excellent stuff with everything as expected, the only annoyance was the name of the protagonist (as it kept reminding me of you know what series, one that I grew to detest profoundly), but that was a pretty major one that bothered me intermittently till the end ...more
as I have watched the miniseries with the same title, I've read the 4 books on which it is based - quite faithfully as I recognized lots of dialogue fas I have watched the miniseries with the same title, I've read the 4 books on which it is based - quite faithfully as I recognized lots of dialogue from the actual 3 novels the TV series used, while the 4th is a prequel that adds depth - and this was the best by far; maybe because Elizabeth Woodville is the most interesting and sympathetic of the characters, maybe because it was the first but the book works magnificently and I highly, highly recommended...more
Another superb work from the author, the novel Intalnirea is her darkest work date which is fitting as it takes place in the darkest hours of the commAnother superb work from the author, the novel Intalnirea is her darkest work date which is fitting as it takes place in the darkest hours of the communist regime in 1986, while superposing with memories from the last years of the 3rd Reich.
Traian Manu a Romanian emigre and his German wife living in Italy star, but the book is very complex and has interludes from the Securitate (secret police) files on Traian - his most trusted Romanian collaborator and his cousin turn to be the star informers - while his 1986 trip as recounted to his wife Christa and to some of his college students in Italy is quite surrealistic but very well done by the author; Christa has her own sequels as she is a survivor of the 3rd Reich.
Just awesome, hopefully the string of translations will be followed by an English one as this is a novel that is very modernistic and would appeal a lot to sophisticated English language readers. Personally I still love Provizorat the most but that is more of a personal choice as that novel is a sort of love story of my parents generation, but this one is her most technically accomplished work
The collection is pretty good and shows glimpses of her novelistic power....more
This is a blow-me-away A++ book with so much great stuff - most notably the battles of Scipio, but tidbits with Hannibal, Fabius and Cato, while SophoThis is a blow-me-away A++ book with so much great stuff - most notably the battles of Scipio, but tidbits with Hannibal, Fabius and Cato, while Sophonisiba and the Egyptian slave that appears in the first pages steal the pages whenever they appear.
Very emotional too; covers from 209 to 202 and Zama, though the focus is on Scipio so we see Metaurus as aftermath mostly and other important events as snippets; while the first volume had the deaths of the elder Scipios in battle,l especially of Gnaeus, here we have Marcellus final stand against Hannibal
The author takes the "inspired and favored by gods" line with Scipio from Livy and leaves the general somewhat enigmatic to the end.
Volume 3 which alternates current events from 201 on with Scipio's memoirs after his retreat from politics is on the tap now......more
Still in the mood for secondary world fantasy I tried a bunch of books and this series attracted my attention; I absolutely loved both books publishedStill in the mood for secondary world fantasy I tried a bunch of books and this series attracted my attention; I absolutely loved both books published so far with Rhenn a great character and the novel a true immersive experience...more
Very entertaining novel set on the Black Sea cca 330 BC; it is less of a "blood and guts" novel than I expected though it has its fair share of battl Very entertaining novel set on the Black Sea cca 330 BC; it is less of a "blood and guts" novel than I expected though it has its fair share of battles, but it has intrigue, strange cultures, discussions on the nature and meaning of war and it reads very "classical", no real discordant (ie modern sensibility) notes that are encountered so often in historical fiction today.
Bought and started to read the sequel too and book 3 is an asap when it will be published; I plan to do a full review of the series in early 2010, but for now I have to say it is one of the superior novels in the sub-genre
Mesmerizing from the first page and once you get into its flow a page turner to boot. It takes place in an unnamed provincial European city cca 18th cMesmerizing from the first page and once you get into its flow a page turner to boot. It takes place in an unnamed provincial European city cca 18th century with a mixture of French and English names which is under the rich "Governor" while the "Specialist" is sort of an underground boss that becomes the de-facto patron of smaller run-down theater Minerva, though this we figure out as the book progresses since the novel starts with a striking scene in which a girl looks into the mirror, throws a lamp in the small room and then when the building gets on fire jumps from a window to be later found unconscious and led to the city madhouse
Quote from the novel with the scene above:
"She swallows once and blinks caught light away. Then hauls the lamp back, torquing at the waist, and hurls it at the mirror, all her strength behind the throw. It shatters, they shatter, glass into glass, and the fire out onto the table, up into the air. Hard sparks of lamp, mirror, and flame fly winking out like fireflies. She stands there as the fire scales the walls, as the fire’s scaled the walls, as the fire finds no higher purchase, dashes itself against the ceiling, hurtles raining down. Beneath the fall of fire, her eyes still and sharpen off . For the first time, they’re aware."
