Universe Appeal?

Behind, behind.  But I was on a trip! For 10 days! Yes, I got back a week ago... Anyway, three books behind, not exactly fresh in my mind, it's time to get going.  First up, Terry Pratchett kind of has a new one out - I saw kind of because it's a collaboration with another author, I assume an SF writer.  Which means we're not exactly going to get vintage Pratchett, whose books are only SF because they don't take place in our universe (you know what I mean, that genre takes itself so seriously).  Not sure how much of this book is Pratchett anyway, you know I just I assume that what with his Alzheimer's and all, this collaboration might have been easier than writing his own stuff... So given that I knew this wasn't going to be Pratchett, why read it? Well, I guess it was mostly why not? That's why I reserved it and once I reserved it, might as well read it.

It was indeed, much more in the usual bent of SF/fantasy.  World building and all that, and taking itself seriously... On its merits as fantasy, I'm not sure how well qualified I am to judge (well not this type of fantasy anyway).  But I didn't think the world was all that creative or revolutionary.   And not amazingly crafted either, the laws of the universe definitely seemed at times haphazard.  I much prefer Jasper Fforde's whimsical Bookworld or even Sharon Shinn's Archangel universe.  But I guess it's not fair to compare this to some of my favorite books.  Elegantly crafted or not, this universe is certainly interesting, and I'm not going to say it doesn't have potential.

This one is only the first in the series, so potential is something it better have.  Being the first, it spent most of the time just setting the scene, and then ended on somewhat of a crisis.  But before reaching the crisis, the menace of this book had already been revealed, and I have to say I did not find it spectacular. Maybe I wasn't meant it and this was all just part of the setup, but I hope the further secrets of this universe prove more momentous.  I say I hope... because you know there's a good chance I'll be reading at least the next one in the series.   Even though it's not my thing, once I start I like to continue.

But if it was that bad, I'm pretty sure I'd abandon ship no matter what.  So I guess it's not that bad.  Actually, don't get me wrong, I didn't think it was anything terrible at all.  The book managed to stay interesting even with not much going on.  And if the characters weren't the most likable, at least they had universal relevance/importance going for them (we meet the central players in this brave new world of course).  There were plenty enough times I found myself annoyed with this or that (hard to remember what at this late juncture) but overall there was never much doubt that I would continue reading.   It was definitely interesting enough for that.  And I'm not sure what else I could ask from the genre.

Verdict: 3/5

Not With a Bang But a Whimper (Ok, That's a Little Harsh But I Like The Phrase)

Oy veis meer.  I am *behind*.  I have two books to review and it's erev a three day yom tov! Need to bang these out, and fast.  Luckily, since I finished the first one like, what, two weeks ago? I've somewhat forgotten whatever I had to say about it (not that I had a ton at any point in time) so maybe this won't take too long.  Anyway, this first one is a familiar name - (not that the second one isn't, more on that of course when I finish this one) - Gail Carriger.  The fifth (and last) in the Parasol Protectorate series, all for of whose previous installments I have reviewed right on this very blog! You can't expect much about of the fifth in a series, though I think expectations are somewhat raised for the finale.  But you know, I tend to be sanguine, and I enjoyed the previous ones, though some more, some less, so I was hoping for a good read.

I'd say I was fairly disappointed, at least in the most promising elements.  Characterization-wise, we continue going off the cliff (getting farther to the edge?) of pairing off everyone as she pleases and wrecking some heretofore steadily admirable personalities (Biffy no longer confidently flamboyant, Lyle not the calm presence of mind, and Floote, oh Floote, no loyal and utterly capable butler any longer).  Then there's the lack of humor, or rather the failure of what forced humor there is.  Turns of phrase, light absurdities, they just fall flat.  And romance is long gone by this point of course.

So we're left with plot... well this is the last book, so of course we get lots of loose ends tied up and that's always satisfying.  And there was plenty of excitement, and new scenes (Egypt!) and new background to keep one interested.  So I read it more eagerly than I might have expected, at least once I got into it.  But I have to say, the ending left me disappointed - in not one, but two ways.  First,  I just didn't like it - (spoiler alert) - Ivy as a vampire queen? no.  And then it just seemed like there were plenty of little strings still waving gently in the breeze (I mean by that that not everything was tied up tidily). I suppose the excuse fo r the latter is that I think there's some kind of follow up series with Alexia's daughter, and something had to be left for that? But come on, it's the final book, couldn't it have just been final? Or maybe that is final, maybe the lack of explanation of the book's "science" was on purpose? Dunno, and not sure how much I care.  I'll read the follow up if it's in a normal format, but I seem to recall it's either manga or a children's series, neither of which excites me overly much.  So series over, all tied up, one way or the other.

