Ariel - Steven R. Boyett

I bought this book after John Scalzi recommended it over on the Whatever, and then just couldn't get past the first chapter for ages. I was finally in the right mood for it though and really quite enjoyed it (although it isn't perfect) - enough that I'm planning to get my hands on the sequel, Elegy Beach.

The story opens with a boy & his unicorn (or a unicorn & her boy) walking down an abandoned highway together. They would probably be content to simply explore this post-apocalyptic world together, living mostly off the land and only coming near cities to take what they need from stores that haven't already been looted by everyone else. Unfortunately there are other people in the world, and one of them is a necromancer who wants Ariel's horn. Also, boys to grow up, and unicorns aren't necessarily compatible with growing up. It is a great coming of age story with good characters and marvelous fight scenes, and I especially enjoyed the author's commentary at the end.

So, mostly I really enjoyed the story, but I had some major problems with the world. The idea of "The Change" where technology suddenly stops working, pollution vanishes, and magical creatures suddenly appear, is fabulous, but the execution isn't perfect. How can watches and compound bows keep working if bicycles don't? What Boyett really wanted to do was to remove guns and modern transportation from the world - which is great - but there are probably better ways to do it. Sky's suggestion was to make combustion suddenly stop working, so engines and guns don't work but other things still do. I'm sure someone else could poke holes through that too. Mostly this didn't bother me though. My big problem was the social changes following the Change. Where did all the people go? Pete & Ariel are wandering through a very sparsely populated landscape, and yet folks didn't all starve to death because there are still canned goods on grocery store shelves. I think they're mostly assumed to have died as a result of violence, but the speed at which society just falls apart just doesn't feel right to me. It doesn't mesh with the fact that so many stores in large cities haven't been completely looted and destroyed.

Anyway, these are the sorts of things that you'd expect to see cropping up in a first novel, and the story is good enough, the action especially, that it is still eminently readable.

Midsummer Night - Freda Warrington

This is a sequel to Elfland in that it is set in the same world, slightly further in the future, but it is a very different story with a very different set of characters. I really liked this - Elfland had a very satisfying ending, and I was happy to leave those characters where they were - not that I'd mind hearing more about them, but their story had been told.

Gill is running from something, and has wound up in a small cottage on the Cairndonan estate of Dame Juliana Flagg, desperate for solitude. But it is clear from the very beginning that being left alone is not going to solve her problems. The entry of several rather nosy people, while quite upsetting to Gill, is not nearly as upsetting to the reader. Gill is not Aetherial, yet she finds herself in the Spiral one day with some fascinating consequences. Gradually the mystery of what is really happening at Cairndonan, and why Dame J hasn't sold a piece of artwork in 15 years is revealed. Naturally the revelation involves some adventures in the Spiral and a lot more insight into the workings of the Aetherial community.

It could have easily been a black and white story of good vs evil. One of the characters, Rufus, is very definitely evil, quite possibly the devil, and yet the "good guys" weren't nearly as good as they seemed. There was also the interesting question of how important it is to punish someone for a crime committed over a thousand years ago. This was a fun book to read, hard to put down, easy to get lost in, with a totally satisfying ending - you can see how the characters are now free to get on with their lives, they have lots of different options open to them which are all going to be far more interesting to the characters themselves than to the reader, and so you are happy to let them get on with their lives while still longing for a sequel because it is the setting itself which is so fascinating. Our own familiar world, interleaved with that of the Spiral where the Aetherials can take on their alternate forms, often more animal than human, with their very different life-spans. I'm looking forward to the next one!

Elfland - Freda Warrington

Although this book is titled "Elfland", most of it takes place on Earth. Fairyland is accessible via many small doors, and the great gates are thrown open once every seven years for a giant celebration (for Aetherial's only), but the gates have been closed - either to save everyone from certain destruction, or because their keeper, Lawrence Wilder, has been completely taken over by paranoia. For whatever reason, the Aetherials living on Earth have been closed off from their birthright, and it isn't clear whether this will be deadly to them in the long run or not. For the younger Aetherials, including Rosie Fox and her brothers Matt & Lucas, this doesn't seem to be a huge problem as they were too young to have been initiated when the gates were closed. They don't know Fairyland, and they don't miss it. But this is just the background - the setup for a community within a community, which allows Warrington to explore what it means to belong somewhere when you're born straddling the boundary between two wildly different worlds. Matt desperately wants to be fully human, and attempts to control his younger siblings and discourage them from fairy tendencies, and encourage them towards relationships with other humans - and away from Aetherials and their customs.