Desideria has a very intriguing premise: an actress who truly believes she is the character she plays - all actors have to believe that to some extent but for Ange it is *real* until she is led away from the props - and the execution alternating with surreal madhouse scenes that are as good as any such I've read is just superb...
The two story lines Annie/Ange in the madhouse and Ange St.Loup in the theater intertwine and then conflict so the question of what is "real" and what is imagined becomes more and more important as the book goes on.
The resolution of the dual-storylines is excellent and the ending is great making this a debut to remember...more
This a "blow me away" kind of novel both in concept and execution; narrated by current day London inhabitant, Owen Meredith with brother Rees, wife LyThis a "blow me away" kind of novel both in concept and execution; narrated by current day London inhabitant, Owen Meredith with brother Rees, wife Lyneth, two kids and former girlfriend Tanya, currently married with best friend Geoff, or so he believes.
Owen suffers a traumatic accident, and finds himself slipping in and out the body of Major Owain Maredudd, his alter-ego in a bleak, militarized and devastated London where WW2 has not really ended, though now it's a Cold War three powers standoff between Europe, USA and Russia, whose sphere of influences are separated on land by cordons of nuclear wilderness.
Owen cannot really influence Owain's actions, while his return to "real life" is marred by memory lapses - with the flips happening unpredictably and quite often.
Owain has a very different family - brother Rhys too, but his uncle, Marshal Maredudd is the Alliance British Commander which makes him effectively Britain head of state - and Owain has memory problems too, not to speak of his darker personal life marked by impotence, bouts of rage and close friendship with Marisa the exotic trophy wife of sinister Interior Minister Carl Legister
The switch point of the histories was when Hitler died in a plane crash in the early 40's, The Wermacht liquidated the Nazi leadership, Britain allied with the denazified Germany and lent its power to the Eastern Front in return for Germany freeing all its western conquests and forming the European Alliance, a military European Union-like state, agreeing to a Jewish state in Palestine...
However the USA kept its alliance with the USSR for a time stopping an European victory, and 60 years later marked by bouts of war including limited nuclear strikes led to the current standoff.
And there is Omega, the rumored secret weapon to end all wars.
The prose is just superb, the book is riveting since you really are kept on the edge of the seat with unpredictability and suspense, as well as kept guessing what's real about Owen's past and what will happen in Owain's world - since that's where the tension of the novel lies.
Owen is the narrator, but he is unreliable with respect to his own memories - he recounts his life, alternating between the steady hometown girl Lyneth and the exotic Tanya, all under the shadow of his domineering historian father and autistic, in-out of the hospital brother and leading to his current unhappy marriage with Lyneth and sort of an affair with Tanya.
Owain is seen only through Owen's eyes, but his world and personal history are "reliable" in so far as Owen knows, but the Cold War may be turning hot and Omega may just be real...
The tension is solved in a very satisfactory way and while I saw the first part of the puzzle after a while - though the author keeps throwing "spans" that may lead a reader astray, that part makes sense "naturally" in only one way, and indeed it turns out that way, so no real surprise there - the second part came as a total surprise and the ending is outstanding.
Great, great novel. Being an 08 release it does not have a place on my best of the year lists in 09, but if I will make a best read of 09 irrespective of year of publication, Omega will most likely be #1 since it's just perfect.
Superb ending for the series and superb ending for the book!
Has four major twists at the end, two by two related, or if you want a major twist regardSuperb ending for the series and superb ending for the book!
Has four major twists at the end, two by two related, or if you want a major twist regarding the general story, composed from two parts, and a major twist related to a main character also composed of two parts. I saw half of each but the second half of each just dumbfounded me, though both are brilliant...
