River of Teeth
The River of Teeth series, Book 1
Sarah Gailey
Tor
Fiction, Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: In the mid-1800's, to combat a nationwide meat shortage, the American Congress passed the Hippo Act, importing hippopotamuses to the southern bayous. The lower Mississippi was dammed to create marshland for hippo ranches, which would provide meat and leather and jobs.
It seemed like a good idea at the time...
Winslow Remington Houndstooth, an English immigrant "hopper" (the hippo equivalent of a cowboy) whose ranch was destroyed years ago, takes a government contract to clean deadly feral hippos out of the Harriet, the stretch of marshland between the dam and the gate preventing the hippos' escape into the Gulf of Mexico. To help him, he assembles a crew of rogues and miscreants, all the best in their fields and not a one worth trusting. While the government had intended to give him a year to round up the ferals, Winslow has a much faster plan, one with the side-bonus of exacting vengeance for his own destroyed dreams - but the caper goes wrong from the start, endangering his crew, himself, and everyone in or near the Harriet.
REVIEW: As alternate histories go, this is one of the weirder takes I've yet encountered. Apparently, the "Hippo Act" was a proposal that almost happened... clearly proposed by people unaware of hippos as anything but large sources of potential meat. Hippos are, in fact, about the deadliest land animal known, responsible for numerous deaths annually. In a South overrun with ferals, the swamps become deadlier than any mere alligators could make them, even as the domesticated strains of riding hippos prove every bit as clever and loyal as a horse. It makes for an interesting "Wild South" milieu.
What drug this one down in the ratings was the characters. While each had distinctive personalities, I didn't like any of them, and had trouble believing several of their interactions given what little I knew of them. One in particular seemed to have no reason at all to be part of the caper in any official capacity, and ends up contributing next to nothing, a subplot that would've meant a lot more had the tangled threads of character backstory not been so deliberately hidden from me. As a result, I couldn't care overmuch about the plot, which felt both stretched and rushed. I couldn't quite tell if this was a short story made too long or a full-length novel made too short, but something felt off-kilter by the end, leaving me unsatisfied with the conclusion.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Carico Trails (Nan C. Ballard) - My Review
Devil's Tower (Mark Sumner) - My Review
A Partner in Crime (Bonnie Watson) - My Review
Saturday, May 12, 2018
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
The Girl In Between (Laekan Zea Kemp)
The Girl In Between
The Girl In Between series, Book 1
Laekan Zea Kemp
Amazon Digital Services
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Romance
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Afflicted with Kleine-Levin syndrome, teenager Bryn sometimes feels like a stranger in her own life. Uncontrolled episodes of prolonged sleep steal days, even weeks from her life, interrupting school and severing friendships and even leading to her parents' breakup. While many sufferers outgrow their symptoms, her case has defied the norm from the start. Other KLS patients simply fall into darkness, while she has always visited the "dream state," a surreal and ever-shifting place stitched together from memories. She's always been alone here - which is why it's so startling when the boy arrives. He's a stranger, not a memory, and he seems to persist in her dream state even when she wakes back up to reality. His arrival coincides with a disturbing shift in her condition, the appearance of a predatory shadow that follows her into the waking world. Is the boy another delusion, a sign that her condition is deteriorating, or something else - perhaps a sign that her dream state and the shadows are much, much more than a simple quirk of her own mind?