Verdict: 2.75 / 5

Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing (wow!!!! go me and shakespeare :))

Agghh!!! It's August!!!!! There are a few reasons for me to panic about that, but as promised, I did finish that substantial item on my bibliogenda, and am now ready with a review.  This one was quite a while in the waiting even before I started the book about a month ago (was it that much? Almost, at least).  I really enjoyed Mark Helprin's Freddy and Frederica, I remember laughing out loud more than once (which is surprising for a book that looks like some fairly literary goods).  So I assumed he was one of those "good" authors whose books are actually enjoyable, and I chose Winter's Tale, which seems to be his masterpiece, as my next of his reads.  I got it from Pikesville, returned it six weeks later, got it out from Towson, returned it six weeks later, put it on reserve at the NYPL, let the hold expire, got it out from the NYPL, returned it two weeks later... maybe that wasn't exactly the sequence, but this book is over 700 pages long and there were always holds on it in NY.  It just wasn't happening.  But, you know, fifth time's the charm, and maybe it helps that it's summer, but I was finally able to keep the book out for more than two weeks - which gave me time to actually finish it!

From the beginning, this book was... well, not Freddy and Frederica, that's for sure.  Maybe I was supposed to take that one seriously, but I don't think so, and I certainly didn't - the whole book was a magnificently composed farce, but with a redeeming ending.  Winter's Tale isn't farcical at all - at least, it doesn't seem to be.  It takes itself all too seriously.  At first, I withheld judgement - there was pronouncement after high flown conceit after dramatic foreshadowing, but I figured maybe this was one book that had a right to comport itself in such a grand fashion.  After all, wasn't it supposed to be an epic tale? And at the beginning of the second section, it seemed like my faith was not misplaced - the prose seemed a little less florid, the events a little more everyday, the characters just slightly more sympathetic. That lasted... well, not too long.  Most of the rest of the book alternated back and forth between moments I found myself caring, and passages I was just like, whaa?  The plot made some progress, but for every new development, there were three high flowing descriptions of the city, or of nature, or of some mystical force, or who knows what.

I got less and less patient with the non-story part of the book, but I still held out hope that the ending would be spectacular, rewarding me for slogging through.  There was definitely some potential for it - there was an almost Dickensian complexity of relationship among the characters (like that? :)) and there was a setting of events going a hundred years back.  But to counterbalance that, instead of seeking to tangle things up as much as possible so that we could be stand back and admire as the knot came undone, the book advances more by "magical" elements than anything else.  You wouldn't think I'd be so bothered by the lack of self empowerment in this book, but if felt like the author was some omnipotent being throwing plot twists at his hapless creations.  Now of course that's exactly what was happening, but can you let us forget that for a second? Instead, we are continually reminded that what we are reading is an epic tale, a tale of great scale and grand power, and how do we know that? Because we are told that, flat out pretty much.

And when we finally slog through that momentous build up, here's the shocking part - NO twist.  Or almost no one anyway - we knew Peter Lake would be important, we knew the city of justice would be revealed, we knew the dead would be brought back to life.  What we didn't know was *how*.  And guess what *how* was? It just happened! Peter Lake killed himself, Abigail came back to life, and the city was filled with light.  Huh? Where did that come from? Well the author's head, that's for sure.  It's possible he wanted to write a description of the Messianic era, that's really what it reminded me of more than anything else (or more like a pagan/Christian rendering of one).  But, putting aside that it's not like we can ever know or even imagine what that era will be like, it really doesn't make for very compelling reading.

I actually have an impressively literary explanation for why I didn't like this book.  One of the important elements of narrative literature (thanks yet again, Mrs. Janney!) is conflict.  It can be man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. himself... but it's got to be man vs. something.  In the 700+ of this book,  I really couldn't find a central conflict.  So despite the impressive build up to the final "Golden Age" of the ending, the plot just had no footing.