The only complaint I have about the series is that though the ending wraps things up, it still truly begs a sequel - why, I cannot say more without revealing too much, but when you read it, you will see why......more
I enjoyed this book so much that I *had* to spend way too much money to get volumes 2-4 from Australia since here in the US, volume 2 comes out only I enjoyed this book so much that I *had* to spend way too much money to get volumes 2-4 from Australia since here in the US, volume 2 comes out only in July 09, and 3 and 4 most likely in 2010, 2011.
This novel made me laugh out loud many times since the exchanges between the main characters are witty and funny. There are some twists and turns and the one at the end is super, though hinted earlier so I sort of expected it and I really want to find out what's next.
Wonderful fantasy in the new weird tradition. It reminded me a lot of Thunderer by F. Gilman in setting/plot, though we have an island instead of a c Wonderful fantasy in the new weird tradition. It reminded me a lot of Thunderer by F. Gilman in setting/plot, though we have an island instead of a city, a sea-going ship rather than a flying one, but there are a lot of thematic similarities between the two, so if you liked the superb Thunderer, try this one too and the odds are you will love it.
Humanity lives on an island - Rasnan, world of exile - in the middle of a seemingly endless ocean, after escaping from a destroyed/decaying world as the current orthodoxy sees it, or being expelled from paradise for its sins as others currently out of favor see it. As expected the biggest issue which leads to the main thrust of all religion, government and what is accepted, is the threat of overpopulation.
There is one city - Shadras - and the countryside - Hadaras - organized in a feudal style, with very strict rules about marriage, sex, children enforced by traditionalist celibate priests.
However the rich and powerful led by the Shaudah - hereditary ruling prince/king - need their comforts, so they allow a limited use of technology, mostly electricity and its support base, to power towers erected at the edge of the sea, connected to the mainland by a bridge that brings the power needed for their habitability from the one technological demesne - the Vashmarna - which is forbidden to extend the use of electricity outside of the city though.
The current Lady Vashmarna, celibate vowed due to a traumatic youth experience, is both a great believer in the Rasnan and its mores/religion, as well as in the possibility of technology making life easier and more fulfilling for everyone, so she tries hard to improve things, despite being frustrated at all turns by the conservative Shaudas.
The biggest traditional house in the Shadras is the Ghar, whose long widowed leader is ironically a secret believer in the superiority of the original "Earth" to the current world, belief which is as heretical to the Shaudah as extending electricity to the countryside is - while his son took celibate vows as a priest/scholar to lead the Collegium.
After the construction of the towers which took decades, many uprooted peasants were forced to make a hardscrabble living in the Tidal area outside of the Shadras proper, living and dying at the ocean's whim in makeshift tenements, and some worship the "living ocean/outside world" - Mundab, and try to draw on its magical powers as conjectured by a heretical scholar killed 20+ years ago in the Lamplighter riots.
The Mundabi want to expand humanity's range on Rasnan so they are natural allies of the Vashmarna, while the Ghar are looking for a return to the original world of humanity so they are connected with the banned Society of Worlds that tries to opens an intra-dimensional connection to "Earth" and bring the pure and deserving back the paradise they imagine...
In this volatile situation, where overpopulation and resource exhaustion threaten despite draconian punishments for unauthorized sex and childbearing, a young Tidal girl Moth, apprentice priest/scholar with a secret sponsor, and even a more secret parentage - though that is soon obvious to the seasoned reader - tries to balance both her great Mundabi magical power and her multiple loyalties to her Tidal friends, mentors, allies, to her secret sponsor and most of all to her "very" illicit lover, Aramis a scholar and engineer of the Vashmarna demesne but associated by family to the Ghar and the Society of Worlds.
Moth balances on a very tightrope course until of course the rope breaks - ironically due to Aramis doing his duty and having no clue about Moth's involvement - and all kinds of things start happening.
With a superb ending that brings all threads together, as well as leaving ample scope for a sequel which I would dearly love to read, Engine's Child is a book that made me a big fan of Ms. Phillips' work.