REVIEW: I came close to shaving a half-star off the rating for the abrupt ending, clearly leading into the second book in what appears to be a four part series, but the rest of the story was solid enough I decided to give it a pass. Bryn is a damaged teen from a damaged home, surrounded by other wounded people all struggling to make the best of imperfect lives, coping with burdens and demons they never asked for, yet often find more comforting than the unknown possibilities of letting their unhealthy habits go. It borders on angsty, but manages to stay just this side of the line. It's not a spoiler to say that Bryn's stranger is more than a simple hallucination (this is a fantasy title, after all), though he's no white knight, being at least as flawed and broken as she is. The ending, as I mentioned, feels rather abrupt, and I'm on the fence about continuing (I do have a sizeable backlog already), but overall I found it an enjoyable, sometimes harrowing and gut-wrenching read.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Dragons in the Stars (Jeffrey A. Carver) - My Review
Forbidden Mind (Karpov Kinrade) - My Review
Crosstalk (Connie Willis) - My Review
The Girl In Between series, Book 1
Laekan Zea Kemp
Amazon Digital Services
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Romance
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Afflicted with Kleine-Levin syndrome, teenager Bryn sometimes feels like a stranger in her own life. Uncontrolled episodes of prolonged sleep steal days, even weeks from her life, interrupting school and severing friendships and even leading to her parents' breakup. While many sufferers outgrow their symptoms, her case has defied the norm from the start. Other KLS patients simply fall into darkness, while she has always visited the "dream state," a surreal and ever-shifting place stitched together from memories. She's always been alone here - which is why it's so startling when the boy arrives. He's a stranger, not a memory, and he seems to persist in her dream state even when she wakes back up to reality. His arrival coincides with a disturbing shift in her condition, the appearance of a predatory shadow that follows her into the waking world. Is the boy another delusion, a sign that her condition is deteriorating, or something else - perhaps a sign that her dream state and the shadows are much, much more than a simple quirk of her own mind?
REVIEW: I came close to shaving a half-star off the rating for the abrupt ending, clearly leading into the second book in what appears to be a four part series, but the rest of the story was solid enough I decided to give it a pass. Bryn is a damaged teen from a damaged home, surrounded by other wounded people all struggling to make the best of imperfect lives, coping with burdens and demons they never asked for, yet often find more comforting than the unknown possibilities of letting their unhealthy habits go. It borders on angsty, but manages to stay just this side of the line. It's not a spoiler to say that Bryn's stranger is more than a simple hallucination (this is a fantasy title, after all), though he's no white knight, being at least as flawed and broken as she is. The ending, as I mentioned, feels rather abrupt, and I'm on the fence about continuing (I do have a sizeable backlog already), but overall I found it an enjoyable, sometimes harrowing and gut-wrenching read.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Dragons in the Stars (Jeffrey A. Carver) - My Review
Forbidden Mind (Karpov Kinrade) - My Review
Crosstalk (Connie Willis) - My Review
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
wishtree (Katherine Applegate)
wishtree
Katherine Applegate
Feiwel and Friends
Fiction, CH Fantasy
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: For over two hundred rings, Red has watched over its neighborhood as the resident wishtree: every May 1, people come to tie wishes to its branches, on paper or ribbons or even socks and undergarments. Not that Red has any real power as an oak tree. Normally, trees don't even speak, at least not to humans. But it has its friends, the animals who live in its branches and hollows, and people... well, while Red is an incurable optimist, even it has to admit that people can be tricky and hard to understand. When a new family one from a far-off land moves into the blue house, the people become very hard to understand indeed. These aren't the first immigrants to move into Red's neighborhood, but this is the first time anyone defaced its trunk with a message: LEAVE. Red can't figure out why; the girl Samar seems like any other girl, if perhaps more quiet, and her wish is simply for a friend in this new place. With the neighborhood growing more hostile and the landlady grumbling about the tree having outgrown its place, this may be Red's last chance to ever make a wish come true - if a tree can make any difference in the world.
REVIEW: Like Applegate's other recent books, this is a deceptively simple fable, tackling a tricky subject with heart and nuance without talking down to kids or lecturing. Here, with the unusual narrator Red, she offers a tree's-eye-view of prejudice, fear, and history. This is not the first time Red's neighborhood has had trouble accepting newcomers, though the ugly overtones of modern hate unsettle even the tree. Indeed, even amongst the animals, neighborhoods are often fraught with squabbles and misunderstandings and petty feuds. That doesn't mean happy endings are impossible, just that they're more complicated than most storybooks like to tell us. Red's efforts to make one wish come true, with help from its animal friends, are vaguely reminiscent of the gorilla Ivan's struggles in Applegate's The One and Only Ivan; both face challenges because of who (or what) they are, and must find unique ways to communicate with a species that, for all its tendency to talk incessantly, has a very difficult time actually listening. By turns silly, serious, and even sad, wishtree is an excellent tale for our troubled times, a reminder that we've been here before - but that history is no guarantee of a happy ending in the here and now if nobody will stand up for what is right.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The One and Only Ivan (Katherine Applegate) - My Review
Pax (Sara Pennypacker) - My Review
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
Katherine Applegate
Feiwel and Friends
Fiction, CH Fantasy
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: For over two hundred rings, Red has watched over its neighborhood as the resident wishtree: every May 1, people come to tie wishes to its branches, on paper or ribbons or even socks and undergarments. Not that Red has any real power as an oak tree. Normally, trees don't even speak, at least not to humans. But it has its friends, the animals who live in its branches and hollows, and people... well, while Red is an incurable optimist, even it has to admit that people can be tricky and hard to understand. When a new family one from a far-off land moves into the blue house, the people become very hard to understand indeed. These aren't the first immigrants to move into Red's neighborhood, but this is the first time anyone defaced its trunk with a message: LEAVE. Red can't figure out why; the girl Samar seems like any other girl, if perhaps more quiet, and her wish is simply for a friend in this new place. With the neighborhood growing more hostile and the landlady grumbling about the tree having outgrown its place, this may be Red's last chance to ever make a wish come true - if a tree can make any difference in the world.