And what about the writing itself? I suppose it was good, if you go for that sort of thing (condescending or what? :)) I mean full beyond of extended metaphors and descriptions of nature, man, time, elements, whatever you want.  Paeans to New York, which were mildly interesting, since I do like New York.  But all of it just seemed like someone trying to make things sound more significant than they actually are.  Trying, and, at least in my book, not succeeding.  Occasionally, there was an impressive turn of phrase, but for the most part, this is the writing parodied by the Bulwer Lytton Content (look it up, and then the Little Lytton Contest - it's even funnier).

I was so confused by how ungood this book was, I went and read the Wikipedia entry.  I found out that 1) it's not considered that amazing and 2) Mark Helprin is really full of himself and more than a little unusual (and that's not because he's a Republican :)) So I guess I just had the wrong impression of the book's place in the American fiction canon.... but it didn't live up to my expectations after Freddy and Frederica either.  Oh well... a month wasted (not really of course, I don't usually regret reading things :))

Verdict: 2/5

PS - http://vellumpire.blogspot.com/2010/04/interim-post-hang-in-there.html we do go back far, me and this book :)

My Kind of Fantasy Land

So if you read the blog even more avidly than all those other people who read my blog, you may have noted my comments discussion with abg, advising her on good reading material for her vacation.  My strongest suggestion was to get in to Jasper Fforde; though it turns out abg was not enamored of his books, I feel like he's one of that elusive few, male authors whose books I like.  The reason, of course, is that his books are comedic.  Not strict comedy maybe, but definitely light-hearted.  They are also very clever fantasy - taking place in an alternative universe where the fictional characters we know and love are real.  Real and living in a world very similar to our own... except that instead of atoms, they have text. The idea isn't that radical.  But the execution is so good. I mean, yeah, I'm the girl whose favorite sporkle category is literature, so I'm predisposed to like it. But come on, metaphor as the elusive element? Gray's Anatomy the hospital? Footnotes as a communication device? It's just cute :)  Actually, abg agreed with me on this; she just thought that despite all this, the books were tense.  And they are tense - they have a bit of the thriller about them, as so many fantasy books do.  But I just don't think it takes it over or anything - or maybe the sheer absurdity of the villains and various hazards just distracts me from any sense of danger.  I think it's like Terry Pratchett in a way - go, British male writers of comedic fantasy! :)

Anyway, that's as far as the series goes (it's the Thursday Next series, by the way, he has some other books too).  I read them a few years ago, and the sixth one just came out.  So first of all, it's not exactly like I remembered everything from the previous books, which was annoying, but you know, you can mostly pick it up (if the author is at all decent anyway).   And with these books, there's so many little cute jokes I miss, it's not like I get everything anyway.  Like in this book, Thursday is bribed to advertise the Toast Marketing Board.   And only then did I realize that though there were constant references in it to previous books, it is never explained what it is - because she went back and added them gratuitously to the narrative! and cute again :)  The point is, even if you don't get everything, there's enough clever little references you will pick up to make yourself feel smart and get a real kick out of the books.  And with this book, it mattered even less than usual... because the book wasn't even about Thursday.

Okay, here's where it gets clever.  So in Fforde's universe, book characters are real.  Thursday Next has had books written about her (in the series, don't worry, it doesn't get that self-referential - at least not yet :)) so she has a fictional self.  So even though when we open up the book and the narrator is referred to (by others I mean, it's first person) as Thursday, it takes a while to figure out that this is not our Thursday.  But the cool thing is that we like her anyway, because she *is* Thursday.  Or if not exactly Thursday, close enough with her that we still feel like we know her.  Actually, I find entire concept pretty mind-blowing.  I mean our Thursday is fictional, this Thursday is fictional, I don't remember the books well enough to notice the personality differences, but still, he tells us this is the fictional Thursday, and all of the sudden I like her, but I feel *just a little* more distant.  Really makes you think about psychological effects and all that.  Oh and the best part of another Thursday was that she totally hero worships our Thursday and it was tons of fun to hear how everyone thinks she's awesome.

