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An entertaining, if all too brief, escapade with the crew of Serenity. Presumably set sometime during the days of "Firefly," when all the characters we know and love are on board, this story finds the crew pulling off a heist and being the first guinea pigs to come up against a new, sophisticated, automatic anti-theft/crime-prevention device. They do manage to outwit it, and when they go to sell what's left of it, the cache they are sent to retrieve as payment ends up being far more money than they ever expected. So, interspersed with the rest of the story, as they are being chased down by the makers of the anti-crime machine and Mal or Zoe is being tracked down as a "dust devil" terrorist after the war ended, we also get to see the various dreams of how the different crew members would like to spend their share of the money-- sometimes serious, sometimes joking just to get a reaction, and sometimes downright strange..

The artwork is generally gorgeous but I found it a little uneven, because there were a few points where I wasn't quite sure for a moment or two who a particular character was supposed to be-- usually it was a matter of context or not enough detail, and I eventually figured it out from the story or dialogue-- but it made me realize [again] how much you lose, when you go from actors who all give life to their characters with their voice and bearing, in addition to the way they look.

The "dream" sections when the various characters are telling what they'd want to do with the money are all pretty entertaining, and it seems like it probably gave the artists some more interesting things to portray than they might otherwise get to draw in the serenity-verse. River's fantasy, particularly, is quite strange-- but what makes it fit perfectly is Zoe's wry response (I can just hear her saying it) that now her idea is taken.

The other interesting detail is that somehow, by the end of the story, the money has somehow been stolen. The only one who catches on is Inara-- she notices that Mal never shared what he wanted to do with the money, and guesses that having his crew leave him is the last thing he wants. It's well-written and subtle, but quite clear and insightful into Mal, at the same time.

Title:	Serenity: Better Days
Author:	Joss Whedon; art by Brett Mathews, Will Conrad, and Adam Hughes
Date published:	2008
Genre:	Science Fiction / Graphic Novel
Series:	Firefly/Serenity-verse
Number of pages:	80

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Perhaps the best of all of Mary Stewart's many suspenseful romance novels. Linda Martin has been living in England for the last 10 years, ever since she was orphaned. She returns to France (where she was born and spent her childhood years before her parents died) to take a job as a governess caring for the nine year old Comte de Valmy, Philippe. Her employers are Philippe's aunt and uncle: the beautiful but cold and distant Heloise, and the virile, forceful Leon-- a handsome, powerful man who was crippled in an accident years before, and since then has devoted his great, wheelchair-bound energies to running the Valmy estate. Because Linda is so set on getting back to France and away from her dismal life in England, shes conceals from her employers that she is half French and speaks the language quite well, and she tells herself it was just a silly impulse; but when things start to go wrong around her young charge, the situation begins to seems more sinister, and she wonders if her instincts were right.

There are lots of literary allusions throughout the text, and even the title is a reference to a line of poetry (where a young woman is being seduced by riches and luxury, but is hurrying "to the devil"). The allusions that are woven into the text don't seem as out of place as they might, though, because they are a part of the main character and narrator. At one point, Linda reflects to herself,

"I was sharply grateful to Daddy for making poetry a habit with me. ... Daddy had been right. Poetry was awfully good material to think with."

This is part of what makes the novel work so well: Linda and Leon are both aware of the similarity of their situation to that of Jane Eyre, and Leon suggests to others that he is a fallen angel, Milton's devil.

Soon, Linda meets and then falls in love with Leon's son, Raoul. Like his father, he is dark and handsome and powerful, and can turn on his immense charm at will. The relationship between Linda and Raoul (and people's perceptions of it, the servant's gossip) plays perfectly into the plot of the book, and become part of the plots against Philippe. The most difficult thing for Linda is that, she doesn't know if she can trust the man she loves. She still loves him, and if it were only her, she would take the chance, but when she tries to look at events and the evidence she has heard objectively, she sees that it could be read either way, and she dare not risk a child's life on the impulse of her own love. How she deals with this struggle and the outcome of her decisions is believable and touching.

It occurred to me after finishing the book that all the main characters are orphans, to some extent. Linda and Philippe are obviously so: their parents are dead, and they have to be cared for by people who don't care about them (or maybe even hate them and wish them harm). But Raoul is also a kind of orphan-- his English mother died long ago, and his crazy, hurtful, megalomaniac father may be worse than no father at all.

