Turn to God? Subscribe to the conspiracy theories? Or put your faith in science and a rational explanation?
   The lives of all twenty-six people in this account are affected by the message. Most because they heard it. Some because they didn't."
   

Angry Robot, £8.99

   My next read this week was Emma Newman's forthcoming 'Between Two Thorns', due in March from Angry Robot. The novel is set in a world where humans (mundanes) live unaware of a connected mirror world (the Nether), inhabited by immortals with the patronage of various Fae Lords, who live in Exilium. Catherine Papaver is a rebellious immortal who has run away from her life of privilege in the Nether to live as a student in Mundanus. The novel begins as she is tracked down by Lord Poppy, the patron of her family, and ordered to return to her life in the Nether to marry. However, she returns in time for some unexpected disruptions to the society calendar, and soon she is working alongside a sorcerer and an Arbiter to find her uncle, the Master of Ceremonies of Aquae Sulis, the mirror city of Bath where the story is set. 
   I was briefly unconvinced by the story at the very start as it seemed too similar to other stories I had read recently, but I was very quickly captivated by the brilliant characters and fast pace of the story. Cathy is a fantastic character to read as she contemplates her forced return from the freedom of Mundanus to the repressively old-fashioned society of the Nether. There were lots of really enjoyable touches (the Arbiter has a gargoyle containing his dislocated soul for a sidekick, Fae Lords are attended by tiny faeries with dragonfly wings, the impossibly long-limbed brothers Thorn) and I particularly loved the mysterious Shopkeeper, with his shop full of artefacts and charms - no two alike and not displayed in any obvious order. It's the first book in a planned series 'The Split Worlds', and my only (small) complaint about this one is about its ending, which I felt was not quite satisfying enough for a stand-alone novel. Luckily, the two sequels both have planned releases for this year, so it won't matter for long!
   I'm off now to read 'A Natural History of Dragons' (yay, dragons!) by Marie Brennan, and 'Bookplate Special' (Booktown Mysteries #3) by Lorna Barrett. I shall report back!

Holiday Reading

   The Christmas period is so busy for us booksellers that I've had little chance lately to dip into my very-enticing To Be Read pile. Thank goodness, then, for a few days off and less frantic working days. In the last two weeks, I've caught up on my list to the extent of getting five of the must-review titles read. 

Angry Robot, £7.99

   My first read was Cassandra Clarke's forthcoming novel from Angry Robot: 'The Mad Scientist's Daughter'. It's due out for the UK market on February 7th, and I have to say it's probably one I'll be buying to keep and re-read. When Cat is five, her father brings home a surprise for her - a tutor named Finn. She is mystified by his strangeness, and thinks he must be a ghost, but she soon discovers that he is even stranger than that - he is a robot. A billion-dollar perfectly humanoid experimental robot, assisting her father in his laboratory and teaching Cat.  It reminded me a lot of Asimov's 'The Bicentennial Man', a major theme being the politics surrounding a robot which so closely resembles a human being. 'The Mad Scientist's Daughter', however, is a resolutely human story - the story of Cat's life and her relationship with Finn over the next twenty-odd years. It's wonderfully moving, and I'll be thoroughly recommending this one to both science fiction and drama/romance fans. 

Angry Robot, £7.99

Angry Robot, £7.99

   Next up were the first two parts of Anne Lyle's Night's Masque trilogy - 'The Alchemist of Souls' and 'The Merchant of Dreams', both from my favourite: Angry Robot. The trilogy follows the escapades of Maliverny Catlyn, a young ex-soldier recruited by Francis Walsingham ('spymaster' for the Queen) as bodyguard to the new envoy to Queen Elizabeth's court from the newly-discovered Skrayling civilisation of the New World. It's a heady world of politics, intrigue, and xenophobia, and Lyle makes creating a vivid and grimy Elizabethan background look easy. It's a fascinating period in itself, and a great setting for the introduction of the Skrayling species (I possibly have forgotten any more explicit descriptions, but I get a somewhat reptilian impression of them). Catlyn is joined by Coby, a young woman working for a theatre company by disguising herself as a boy, who becomes his valet. In the second outing, their investigation of Skrayling issues takes them to Venice, develops Coby's character hugely, and introduces us to lots of new elements of Skrayling culture. Overall, it's a fun series, and I love any book that can combine my loves of both historical and fantasy fiction. 

Available from the US

Bloomsbury, £6.99

  I read two children's books this month - Philip Reeve's 'Mothstorm' and Lisa Graff's 'A Tangle of Knots'. 'Mothstorm' is the conclusion of a terrifically-fun trilogy of space adventures (the first two were 'Larklight' and 'Starcross') aimed at a 10+ agegroup. (It's the first time I've committed to an age rating here, and it's a half-hearted attempt. There's nothing unsuitable for any age in here, so if they can read most of the words, give it to them!) It's a steampunk space adventure featuring a plucky boy, his goody-goody sister, a multi-species space pirate crew, and a marauding horde of aliens on giant moths. Future classics. 'A Tangle of Knots' is more average fare - a nicely-whimsical story involving a large cast of characters in a world where everyone has a particular Talent, be it running backwards, blowing bubbles, knitting, spitting, or baking anyone's perfect cake. It's a nice read for a similar 9/10+ agegroup.