So the book was totally brilliant in that respect.  And it had all the hallmarks of a Thursday Next, where the BookWorld mirrors ours so novelly (cute pun, no? :)) and we get to meet all our favorite (and not favorite) larger than life characters.  It had the usual, I suppose tense and dangerous plot, which was as usual not too tense for me because it was just so overblown.  My only complaint was I did feel that some of the cute punny features of the Book World felt a little too pat.  Like, okay, take any vaguely literary detail and insert it in place of something non-literary - presto, the Book World equivalent.  It felt a little too mad-libby at times. But it was okay, it felt just right in others :) And Jasper Fforde shares with Terry Pratchett a predilection for making over science (physics and chemistry) to fit the fantasy world, which of course I like - it's funny how much I like science,  I should really read it more :)  Anyway, that was really my only complaint... so no surprise -
Verdict: 4.5/5

Not As Magical As Someone Clearly Thinks It is

Half the time I read a book that's not pure chic lit, I end up saying something like, but it was fun anyway b/c... or after a while i got caught up in... or she/he did a good job with it... basically, that even though the subject matter isn't my favorite, or even on my radar screen, it was still fun to read, either because the characters were good, or the story moved fast, or it was funny or whatever.  I wish particularly to recall the case of Gail Carriger's Soulless series - I read the first for the romance but the second was good despite the relative lack and the third was... well not great, but I don't think I complained too much.  In contrast to that case, I have here the sequel to Leanna Renee Hieber's The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker.  Now I didn't love the first one either, but if I recall, I said it got better towards the end.  Now part of that was of course the romance, but I think the main story was more compelling that at the beginning as well.  I mean you kind of just expect that - first of all, you just end up caring more, and second of all, the climax tends to be the most exciting / least full of uninteresting side details part of the book. 

So I kind of expected that in this book, at least a little.  I mean, I knew I couldn't expect much romance, because that story was already over, but I kind of thought there was a reason to read this book.  Like, did I care about these characters at all? Did I want to know what would happen to them, especially given that the story was pretty unresolved at the end of the first book? I mean, I'm pretty sure the answer was yes.  But... wow, that book did not live up to expectations, in that case.  I mean, from the beginning, the romance was *soooo* over.  Alexi and Percy were like impossibly syrupy and *melodramatic*.  Like so melodramatic I'm sorry I ever call anything else melodramatic.  This stuff was *over the top*.  Omg, I love you, I'll never leave you or hurt you, don't ever leave me, we'll be together, our love is the stuff of legend, blah blah blah.  And Percy is so wonderful, so sweet, so lovely... I just don't buy it.  She seems at turns ridiculously timid and silly, at others this all powerful loving saint... but never overly likeable.  And as for the plot... well I complained I couldn't really make heads or tails of this fantasy world in the first book, and the sea of confusion continues in this one.  I feel like it's just all over the place with spiritual mythology and mysterious powers leaking every which way, with no real discernable system.  I know I make fun of world-building, but there's something to be said for a fantasy world that respects some methodical system, instead of one that changes its rules to fit its conveniences.  Ghosts can't make things move... oh look, he moved that! Darkness is a god... no darkness is a power... no darkness is dead? I don't know, and I don't care.  It's frankly very silly, and a not very interesting amalgam of Greek and Catholic religious gobbledygook with some random magic thrown in.  Not really much of a redeeming feature anywhere... not even the Victorian English setting had any appeal, as it was really only the setting in name only.  The people don't act English, and the place they live in bears little resemblance to mid 1800's London, as I can tell from my expert knowledge of the place :) I really must say, I was pretty much waiting for this book to be over as soon as I started, and I never really got over my impatience.  

Verdict: 1.5/5 (I suppose there are worse books than this one... at least it's by a girl :)) 

Food: utterly, thoroughly disappointing - cook definitely trying too hard... like that nougat I once made... just... don't ask

Everyone Has An Off Day...

