Tea and Dragons

I finally read the first of the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood novels, Dead Until Dark.  They really ought to put numbers on the covers; it took me a while to figure out which one came first.

Eh.  They're so wildly popular that I expected it to be fairly good, but while the plot hangs together well enough, the characters' actions were a little too random or unexplained.

Also, I find Sookie stupid and annoying, and Bill a cipher.  Why is half the male population of her town lusting after this woman?  She can't make a decision and stick to it for two days together, let alone behave consistently towards the object of her putative affections.  Bill pops up and just falls in lust with her for no discernible reason--at least, he never offers a word of explanation, and Sookie seems to take it for granted.

In addition, Sam was obvious.

I may try the next one to see if things improve; first books are often rough.  

I just finished reading John M. Ford's The Last Hot Time.  It's an Elfland-returns novel, that I believe is seriously riffing off of the Borderland series in its own way--a sort of mirror-image, and much darker.  It's fascinating...and it doesn't quite work. 

I hate to say that about a Ford book, because I adore his Growing Up Weightless and How Much for Just the Planet?.  But this one hints and sketches and whispers and never quite explains what's going on, and the characters are almost flat, far too calm--almost as though they've been tranquilized.  It's like reading through gauze; one doesn't ever quite see or feel clearly.  And it's a great pity, because there's so much potential in this book.  

Alas, I can't recommend it as a must-read, though it's certainly worth the look if you're in the mood for a magic post-apocalyptic novel with a good dose of noir.  Which sounds like a dippy description, but sf/f fans will know just what I mean... 

...Finished, anyway.  Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, by David Petersen  is a graphic novel that's got a great concept going, but I couldn't really get into the world; the mice as drawn seem to have no expressions, and no one seems to have a sense of humor, either.  I would have loved to know more about the world the characters inhabit; details were sketchy.  The next volume might provide more, but I'm not sure I'm motivated to seek it out. 

As a tie-in novel, Heat Wave (the Castle spin-off) is surprisingly good, with strong characterizations and a nice complicated mystery. There’s plenty of wit and twists, and while it’s short enough to make the cover price a bit outrageous, it’s fun and a very decent read.

As what it’s pretending to be, however, it fails utterly. The characters that are supposed to be inspired by the police folks are basically copies with the names changed. And the author offers almost no physical description of them at all. Nikki Heat is supposed to be young and sexy, but there’s nothing to tell the reader that. It’s a glaring omission for what’s supposed to be a debut novel.

It’s still fun and full of inside jokes, though, and I recommend it--though you might want to check your library rather than paying the full price.

I don't think this book ever even went into paperback. Greensleeves, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, and my copy is older than I am. It's a strange book to me; parts of it are very much of the time, and parts are not, and from what little I've seen the author's other books aren't very similar.

A young woman who's grown up all around the world tries to find her center and figure out her future, amidst self-doubt, two-ish suitors, and a minor mystery concerning a will. It's a fun story, rich, with vivid characters. And it's strange to my eyes, despite the fact that its attitude and era are not unknown to me. Shannon Lightley, red-headed and European in flavor, turns herself into a beehived, laconic waitress named Georgetta to figure out why an old woman left people strange bequests. Her self-doubt irritates me a little after a while...but I keep the book.

I'd recommend it, but I don't know where an interested party might get a copy. They all seem to start at just under $50. Huh.

I just finished re-reading N. Lee Wood's Looking for the Mahdi, which is a unique and fascinating near-future novel--now slightly out of date politically, as it was published in 1996, but that doesn't matter. It's complex, uncomfortable, and a great read, and while I do not recommend the author's Faraday's Orphans (ew ew EW) this one is a keeper. I always finish it and think "Why not?"

Walkabout Woman by Michaela Roessner (not Michael, Amazon.com is wrong), though actually I just finished it. A very interesting pre-apocalyptic novel, though I'm not at all sure it's anywhere near accurate. I don't enjoy it as much as Vanishing Point, which is really unique, and I recommend the latter if you can find a copy, but still--a great read.