REVIEW: Like Applegate's other recent books, this is a deceptively simple fable, tackling a tricky subject with heart and nuance without talking down to kids or lecturing. Here, with the unusual narrator Red, she offers a tree's-eye-view of prejudice, fear, and history. This is not the first time Red's neighborhood has had trouble accepting newcomers, though the ugly overtones of modern hate unsettle even the tree. Indeed, even amongst the animals, neighborhoods are often fraught with squabbles and misunderstandings and petty feuds. That doesn't mean happy endings are impossible, just that they're more complicated than most storybooks like to tell us. Red's efforts to make one wish come true, with help from its animal friends, are vaguely reminiscent of the gorilla Ivan's struggles in Applegate's The One and Only Ivan; both face challenges because of who (or what) they are, and must find unique ways to communicate with a species that, for all its tendency to talk incessantly, has a very difficult time actually listening. By turns silly, serious, and even sad, wishtree is an excellent tale for our troubled times, a reminder that we've been here before - but that history is no guarantee of a happy ending in the here and now if nobody will stand up for what is right.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The One and Only Ivan (Katherine Applegate) - My Review
Pax (Sara Pennypacker) - My Review
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
Saturday, May 5, 2018
Catseye (Andre Norton)
Catseye
Andre Norton
Ace
Fiction, YA? Sci-Fi
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: As a boy on Norden, Troy Horan had dreams of becoming a Range Master like his father before him, hunting with bright fussel hawks and tracking vast herds of tupan... but, even across interstellar distances, war always comes to destroy dreams. Like many others across the galaxy displaced by skirmishes, Troy winds up on Konwar, where he must scrounge for day labor jobs with other noncitizen refugees outside the great city of Tikil. It seems a stroke of luck when he finds work in Kyger's pet shop: Troy's childhood taught him skills in handling animals, and Kyger imports all manner of exotic creatures catering to the whims and vanities of Tikil's moneyed elite. Kyger even has a fussel hawk, a painful reminder of home. But it's the man's latest imports that truly captivate Troy: Terran animals, peculiar creatures like cats and foxes and the clever kinkajou... animals with whom Troy develops an unexpected telepathic bond. All, however, is not as it seems at Kyger's shop. Soon, Troy finds himself caught up in a dangerous web of clashing powers and interworld intrigues, where his animal bond might save his life - or endanger it.