I was all excited about my new reading time on the subway, and how I was going to finish so many more books but here I am posting on Sunday again... Well the truth is, I did read most of the third of Gail Carriger's series, Blameless, on the train/at night before I went to sleep, but then I only read a very little bit on Shabbos.   So basically, I'm still holding at one book a week, which I suppose is status quo, but not nearly up to my library book taking out rate - oh well :) At least at nypl, you can renew books up to 10 times, supposedly.
So anyway, like I said, this is the 3rd in the series - and the other 2 are actually reviewed here as well! My little blog is getting so old... :) If you recall, (and I know you do :)) I had actually read a review of this one after  I finished the second, and it was rather unenthusiastic about this one.  So I wasn't completely excited to read it, even though there was the whole mess between Alexia and Lord Maccon to allow for some potential romance :) And of course, it makes the review a lot more boring if someone else wrote it already... so boring that I started this last Sunday and here I am *next* motzei shabbos posting... and with two more in the wings, don't expect me to take too much time with this one :)
Anyway,  what can I say? It definitely wasn't great... I suppose the style was the same as the first two, but somehow, it wasn't pulled off as well as in the second one at least.  I mostly found Alexia to be kind of pushy, yet without confidence.  She doesn't really shine for the most part... I mean if anyone does, Madame Lefoux comes off nicely enough, but even she has lost some of her suavity.  Lord Akeldama was totally absent, Lord Maccon was drunk, Professor Lyall... well he was doing pretty well actually, as was Floot.  Whatever, some of the characters weren't in top form, but that isn't really my main complaint.  My main complaint was that there was all together too much drama and not enough fluff in this installment.  It goes from chase to chase, danger to danger, with ne'er a bit of fun thrown in (well not much anyway).  And who reads these books for the action? I know I'm not the only one who could do very well with no action whatsoever... or not more than is strictly necessary for the plot... but here, even the humor was mostly pratfalls... and I hate physical comedy.  Sigh... this book just wasn't that much fun.

And that was before it got to the ending... well not the very ending, which was more just an opening to the next book (which may be very good, I'm certainly holding out hope). The almost ending in which... well I suppose I won't tell you, but I"m referring to what happens to Biffy, if you've read the book.  I mean, why? why? we did *not* need more pathos! A perfectly fun relationship and lighthearted secondary character gone... and for what? I guess we'll see in the next book, but I don't think it'll be worth it.  So that was annoying.  But I probably could have stomached it if the rest of the book was better.  Oh well.  I'm going to read the next one anyway.... and it might be better, because there's enough real plot available that we may be able to do without the manufactured drama of this one :)

Oh and I totally forgot to mention the romance! Well the pathos of Lord Maccon's regret at his mistake was definitely the best part of the book.  But 1) it was a little too pathetic, even by my standards and 2) it was over half way through... so not a completely redeeming factor

Verdict: 2.5/5
Food: Not as good as the original... like cherry vanilla dr. pepper - we did *not* need that addition

Nothing Too Impressive Here

Shameful as it is, I have not yet finished my first days reviews.  As excuse, I offer my current residence in the laziness-inducing locale of Chapman Lake.  I have spent the past few days not reading and definitely not blog-writing.  But since it's almost the second days and I've got a whole new crop of books to read and then review I figured I better get caught up... So here goes #4, Shades of Milk and Honey by... s/t like Mary Robertson Kowal.  This is Austen paraliterature reviewed on austenprose, where Laurel Ann has never given any book less than a 4 as far as I can remember.  That means recommendations there are more like a mild suggestion, but this one looked promising enough.  #1, it's not about the Bingleys, the Darcys, or any other character from P&P.  It's basically a Regency country gentlepeople setting, with a slight protusion of magic thrown in - and as I mentioned just a few posts ago, what better setting is there? :) It was purportedly a romance and that's really all I need to give it a whirl.

And you know, I can't really say it didn't live up to its promise.  The magical element was kind of weird and I didn't really get the point but it was also extremely unobtrusive - not really changing society or humanity at all in any way that mattered.  The writing wasn't great, but I can't say I really expected more.  But... the romance! My gosh, I don't even know if I can call it romance.  Well I guess I can, because the guy liked her, there was a *tiny* drop of angst, there were some subtle hints, they didn't get together till the end... but 1) it was really badly done and 2) there was another guy involved the whole time! who she liked! and who seemed to like her! and who didn't turn out to be bad in the end! I don't know, it was just weird and badly done.  Totally not enjoyable.  Also there were all these weird elements of different Jane Austen plots mixed in and it kind of confused everything.  Basically, concept was decent, execution pretty darn bad.  Oh well, can't win 'em all.