This book is an exploration of relationships. Should you marry for love or for security? Can you keep on loving someone after they have betrayed you? If your partner has previously been hurt by someone cheating on them, is there a stronger obligation for you to avoid hurting them in that way? Is it possible to survive the loss of someone you love? Then there is the difference between simply being in a relationship with someone, and actually marrying them - marriage changes the nature of the relationship, but it also includes your family. Additionally there are parent-child relationships, sibling relationships, and friendship. All of the characters have depth - there is no one in this story who is perfect, and there are several characters who are very difficult to even like - which is part of the reason I had trouble getting going with this story, and what ultimately made it really great.

I really enjoyed this. It made me think a lot about the effect that being in various relationships has had on me. How much easier things are when you have the same goals and desires, when there is trust. How a good relationship makes everything in your life better, and brighter, and easier. How a bad relationship can just rip you apart, and how escaping from a bad relationship doesn't just affect the two of you, but extends out to your family and friends. How some things are forgiveable, and some things aren't - and which is which depends on the people involved rather than the specifics of what has happened.

In addition there's a really great story going on. Epic adventures, battles between the forces of ...well definitely not good & evil...more like battles between the forces of left & right honestly. There is lots of beautiful imagery, gorgeous fairy landscapes, and wonderful earthly views. There are all sorts of different ways of being right, or wrong. I had trouble getting through the first third of this book, but once it got going I just couldn't put it down, and was really sad when it ended.

Freda Warrington's website.

East - Edith Pattou

This is a great example of titles and cover art being important. This is a retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales, "East of the Sun, and West of the Moon", which is totally clear from the cover. It jumped out at me as I walked past it in the library and I'm really glad it did!

This is a wonderfully told story, totally satisfying and incorporates the original story beautifully with lots of extra details. My favorite bit is the superstition about birth direction (the direction in which your mother is facing when you are born) affecting personality, and how seriously (or not) various characters take it. Now that I'm thinking about it, Elli is an East - which works nicely, because her name begins with E, as it should.

Rose is the main character of this story, and she is one of the narrators. The other two main narrators are her father and her brother Neddy who she is very close to. There are also a few chapters narrated by either the Troll Queen or the White Bear. In the first case it gives you a nice glimpse into the workings of troll society, and let you understand why the White Bear was enchanted in the first place - which just wouldn't make sense without the Troll Queen's narration. The White Bear's chapters are also fascinating because they really emphasize that his thoughts are not entirely human thoughts - he really is a white bear.

My favorite bit here was the ending. Rose and the White Bear are in love with one another, she has just completed a dangerous quest to rescue him, and yet they don't just rush into one another's arms. Their relationship needs to be redefined now that he is human again. I also love that while her quest to find the White Bear is extraordinary, rescuing him is not just as simple as finding him.

This is a great fairy tale, and also a great retelling of it. And thanks to LibraryThing I've now got a couple more retellings of it on hold!

The Inheritance - Megan Lindholm/Robin Hobb

Megan Lindholm & Robin Hobb are the same person, but with very different writing styles. I'm pretty much in love with both of them, so it shouldn't be too surprising that I totally loved this book, but I'm not always a fan of short stories. I had only read their novels, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find that all of these stories were gripping and wonderful. These stories were all long enough to let me actually feel involved with the main characters, and while they didn't all have happy endings, they were all very satisfying. I couldn't manage to read it all in one sitting, I had to take breaks between stories to process what I'd been reading.

Here's a breakdown of each story so I can remember them!

A Touch of Lavender - Aliens, addiction, abandonment, love in all its many varieties. I didn't really 'get' this story, I don't fully understand why it ends the way it does, but I really loved it while I was reading it. Billy's relationships - with his mother, with his sister, but especially with Lavender. What it can mean to a child when someone is really there for them, and listens and cares about them.

Silver Lady and the Fortyish Man - Magic isn't always what you expect it to be. And life doesn't always deliver what you want. But you're allowed to enjoy the good bits, and

Cut - A fabulous and chilling take on circumcision and female genital mutilation. It really has me thinking about parenthood and responsibility. At what point do we have to let our children go out and make their own mistakes?

The Fifth Squashed Cat - This is a really weird little story, but I enjoyed it. It is easy to feel superior when you're smart, but it doesn't always get you what you want. And people don't always appreciate your smug little feeling of superiority.

Strays - This is about stray cats, and a stray child. And more obliquely about when it is possible to help someone and when it isn't.