I don't think I noticed it before, but the chapters of the book are grouped and labeled as coaches, starting with the first and working up to the ninth. As far as I can tell, each of these sections actually does have a significant "coach" or car ride: Linda's taxi ride in Paris to see the old apartment where she had lived with her parent, the silent ride from Paris out to the country and Valmy, the fateful first meeting with Raoul on the mist-covered bridge, the outing with Raoul, the nerve-wracking car chase in the dark, Linda's final meeting with Raoul on the same bridge in a scene that echoes their first encounter perfectly. This structure perfectly plays out the title and its reference to a young woman being hurried to the devil.

This is my mother's favorite of all Mary Stewart's romance novels (maybe of any of her novels); I think it is probably the first one I ever read.

Title:	Nine Coaches Waiting
Author:	Mary Stewart
Date published:	1958
Genre:	Mystery/Romance
Number of pages:	342
Notes:	repeat reading; gift from Jane

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Wonderful book! Glad that I have this in a one book set, because I'm not sure I'd do well waiting to find the next book. :) Mckillip always writes well. And in a way that there are a number of layers to her writing and stories and characters. This book is no exception, although it is one of her earlier works. Morgon of Hed is sent on an adventure that covers the entire length and breadth of known lands .. and beyond. His circle of acquaintances grows, as does those who he trusts and those who trust him. Hed is a quiet, peaceful island where most of the people are farmers who live simply. But his journey takes him far from all of those things. A journey filled with land-rule .. the High One .. his harper .. music .. riddles .. learning .. endurance.

This time around, I really enjoyed the land-rule. Morgan is a land-ruler, and when he is tormented by Ghisteslwchlohm he loses that land-rule. Like losing a layer of himself. But .. over time .. he learns that he knows how land-rule works. And eventually, this means that he forms a set of connections similar to land-rule without taking it from the rulers already in place. Of course, they feel what he is doing, and allow him to do so .. but he learns the intricate details of every place across the land. Each kingdom has specific characteristics. Hed, where he is from, is sown with a deep peace and quietness that is reflected in the people and their ruler. Herun, a land full of dangerous marshes, has a ruler who is highly perceptive and can see into people and beyond mountains. She is quiet but with a deep awareness of everything around her. An is a land with a history full of fighting, so the land-ruler is powerful and must keep all of the old spirits in check. The land is hard and somewhat ferocious, ready to fight for what matters. Osterland is in the north, a land of gentle snow beasts and harsh conditions, so the people and the ruler know how to endure and are full of strength. Isig is a mountain, and the ruler is steadfast and secure. How beautiful .. that each of these lands brings something specific and unique and beautiful to their people. So it is with humans .. each person is meant to be themselves, and in so doing, can reflect an amazingly beautiful diversity.

Title:	The Riddle-Master Trilogy
Author:	Patricia A. McKillip
Date published:	1976/1999 (in one book)
Genre:	Fantasy
Series:	Riddle-Master
Number of pages:	571
Notes:	Repeat reading. Gift from Larq

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This author and his books are highly respected and talked of, and this was indeed well written. But also hard to read. It's so full of despair. Once I finally reached the end, there was some hope .. but a few times I had to force myself to pick up the book .. knowing I would most likely read something deeply saddening. Mariam is a young girl when we first meet her, in a house a few kilometers away from a small city in Afghanistan. We follow her through her life and in the process see pieces of the history of Afghanistan that one might not wish to have seen.

Mariam is born to a unmarried mother, and has a father who is rich but will not marry her mother. She adores her father .. until she discovers that he does not wish to acknowledge her existence in public. After her mother dies, Mariam is quickly married off to the first suitor. Who happens to be much older than her, not physically handsome, and overweight. As a young teenager, she takes over the duties of a household, cleaning and cooking and of course sexual relations. Mariam has little to look forward to in life, and simply tries to get through each day. war becomes part of their daily lives, and the daughter (Laila) of the next door neighbors ends up an orphan, and is 'kindly taken in' by Mariam's husband as a second wife. There is rivalry .. but eventually these two women become friends as they face a common enemy. And Mariam, who has had little hope since childhood suddenly finds herself with hope. Laila has two children, and these two women value them and nurture them. Even Rasheed, their husband, is human again when he is with his son. Laila's childhood sweetheart who she hoped to marry, named Tariq, is a strong man who has seen evil and still come out gentle. May there be more men such as him!