Verdict: 2/5
Food: Like I said, decent concept, terrible execution... raw a/t... raw chicken i suppose - i do seem to use the raw metaphor a lot, don't I? I really don't like raw food :)

Funny Saves the Day

Continuing with authors you will find familiar (yes, I'm assuming an intimate acquaintance with posts on this blog :)), next on the list of yom tov reading was Gail Carriger's Changeless, sequel to Soulless (see here).  If you recall (and I know you do :)), I read Soulless mainly (solely) for the romance.  So that romance was satisfactory enough, but since the book ended in marriage, I wasn't actually expecting much of a romance for the sequel.  So why would I bother reading it? Well the simplest answer is that when I like a book, I don't want to leave the characters.  If more's going to happen, why wouldn't I want to know it? And even though the vampire/werewolf menage holds little interest to me, I'm a sucker for Victorian England and the nobility thereof :)  The last book was light and funny, I enjoyed it despite all the supernatural stuff, so I expected to get through this one easily as well.

And I'd say my expectations were more than met.  As expected, very little romance, though it was fun enough to see the happy couple alternately sparring and swooning (not really swooning :)) But the main attraction of the book proved to be humor.  The book was written in the same facetious way the first one was, but I think she kind of hit her stride with this one.  Either that or I am starting to understand the writing better.  In any case, I was able to appreciate the complete zaniness of most of the characters in the book and sympathize with Alexia's rather unorthodox approach to society.  And Alexia has really come in to her own as a force to be reckoned with, I think.  I never felt like she was unduly threatened, she basically stayed in command of every situation.  That's not to say she was like Scarlet Pimpernel cool or anything.  It was more like the tension/danger was kept light in keeping with the humorous tone.  So we never feel too nervous that something cataclysmic is going to happen.  She's in control, we're in control, so why not enjoy it? Rather a quick and bouncy ride, if you know what I'm saying.

So I'd say I enjoyed it even more than I expected.  But that was because I wasn't expecting any romance in the first place.  And in the end, (not going to spoil here :)) there's a new development that brings up the possibility of some nice angst in Book III.  But don't get too excited... Book 3 (Blameless) has actually already come out and according to the review I read on Amazon... we may have wait till 4 before the series gets back in form.  Oh well, one good 'un will have to be enough to tide me over for now :)

Verdict: 3.5/5
Food: Unexpectedly delightful in a bit of different way... fresh teriyaki salmon - you never till you taste, but sometimes it's just really good... of course, it's still fish, not ice cream :)

Just Keep 'em Human, Please!

After a brief venture out of my comfort zone, which did not particularly succeed, I went to the library yesterday and got out 13 eminently comfortable books ranging from old favorites to total junk chic lit, to known authors, to recommendations from trustworthy sources.  So expect a more positive crop of reviews comin' up.  But not this one... not particularly anyway.  Meg Cabot published her latest in June actually, but I hadn't gotten around to reading it till now (I lost my reserve at the library b/c I had no time to pick it up and then I left Baltimore...) I wasn't overly enthusiastic about it in the first place, because though I general enjoy her tried-and-true formula (with a few exceptions, like the one I reviewed a while ago), this book is pretty new for her... Meg Cabot has jumped on the bandwagon with, you guessed it, a vampire novel.

I think I've stated my feelings on the supernatural genre previously, which are basically that it holds no interest to me in and of itself, but that I can usually stomach it when it comes in the form of supernatural romance/chic lit, as it so often does.  And this being Meg Cabot, Insatiable does fall squarely in the chic lit category.  Unfortunately, it falls pretty neatly into the chic lit mystery/action sub-genre as well, which, while it really is to be expected of a vampire book, does not improve its readability.  The book departs from most of the MC books I've read in another way as well - it's missing her trademark total ditz of a first person narrator who does like a very slightly - very slightly - older version of Junie B. Jones.   I must say, I don't really miss that narrator, but the third person viewpoint means there's a whole lot of description of scenes not directly observable by our heroine... and of course many of those are less than interesting to me.

But I must admit that a lot of those scenes were those involving vampire hunter Alaric, who I thought at first was mostly there for the plot and at best was somewhat of a comic relief.  This was because Alaric does not appear to be a very attractive character (personality wise; physically he is a-ok :)) And since there's another very eligible male who likes Meena (main girl) very much, why would I assume the nasty guy was the interest? I don't think this is a fault in my romantic interest radar - I think Meg Cabot does a bad job with his initial portrayal.  And yes, this may be deliberate, since she actually does seem to like introducing red herrings (very prominent in Queen of Babble and I noticed it in Airhead as well) but it still creates inconsistencies with the likeability of the characters.  The other thing throwing me off was that I didn't realize that this is meant to be the beginning of a series (yay?) so that it's not like e/t was meant to be resolved happily ever after by the end.  I assume Meena will get over her dislike of Alaric next book and they can get together in the third or s/t... but for now, Alaric can stay a bit of an off-putting type w/o wrecking the plot line.