I browsed several times this book - since I read the author's two well received books on Stalin - but until an online review captured my attention I I browsed several times this book - since I read the author's two well received books on Stalin - but until an online review captured my attention I did not think that I would read it since this is a book that combines superb characters, writing and period detail with some truly cheesy writing and passages that drone on, so a quick browse and even the short online excerpts available do not do it justice.
After finishing it I have to say that I truly did not expect to enjoy it and be moved by it as much as I was.
Split into 3 period pieces, 1916-17, 1939 and 1994 flashbacks after the archives are opened and the whole story can be told, the book coheres into a whole anchored by its main title character known as comrade Snowfox who attracts the admiration even of Stalin for her "Bolshevik" dedication to duty, a model both of young revolutionary repudiating her wealthy family background and new Soviet woman with kids, job, household to manage - with help of course - and rising dedicated revolutionary and NKVD torturer and killer husband -
Some people will be disappointed that the whole chain of tragic events of the book did not start from Stalin's paranoia, desire to get rid of old Bolsheviks or of Jewish ones for his coming rapprochement with Hitler, but from semi-mundane events that could happen in today's America leading maybe to a divorce or marital counseling, but in Soviet Russia they were potentially lethal not only for the principals involved, but for their children, parents, close relatives and friends.
And that is something that people who have been fortunate not to live under an evil totalitarian regime do not truly understand - how evil is banal there and pervades the smallest aspect of everyone's life and a misstep or even an accidental remark or encounter can lead to many lives wrecked and destroyed
Spirit: The Princess Du Bois Dormant by Gwyneth Jones is a standalone novel in her Aleutinian universe of the White Queen trilogy and several stories Spirit: The Princess Du Bois Dormant by Gwyneth Jones is a standalone novel in her Aleutinian universe of the White Queen trilogy and several stories.
I liked this one so much that I ordered the original trilogy and I intend to read those books when I get them.
In the Diaspora universe of Humanoid Bipeds - of which the "Blues" - humans of Earth/Blue Planet are one race, the serial immortals Aleutinians are another, and the vampire bat-like Sigurtians yet another with several more around, the space station Speranza is the capital of a loose federation, with interstellar travel by the Buonaraotti coaches or Aleutinian pods, dangerous, unreliable and which may have even disturbed the fabric of the Universe leading to the existence of the non-human races as far-future descendants of humanity joined in the Simultaneity - that is known as the Strong Paradoxical Theory, with several other competing theories involving parallel evolution or a mythical common ancestor, to account for the similarities and even capability of interbreeding with a bit of genetic help between the Humanoid races...
On Earth, humanity is divided between Traditionalists - life marriage, man as the head of family entitled to many concubines, women restricted at least in their private life, honor, duty, loyalty at least in theory - and Reformers - some men or women, but most bi-gendered alternating between male and female aspects, social workers, state service, serial lovers, part-time marriage - and at the beginning of the novel the Reformers hold power, while various factions vie for a "restoration" of the Traditionalists
General Yu is the nominal head of one of the most powerful Traditionalist houses, but quite a lot of power resides with his wife Lady Nef and her Aleutinian secretary and unofficial lover Francois. They are "Seniors", allowed sophisticated genetic treatments enabling them to live 150-200 years with Lady Nef having the prestigious title of "Immortal Designate" which makes her household almost untouchable despite the blunders of the General in his quest for power with dubious friends and allies.
Suppressing a rebellion in an obscure mountainous corner of Earth, General Yu's army brutally massacres all rebels except for the ten year old Gwibibwr/Bibi - which means Princess in the rebels tongue - who is found hiding in a tunnel after the soldiers blood lust has passed. Taken to Lady Nef, Bibi is offered the choice of becoming her servant or the General's concubine and as it becomes the daughter of a traditionalist chieftain, Bibi chooses the former.
In time she befriends two Han Chinese orphan girls Honesty and Nightingale who are her bed-neighbors in the girl's wing of the Yu/Nef household, attracts the attention of Francois, gets sponsored for college and returns as a junior Social Worker under Lady Nef's patronage. Honesty who remained in domestic service becomes her maid and confidante while Nightingale who is the daughter of a dead hero becomes an officer in the People's Army.