   Anyway, in between more serious assignments I'm really enjoying re-reading Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series, but unfortunately I started my re-read too late and I'm not going to meet my goal of having the entire series finished before Tuesday, when the final book 'A Memory of Light' will arrive. I'll have to read it to avoid spoilers, and then read it again when I've finished the rest of the series. I'm also FINALLY getting around to reading Hilary Mantel's 'Wolf Hall' for book club, and so far I'm enjoying everything except the sheer size. Over the Christmas holidays I started Sally Vickers' latest, 'The Cleaner of Chartres', which I was quite enjoying but which has been put aside in favour of more urgent projects for the moment!

Reading Choices

   This has been a really good week for reading. The three books I've read this week have all been exciting, well-written, and thought-provoking - two Advance Reading Copies: 'Nexus' by Ramez Naam (Angry Robot, Jan 2013) and 'Pantomime' by Laura Lam (Strange Chemistry, Feb 2013), and one from the 'To Be Read' pile: 'Mortal Engines' by Philip Reeve (Scholastic UK, 2001).

Omnibus ed: Angry Robot, £12.99

   I've been meaning to write about Angry Robot for a while. Since I started researching new science fiction titles to order in to the shop, they've become one of my favourite publishers. So many of the most exciting and innovative new titles are coming from there. Lavie Tidhar (who a few weeks ago won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for his newest novel 'Osama') first published his amazing Bookman stories ('The Bookman', 'Camera Obscura', and 'The Great Game') with Angry Robot beginning in 2010. The cover design has consistently been excellent (check out images online for 'Empire State' by Adam Christopher, 'Zoo City' by Lauren Beukes, and 'The Damned Busters' by Matthew Hughes). Strange Chemistry is Angry Robot's new Young Adult imprint, so the success of this week's reading is really a double whammy for them. 

Angry Robot, £8.99

  'Nexus' is a thrilling near-future science fiction tale of human modification and enhancement. Kaden Lane is a young scientist working illegally on the next generation of a mind-linking nano-drug called Nexus. The possible uses of his alterations to the drug are not lost on US military agencies, and he soon gets caught up in a storm of espionage and real physical danger. I was struck very early on in this story by how detailed and well-researched it was, so it came as no surprise for me to discover that the author, Ramez Naam, is a professional technologist who has previously written a non-fiction book on the subject - 'More Than Human: Embracing the promise of biological enhancement'. What was a surprise, then, was how well-written the action scenes were, and how believable and moving the emotional ones. I did find some of the technological exposition a little clunky as the novel went on, but this really is a minor quibble, and I think this book definitely has broad appeal. 

Angry Robot, £7.99

   In contrast to the hard  and technologically-advanced science fiction world of 'Nexus', the world of 'Pantomime' is a colourful world rebuilding after the near-destruction of previous civilisations. Nobles of the present day collect items known as 'Vestiges' - remnants of these previous civilisations which mystify with their strange powers. Micah Grey is a young man who has just run away from home, and manages to join a circus due to his preternatural climbing skills. But his real name is not Micah, and indeed he is not really a young man at all. I flew through this fascinating story last night and this morning, completely captivated by the mystery of this main character as he struggles with issues of gender, identity, and sexuality. This would be an interesting enough story with just these elements, but the backdrop of the new world of Ellada, of strange personal interactions with apparently technological Vestiges, of the myths of Kedi - wonderful beings worshipped by past civilisations, and of allies and enemies in the circus, make it a much more complete creation, and seem to be evidence of a writer with many wonderful ideas.  

New ed: Scholastic, £6.99

   I've been meaning to read Philip Reeve's 'Mortal Engines' for a long time, having read and adored two parts of his prequel trilogy to this series 'Fever Crumb' and 'Web of Air'. In the future, centuries after an apocalypse of some sort, cities and towns are mechanised to allow them to roam the devastated landscape scavenging for parts, fuel, and food for their citizens. Tom Natsworthy is an apprentice Historian, training in the recovery of old Tech (seedees and other computer parts) and artifacts. When he foils an attempt on the life of the Head Historian and is thrown from the moving city of London by the same Head Historian in thanks for his efforts, he is forced to reassess everything he thinks he knows about this man and about his city. He teams up with the would-be assassin, a hideously scarred girl called Hester Shaw, and together they make their way on the ground, investigating the reasons for London's sudden foray into the Great Hunting Ground, and the consequences of that for their world and for their new friends. I was reminded while reading this book of China Miéville's second Bas-Lag novel 'The Scar'. 'The Scar' features a ship/raft conglomeration in the same way that 'Mortal Engines' has moving cities as its main locations, and the people of both novels are diverse, confusing, and multicultural, forming a similar tone and background to both stories. I can't wait to continue with Reeve's series!

   This consistency of this week's choices immediately makes me think of how often I've got books wrong. I've picked a book based on the cover, author, blurb, reviews, adaptations, and it has often gone horribly wrong. I didn't enjoy J.K. Rowling's recent blockbuster 'The Casual Vacancy' - too much gritty real-life for me. I unfortunately hated Charlaine Harris' wildly popular Sookie Stackhouse series (the basis for the 'True Blood' TV series, which I did like) - I couldn't stand the style of writing, and can't understand how so many readers can endure the writing to find out what happens to the characters. When I read Stephen Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant years ago, I disliked his language and style. Although, it's such a long time since I read those that I should give them another chance, but I'm sure I'll never have time for that, when there's so much else to read.

   When I remind myself of those books, I'm glad that my 'To Be Read' pile is looking so good at the moment, with lots of interesting older paperbacks, and some lovely ARCs - Cassandra Rose Clarke's 'The Mad Scientist's Daughter', Anne Lyle's 'The Merchant of Dreams', and Lisa Graff's 'A Tangle of Knots'.