And the truth is, why should I complain? Alaric is a better main man than Lucien (son of Dracula).  He's human, rather awesome, rich, gorgeous... (I mean except for the one, he shares those attributes with vampire guy but whatever).  And there's a much more interesting romance than the open and shut one w/ Meena and Lucien. That one happened way too fast - almost not qualifying as romance fast, though it could have been saved by insertion of the vampire element to keep them apart.  But since the book veered off after the original pairing, there was no question of that happening.  And Alaric-Meena shows a lot of promise, if handled correctly...

Of course, that's not a trivial if.  Meg Cabot can definitely do decent romance, but that's her strongest suit, to put it mildly.  Her writing leaves something to be desired.... it's very jumpy and the characters sometimes feel inconsistent (like, why is he saying that type of thing).  I can't really complain that much b/c I guess she's about average for a chic lit writer... but this book aspires to be more than chic lit.  Drama, mystery, danger, pathos... and if you're going to dive into all that, you should be a better swimmer than Meg Cabot is.  Instead, it's all just competely distracting from what could be a promising romance.  These authors need to remember that their loyal readers *do not care* if the books contain not one meaningful idea.  Really, we dont.

Verdict: 2.75/5 (but my expectation is that the next book should be a 3)
Food: bland, nothing too exciting, but nothing objectionable either... and it is something I like in general  - Utz regular potato chips fits the bill here- I think they're my least favorite type of regular potato chips b/c they don't have enough salt, but I don't say no to them

Ghostly Inteference Creates Static In a Clear Romance

Remember that list of books from I don't even know when (I'm not online right now so I can't check the entry) where I went through I think 17 books that were on my list? So I got through all the library ones (or most of them) but the ones I bought… well ifI own it, it seems like  i just don't read it :) To refresh your memory, I had bought Melissa Nathan's The Learning Curve and Leanna Renee Hieber's The Strange Tale of Miss Percy Parker, both books impossible to find in the library.  So anyway, I brought both of them to Australia and I read the Strange one this past Shabbos.

This one was another I heard of on Lauren Willig's website, though I think I originally may have heard of it somewhere else as well.  And similarly to the Gail Carriger book, it's a fantasy/alternate universe romance.  Unlike Soulless, it's closer to a fantasy than a romance.  Actually it's kind of funny, the spine specifies the genre as "historical fantasy", which seems like a bit of a contradiction in terms to me but what it comes down to is a mix of Victorian society, which I like almost as Regency, and ghosts mixed in, which I can pretty much take or leave. 
This book had *a lot* of the ghost stuff.  And it's not even particularly well done ghost stuff.  For the most part, the book jumps between the people and the "spirit world", basically a group of angry beings identified with pronouns - meant to be spooky, usually just more confusing.  Towards the end, the plot coalesces into a retelling of Greek myths, with which I am not familiar enough to be able to identify how closely the story follows (I know that sentence is hopelessly garbled :)) But in any case, my overwhelming felling about the fantasy plot was that everything seemed completely fated.  In other words,  there was a little or nothing the characters could do to help the good prevail and all that.  And what's the point of that? I mean it's not like this stuff is real, so give us *something* we can identify with, like the eternal struggle to make decisions in a confused and dark universe. 