Bibi meets a young Reformer boy Mahmood at college and their "houses" agree to a match, Honesty is studying to become chief-servant, while Nightingale has a powerful young Prince as a lover so our 3 heroines seem to have their future assured. But of course it is not so simple.
Chance and fatality intervene and thrown unwittingly in the middle of dangerous plots, Bibi and Honesty have to follow Lady Nef and General Yu on a diplomatic mission far-away on Sigurt, the humanoid vampire-bat planet and while Bibi is temporarily promoted to Francois' assistant and noble status, that comes with a hidden price.
Part Count(ess) of Monte-Cristo in space, part space opera, part sociological/gender SF, Spirit is a wonderful, wonderful novel that made me a big time fan of Gwyneth Jones work and it vaulted in the top 5 sf novels of the year....more
Page turner that goes nowhere and you finish it with a feeling of pointlessness and why did I bother. Still an interesting read and worth for the sus Page turner that goes nowhere and you finish it with a feeling of pointlessness and why did I bother. Still an interesting read and worth for the suspense, but it could have been so much better...
Now on reread: getting used with KJ Parker' style, getting to love her (??) novels and reading and rereading all previous 9 plus the P&B novella brought me back to this one and this time I really loved it and fully appreciated it; I still think Scavenger is the best of her work overall and I would start either with that or with Fencer, but this one is an excellent addition to this powerful fantasy writer' wrok...more
Blockbuster hard sf/space opera in Mr. McAuley Greater Brazil future history
In the 2200's, a century after the big Overturn - an ecological and sociaBlockbuster hard sf/space opera in Mr. McAuley Greater Brazil future history
In the 2200's, a century after the big Overturn - an ecological and social catastrophe that left vast swaths of Earth disaster area - Earth is rebuilding under 3 big powers dominated by "Families" that rose with prominence with their "Green Saints"
The religion of Gaia is dominant though in Greater Brazil it is mixed with traditional Catholicism, in the EU with secularism and in the Asian Sphere with traditional Asian religions.
After the destruction of the Mars colonies, the "outer" humans live in thousands of small towns, habitats, domes, all over the moons of Jupiter, Saturn up to Uranus and Neptune.
Practicing mostly direct democracy - though politics by polling is not particularly better than other kind as the events of the novel show - genetic engineering, the "outers" are split between older, more conservative factions that want peace and cooperation with Earth and the younger generation that wants to explore the starts, move as far out from Earth as possible and even fight with Earth if it comes to that despite the heavy odds against them
When leaders of the peace faction in the great Families of Earth start dying and the initiatives of cooperation are sabotaged, it is clear that war is coming.
We follow 4 main characters from different walks of life though all from earth since through their eye we see the strangeness and diversity of the outers.
Dr Sri Owen is the top geneticists on Earth - at least in her opinion - and a subordinate of the Peixoto family though as a personal favorite of the family Green Saint the elderly Oscar Ramos she is quite powerful on her own. However in secret she cooperates with the war faction led by General Avram Peixoto and she helps with top secret projects like the superbright "children" that make scientific and tech breakthroughs that make the defeat of the outers all by certain, altering pilots to be more effective and so on. Though her dream is to become a disciple of the legendary outer space gene wizard Avernus, so she wants peace with the outers, "needs must"...
Macy Minot had a tough life in the slums of Pittsburgh after running away from home. Getting a break by coming to the attention of the Fontaine Family, she becomes a soil treatment specialist and crew leader so when she is chosen to represent her lords on an Earth-outer cooperative habitat on Callisto under a the top engineer on Earth she thinks she got a break.
Dave #8 is another of Sri' secret war projects. Super warrior, spy from a batch of clones altered to look like outers and trained from birth in the arts of war, spying and sabotage, Dave #8 nurses secret doubts about his humanity and the goals of his superiors but when mission time comes he will go to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting outers.
Cash is a special forces pilot altered by Dr Sri as another war project and he is eager for war and to teach the "abominations" a lesson
Superb book and while the ending is good and ties most threads, there is ample scope for sequels.