REVIEW: First published in 1961, it's hard not to see the age in Norton's "tell"-heavy style. Traces of racism tinge the plot, particularly in the untrustworthy "yellow" shop assistant Zul, and it's hard to imagine a modern kid or teen reading the Tikil honorific "Gentle Homo" - the local term for "gentleman" - with anything but a snigger. Norton's characters read a bit flat compared to many of today's offerings. It also reads rather juvenile, despite the main character being (nominally) an adult; had it been written today, it probably would've featured an aged-down Troy and been aimed at the middle grade market, but such categories weren't options at the time. Beyond those issues, though, are some interesting ideas and settings... too many to really explore properly, but which present some nice mind's-eye candy. The story reads fast, like much of Norton's work, and if there are some convenient coincidences that stretch credulity now and again, it still generally entertains.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Lionboy (Zizou Corder) - My Review
Animist (Eve Forward) - My Review
The Catfantastic anthologies (Andre Norton and Martin H. Greenberg, editors) - My Review
Andre Norton
Ace
Fiction, YA? Sci-Fi
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: As a boy on Norden, Troy Horan had dreams of becoming a Range Master like his father before him, hunting with bright fussel hawks and tracking vast herds of tupan... but, even across interstellar distances, war always comes to destroy dreams. Like many others across the galaxy displaced by skirmishes, Troy winds up on Konwar, where he must scrounge for day labor jobs with other noncitizen refugees outside the great city of Tikil. It seems a stroke of luck when he finds work in Kyger's pet shop: Troy's childhood taught him skills in handling animals, and Kyger imports all manner of exotic creatures catering to the whims and vanities of Tikil's moneyed elite. Kyger even has a fussel hawk, a painful reminder of home. But it's the man's latest imports that truly captivate Troy: Terran animals, peculiar creatures like cats and foxes and the clever kinkajou... animals with whom Troy develops an unexpected telepathic bond. All, however, is not as it seems at Kyger's shop. Soon, Troy finds himself caught up in a dangerous web of clashing powers and interworld intrigues, where his animal bond might save his life - or endanger it.
REVIEW: First published in 1961, it's hard not to see the age in Norton's "tell"-heavy style. Traces of racism tinge the plot, particularly in the untrustworthy "yellow" shop assistant Zul, and it's hard to imagine a modern kid or teen reading the Tikil honorific "Gentle Homo" - the local term for "gentleman" - with anything but a snigger. Norton's characters read a bit flat compared to many of today's offerings. It also reads rather juvenile, despite the main character being (nominally) an adult; had it been written today, it probably would've featured an aged-down Troy and been aimed at the middle grade market, but such categories weren't options at the time. Beyond those issues, though, are some interesting ideas and settings... too many to really explore properly, but which present some nice mind's-eye candy. The story reads fast, like much of Norton's work, and if there are some convenient coincidences that stretch credulity now and again, it still generally entertains.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Lionboy (Zizou Corder) - My Review
Animist (Eve Forward) - My Review
The Catfantastic anthologies (Andre Norton and Martin H. Greenberg, editors) - My Review
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
The Adamantine Palace (Stephen Deas)
The Adamantine Palace
The Memory of Flames series, Book 1
Stephen Deas
Roc
Fiction, Fantasy
*+ (Terrible/Bad)
DESCRIPTION: For centuries, the kings and queens of the realms surrounding the Adamantine Palace have ridden dragons as the ultimate show of power. The bartering and buying of rare viable hatchlings may be costly, the feeding and training moreso, but the value of a fiery beast is greater than their weight in gold, for no soldiers can stand against them... and a tame dragon is undyingly loyal to their rider. Should a dragon ever slip the bonds of the alchemical formulae that keep them docile, however, all Hell would break loose - and the political squabblings and machinations of an ambitious prince and his royal lover have just allowed that to happen.
The dragon Snow is the first of her kind to truly wake to her own mind in generations. Memories of past lives - of fire and death and mortal men crushed like so many ants - drive her to vengeance against those who have enslaved her kin: the alchemists, the dragon-priests, and ultimately the kings and queens whose power centers in the legendary Adamantine Palace.