Finis - This one is really short, the POV character isn't really involved in the story at all, the main character only puts in a brief appearance, and most of the story takes place offstage. But it is great and it is fun rather than frustrating to figure out what is going on here.

Drum Machine - Dystopian future where you select your progeny from a list of officially approved prototypes who will be psychologically compatible and not prove unduly challenging to raise. In order to highlight the issues with this particular dystopia there is a little story running through the background about the difference between scripted and spontaneous music - and helps you see what has led to this particular future.

Homecoming - The first Rain Wilds settlers and their struggle to survive. Carillion is an artist, and aristocrat, and a mother who has been thrust into a horrible situation. It would be really easy for her to simply abdicate all responsibility, and in fact that is what she does initially, but watching her evolve as a person and put her own unique abilities to use solving problems is great. It is a scary story, hard to see how any good can come of this, but watching them fall in love with the Rain Wilds has made me want to go back and re-read Liveship Traders, and very excited about the new series.

The Inheritance - Shortest of the three Hobb stories. Set in Bingtown as the granddaughter of a Trader reclaims her inheritance - which isn't quite what she was expecting it to be.

Cat's Meat - The best story of the bunch in my opinion, although that's possibly only because I read it last. Set in the Farseer universe. The main character is almost totally powerless when her son's father shows up again after abandoning them years ago. She has to choose between fighting back (which is likely to have an immediate and disastrous outcome) and running away (also likely to be a disaster) and discovers a rather unexpected ally in her pet cat.

Elemental Assassin series - Jennifer Estep

The author's "Big Idea" behind this series is that books should be fun - and I would have to say that she succeeded admirably in that particular goal, because fun is exactly the word I would choose to describe this story. Gin Blanco is a really fun character, and the four books I've read so far have been extremely entertaining. Unfortunately that's about all they are - brain candy. Which isn't a problem if that's what you're looking for - fun, sexy, full of adventure - but doesn't make you come to new conclusions about the world. The big problem with Gin is that she's too powerful - she's a kick-ass assassin, she's got piles of cash, she's got a fantastic backup team, and she's the most powerful elemental around with not only one, but two elemental powers. So nothing ordinary can possibly be a threat - and so the author has to throw some really extra-ordinary bad guys in her way. So you wind up with this crazily powerful character getting beaten up over and over again (because that's the formula - the good guy isn't just allowed to walk in and win with no effort) which makes them seem much less powerful than they're supposed to be...which in turn makes the "I'm the best assassin in Ashland" line come off a bit whiny. Which is a real shame, because this series is otherwise excellent. There's a very decent background storyline running through the entire series. The little repetitive bits which have to exist because this is written as separate novels are short & sweet - they didn't bother me at all and that sort of thing usually drives me crazy. Really, what Gin needs is more people to beat up - she retires very near the start of book 1, and I think that's a real shame. One of my favorite bits is the hit in the opening chapter - excellent little story, nice demonstration that Gin is totally awesome at what she does. It would make the book a bit longer, but if there were one or two contract killings in each book that were just a cakewalk it would make things even more fun.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie

This was mentioned by Cloud on Wandering Scientist. It is the story of Junior, a Spokane Indian, growing up on the reservation and his decision to attend an all-white school in the neighbouring farm town in the hopes of escaping the trap everyone else on the rez seems to have fallen into - giving up. Junior has had to fight his entire life, but this decision puts him at odds with almost everyone in his community, and drops him into a social setting which runs according to totally different rules than he is used to.

This is a fascinating look at two different societies through the eyes of someone who doesn't quite fit into either. It could be a horrible and depressing book, but Junior is such a brave and positive character that it isn't. There are really horrible incidents with people both on and off the reserve, but there are some absolutely fantastic examples of kindness and humanity which balance these. None of the characters were black and white. Junior's best friend spends most of the book refusing to talk to him, and only at the very end does he manage to cope with Junior's decision to leave the reservation. The big mean kid at the new school, who is initially very mean and racist, winds up being one of the kindest and most thoughtful characters once he has actually gotten to know Junior as a person rather than a stereotype. People are people, and they act it in this book. No one is all good or all bad. Sometimes good decisions lead to tragedy. Sometimes horrible things happen for no reason. But people go on being people, and mostly they are good people.

There's an astonishing amount of depth in this very short and very readable little book, and the cartoons scattered throughout are fabulous. Not just simple illustrations, they actually help tell the story. I loved it and it is going on my list of books to put in Elli's way once she's a bit older.