Highly, highly recommended and a sf blockbuster on the Hamilton scale.
I liked it a lot and it hooked me so much that I stayed way too late one night to finish it.
It is one of the best epic fantasy debuts of the year on I liked it a lot and it hooked me so much that I stayed way too late one night to finish it.
It is one of the best epic fantasy debuts of the year on par with Empire in Black and Gold.
The series continues at the end of October and then November so we will see if the author can fulfill the immense promise of this book.
Without too many spoilers - the story/world of the book is a generic fantasy one, nothing original the way Tchaikovsky had the insect Kinden in Empire, but the characterization, pace of the action and storytelling are superb. This is a book driven by action, by making you care what happens to the main characters, especially Azoth/Kylar but the rest too, the bad guys are bad in a disgusting evil way more than pure evil way, the good guys are ambiguously good at best...
The book ends at a natural point with the story to be continued this month.
Since the next two books are to be released in the next two months, it's hard to rank the book for now, but I am on board for the next one and I will get it asap...
A page turner from beginning to end and highly, highly recommended....more
One of the biggest positive surprises for me; starts a little slow moving between 3 characters and their environment, but then they start to come tog One of the biggest positive surprises for me; starts a little slow moving between 3 characters and their environment, but then they start to come together and you figure out you are in a Pride and Prejudice with magic book; not so fast, since there is another turn and we move into Gothic and Jane Eyre with magic in the second part. Then in the third and final part things come together and the main threads of the novel are resolved beautifully, though the larger issues just now start to impact our characters.
The only complaint I had is that the book is a bit unbalanced - starts with 3 main characters getting almost equal face time, but then it focuses on one of them, to come back to all 3 later - but that is usually an issue with many debut novels and no big deal.
One of my top 5 fantasies published in 2008 for me, I am really looking forward to the second book. ...more
This is a book that leaves one speechless for its brilliance. At 900 pages long, and quite grim in parts, though darkly funny always, I would have re This is a book that leaves one speechless for its brilliance. At 900 pages long, and quite grim in parts, though darkly funny always, I would have read it continuously, but for regular life commitments; even so I managed to read it in 3 days and it is just sad to arrive at the end, though I am sure I will return quite a few times to it; it demands one re-reading at least to appreciate its edifice - it is composed by 5 interlinked parts and it is sprawling and open-ended so little details I am sure I missed on first read will acquire importance on the several rereads I plan for this book in time
Part one details the rise in reputation of the German writer Benno von Archimboldi, born in 1920, but a mysterious figure never seen by anyone except its publisher and supposedly living throughout the world. This part has as main characters 4 University professors and major Archimboldian translators/critics, a Frenchman, a Spaniard, a somewhat crippled Italian and an English lady, their inter relationships and meetings with assorted odd characters. Finally in 2001 they get a tip that Archimboldi has been recently seen in Mexico and they follow there.
Part two is shorter and stranger, about a weird Chilean academic currently teaching in Santa Teresa and met by the critics in part one - his back story and the whys of his keeping an obscure math book by a Spanish poet hanged on his clothesline outside his house and quite a few other weird happenings
Part three is seen through the eyes of a Harlem reporter who by chance is sent to Santa Teresa to cover a boxing match - he reports on African American politics/social issues but the sports reporter just got murdered - and his involvement with the daughter of the academic above and the first glimpse of the issues involving the hundreds of murders/rapes in Santa Teresa
Part four is about the murders - it is a grim litany of the bodies, the following investigations, sometimes followed by arrests, sometimes not, interspersed with a lot of other related things, like the affair between a detective and the head of the mental hospital, the story of various weird characters, corruption and indifference and much more.
Part five returns to Benno von Archimbaldi and tells his story focusing of his war experiences and how he got to be a writer, and later why he goes to Santa Teresa at age 81 in 2001.
The novel is quite open-ended though many things are revealed. Brilliant and indubitably the best novel I've read this year, and one of the best ever. I have not had this feeling of reading a masterpiece of literature since the 2006 Les Bienveillantes by J. Littell though for that one I need to read the English translation when it will get done to see how it truly stacks ...more
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