REVIEW: You may notice, aside from the dragon Snow, a lack of names in the description. That is because I hated them. I honestly, down to my marrow hated every character presented in this story. The degree varied from general dislike to active malicious loathing, but there was not a single human I could even begin to relate to, let alone enjoy spending time around. As a result, most of them remain a jumble of names in my head as I think back on the story, unlikable people doing unpleasant things for entirely selfish and cold-hearted reasons. On top of that, they all seem to have stepped out of a time machine from at least fifty years ago: women use sex to entrap and coerce males whose brains exist solely below the beltline (except for the one dragon-obsessed princess who is portrayed as an immature fool for not sleeping her way to power like a woman oughtta, and the non-royal Outsider whose life is one of prostitution, rape, drug addiction, and zero agency - 'cause, hey, that's why guys read fantasy, I guess?), men generally disparage women even as they rut with wild abandon, everyone's white except for the evil, sly, not-so-subtly Asian "wizards," and despite lip service given to familial warmth, nobody comes closer to the warm end of the emotional scale than rather sketchy loyalty. So, while things kept happening on the page, I couldn't really be bothered to care about any of it. When Snow (a white dragon... is it mere coincidence that the author chose the only pure white dragon in generations to become the "leader" of dragon resistance? In this day and age, I have to wonder...) finally makes her appearance as an independent character - about a third of the way through - I thought I'd finally met someone to relate to... but, no, soon enough she turned into another generally repellent personality, marginally justified by being nonhuman and at least having a reason to not experience the full range of human emotions. (It takes a lot for this confirmed dracophile not to like a dragon in a book, but the author managed that.) Which is a shame, as I liked some of what Deas did with his dragons: savage yet loyal, clever yet impatient, full of secrets and flame, always treacherous to deal with on their own terms, they hearkened back to the less-friendly beasts of elder days, while still being powerfully and distinctly draconic and staunch allies if their trust can be earned. That - and, quite literally, nothing else - spared this a rock-bottom one star rating.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Flight of Dragons (Peter Dickinson) - My Review
His Majesty's Dragon (Naomi Novik) - My Review
Dragon's Blood (Jane Yolen) - My Review
The Memory of Flames series, Book 1
Stephen Deas
Roc
Fiction, Fantasy
*+ (Terrible/Bad)
DESCRIPTION: For centuries, the kings and queens of the realms surrounding the Adamantine Palace have ridden dragons as the ultimate show of power. The bartering and buying of rare viable hatchlings may be costly, the feeding and training moreso, but the value of a fiery beast is greater than their weight in gold, for no soldiers can stand against them... and a tame dragon is undyingly loyal to their rider. Should a dragon ever slip the bonds of the alchemical formulae that keep them docile, however, all Hell would break loose - and the political squabblings and machinations of an ambitious prince and his royal lover have just allowed that to happen.
The dragon Snow is the first of her kind to truly wake to her own mind in generations. Memories of past lives - of fire and death and mortal men crushed like so many ants - drive her to vengeance against those who have enslaved her kin: the alchemists, the dragon-priests, and ultimately the kings and queens whose power centers in the legendary Adamantine Palace.
REVIEW: You may notice, aside from the dragon Snow, a lack of names in the description. That is because I hated them. I honestly, down to my marrow hated every character presented in this story. The degree varied from general dislike to active malicious loathing, but there was not a single human I could even begin to relate to, let alone enjoy spending time around. As a result, most of them remain a jumble of names in my head as I think back on the story, unlikable people doing unpleasant things for entirely selfish and cold-hearted reasons. On top of that, they all seem to have stepped out of a time machine from at least fifty years ago: women use sex to entrap and coerce males whose brains exist solely below the beltline (except for the one dragon-obsessed princess who is portrayed as an immature fool for not sleeping her way to power like a woman oughtta, and the non-royal Outsider whose life is one of prostitution, rape, drug addiction, and zero agency - 'cause, hey, that's why guys read fantasy, I guess?), men generally disparage women even as they rut with wild abandon, everyone's white except for the evil, sly, not-so-subtly Asian "wizards," and despite lip service given to familial warmth, nobody comes closer to the warm end of the emotional scale than rather sketchy loyalty. So, while things kept happening on the page, I couldn't really be bothered to care about any of it. When Snow (a white dragon... is it mere coincidence that the author chose the only pure white dragon in generations to become the "leader" of dragon resistance? In this day and age, I have to wonder...) finally makes her appearance as an independent character - about a third of the way through - I thought I'd finally met someone to relate to... but, no, soon enough she turned into another generally repellent personality, marginally justified by being nonhuman and at least having a reason to not experience the full range of human emotions. (It takes a lot for this confirmed dracophile not to like a dragon in a book, but the author managed that.) Which is a shame, as I liked some of what Deas did with his dragons: savage yet loyal, clever yet impatient, full of secrets and flame, always treacherous to deal with on their own terms, they hearkened back to the less-friendly beasts of elder days, while still being powerfully and distinctly draconic and staunch allies if their trust can be earned. That - and, quite literally, nothing else - spared this a rock-bottom one star rating.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Flight of Dragons (Peter Dickinson) - My Review
His Majesty's Dragon (Naomi Novik) - My Review
Dragon's Blood (Jane Yolen) - My Review
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