So all that was pretty annoying.  What about the historical romance half of the genre? Some preliminary points: these people, whether by virtue of their special status or by whimsy of the author, do not give much credence to Victorian social standards, which bothers me because, as you know, I am a snob.  But I can forgive that, because the main character, Alexi, is purrrity awesome - actually gifted with power and full of all the brooding stoicism just waiting to fall in love ;).  The bigger issue is the way the romance ties in with fantasy stuff.  The permise is that Alexi and the others were given a prophecy that a goddess would come to them one day, and Alexi believes she is his soul mate whom he is fated to love.  And even though he does seem to feel a connection with Percy immediately, he doesn't fall in love with her till her decides that she is his goddess.  So along with the plot seeming totally predestined, the romance is pretty forced too.  But then at the end, (spoiler alert) Alexi thinks Percy *isn't* the prophesied one and guess what? He's devastated! And *that* makes for *great* romance ;) So the ending is just chock full of satisfying angst :)

Verdict: given that the book redeems itself towards the end… 3/5
Food… well I must say, not quite sure about the premise of the book, but the execution was *definitely* lacking.  And as for the premise, well like I said, 1/2 historical romance is a huge plus, fantasy aspect is a I guess nootch.  So I need a food with two parts, one of which I like, one which I could do without… I'm going to with the corn thins and peanut butter.  Not that I've ever tried this combo, but I *love* peanut butter, corn thins are okay, but I'm pretty sure that all I'd get out of eating them together is the peanut butter… and the corn thins would definitely detract from the peanut butter somewhat.

The Spooky Side of Romance

All right, on to number two! (if you're wondering we I am right now... and I know you are ;), sitting in Dulles airport waiting to board the flight to San Fran on the way to... yes, you know it... Australia :)) Sorry to digress, number 2 was another Lauren Willig recommendation, Gail Carriger's Soulless.  It was actually on my Books to Read list for a while but kind of low down there, but it was recommended by a number of people (on Lauren Willig's website) as a great intro. to supernatural romance.  Now I have no interest in the supernatural element of supernatural romance, but if it's the number one supernatural romance... I expect it to be up there on the list in general :)  So definitely worth giving a whirl...

I pretty much figured I would just ignore the whole werewolf/vampire thing the way I ignore most subplots in chic lit/romance that are just uninteresting to me... because of course the main point of the book is the romance, right? But that actually was not the case here... there was just all this stuff about vampires and werewolves and ghosts and "preternaturals" which are Gail Carriger's thing - people born without a soul, like our heroine... and there was this complicated world which was pretty cute - the book was very humorous in general... but the truth is, I don't have much of a tolerance for that type of thing (I make an exception for twilight... Edward is too cool :))

And besides... Lord Maccon, hero/head werewolf, is obviously awesome... but he's not *totally* awesome - not you know one of these people who just has total control all the time, kind of new to the scene and not always the smoothest operator... which bothered me a little.  But only in the beginning, because she revs up on his awesomeness and takes down his awkwardness a notch as the book progresses.... and the romance picks up as well, so that was pretty good.  And, as in many cases, I got used to the book and the werewolf/vampire stuff got less annoying... and I kind of like the scientific bend she brings to the whole thing - I always like sciency bents (man, I am a *nerd* :)) And I think the annoyance wore off pretty quickly, and the cuteness picked up.  So I ended up enjoying it quite a lot...

That being said, it's really a traditional romance, and those are never as good as the chic lit type (not going to go into why, but that's the case).... so I'm not going to laud this book to the skies, but I *am* going to read the sequel - and that's *even* though the romance is done, because there was a nice wedding at the end of this book (spoiling? hardly.... :))

So verdict: 3.5/5
Food... argle, bargle, this is getting hard... well s/t I like... but s/t w/ elements of something I *don't* like... like when I didn't used to like raisins, oatmeal raisin cookies (and I know it's cheating to use a food that I *do* like now... but what can I say, I'm pickier with books than with food :))

Interim Post - hang in there :)

So.. I know all you 53 viewers (or is it even more :)) are just desperate for new content... I am unfortunately rather preoccupied with my paper at the moment, but I will hopefully have time to read on Shabbos (though we are having very exciting guests, so  I guess we'll see...) but if all goes as planned, you should see a new post on motzei shabbos on at least one of:
A Winter's Tale - by Mark Helprin, one of these great American books but I think it'll be pretty good - I read the first two chapter last shabbos
Howl's Moving Castle - recommended by the crowd on badforshidduchim who inspired this blog in the first place (couldna done it without them :)) (not really) - so I got all three out, though I probably won't get through more than one
and... most exciting and most likely... The Double Comfort Safari Club (I think that's what it's called) the BRAND-NEW AMS that I got today and it was actually at the library yesterday, the day it came out! yay! anyway, I could probably write the review in advance... (see La's Orchestra for what my opinion of AMS) but I'll wait :)