This book is full of sadness. It's about life during war. A number of wars. Evil is clearly depicted. Men who want power, men who tell lies, what death can do to people, what living under fear does, how boundaries can change .. stories that can be hard to read. But for this story .. there are millions of other stories with similar pieces. That are true. Despite the overall sadness and weight and pain in the book, the end is actually hopeful. Not amazing or perfect or wonderful, but there is some light. In the places where darkness has reigned so long, there are people choosing to value each other, choosing to not only survive but work to find the beauty in life. And, by the grace of God .. that is strangely possible in life. Even in the darkest places, God made humans to find reasons to delight in simple pleasures and to hope.

Title:	A Thousand Splendid Suns
Author:	Khaled Hosseini
Date published:	2007
Genre:	Fiction,
Number of pages:	367
Notes:	Given by Birgit

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Acacia is a peaceful, prosperous kingdom made up of the provinces of the known world and has been ruled for 22 generations by the Akaran family. What is kept as much of a secret as possible is that their prosperity is built on slavery-- extensive mines are worked by slaves, who are kept pacified by a mist drug which is in turn bought with a Quota of child slaves each year. These facts are exposed when a Meinish assassin kills King Leodan and Hanish Mein leads a quick, brutal attack against Acacia. Leodan's four children are sent away to for safety, and where they end up has a profound effect on who they become and how they try to take the kingdom back from Hanish.

Only one of Leodan's children ends up exactly where Leodan planned. The oldest, Aliver, is sent to a chieftain among the dark-skinned tribes of Talay, and as he grows up he is trained as a Talayan warrior and hunter. However, the guard who was supposed to take care of the oldest daughter, Corinn, turned out to be a greedy opportunist who betrays her to Hanish Mein for a position of power in the new empire. As an "honored guest" (but really a prisoner) of the new leaders of the empire, beautiful Corinn becomes manipulative, selfish, and hard. The younger daughter, Mena, ends up in the islands of Vumu and because of her strange appearance on their beach, she is chosen by the priests as the human representative of the angry island goddess, a Sea Eagle named Maeben. The youngest, Dariel, becomes a sea raider and learns to be a clever fighter and a leader; but he was so young when he was separated from his siblings that at first he doesn't want to remember who he really is.

One particularly interesting aspect of this book is the place of their legends and mythology, not least because they turn out to be true (at least to some extent). The Meins practice what seems like a form of ancestor-worship they call the Tunishnevre; they were cursed by the first king of Acacia who exiled them to the north, and the curse has not allowed the souls of the dead Mein warriors to depart. so there are 22 generations of angry Meinish warriors whispering to their leaders and wanting to be released.

But the Acacian myths turn out to have some truth to them, too. Aliver seeks out the Santoth,the ancient sorcerers who were exiled by Tinhadin. They are called "God-Talkers" because they learned the language that Elenet stole from the Giver who sang the world into existence. But because humans cannot speak the Giver's language perfectly, their magic is corrupted and imperfect.

If the language of the Giver all those years before had been one of creation, and if that act of creation had been a love hymn that sang the world into being on music that was the fabric of existence itself and that was, as the legends held, most wondrously good to behold ... if that was so, then what the Santoth released was its opposite. Their song was a fire that consumed the world, a hunger that ate creation, not fed it.

In some ways, this book reminded me of Dune: the brutal politics, people motivated by revenge and greed; the drug trade that is integral to the society; the idea that harsh climates make fierce warriors while the prosperous get soft; even the leaguemen, the go-betweens for the drugs to the unknown and feared Lothan Aklun, reminded me of the space navigators in the world of Dune. Some of the warfare, especially early in the book, is quite brutal and disgusting. The Meins are aided by a fierce northern race who ride some kind of war-rhinos, and the Meins even make use of a crude form of germ warfare. The politics are believable, too-- Hanish Mein discovers, when he takes over the running of the kingdom, that he can't fix any of the problems or the injustices that he despises, and he rationalizes this with the consolation that at least now his people are not the victims. At many points, Durham seems to purposely upset typical fantasy conventions. The hopelessly outmatched heroes get destroyed, sometimes almost casually run over by the rampaging armies. If everything goes just right, the good guys just might possibly be able to come through and good will win out-- but then a deadly betrayal comes from someplace you don't expect it. It makes for good reading. It took me a little while to get into the book (maybe the first 100 pages), perhaps because there were so many characters and so much going on; but after that, I couldn't wait to read more because I was so interested in what was happening with all the different characters.

Reviewed by Nancy Pearl on her KUOW podcast (review link no longer available, but listed under Pearl's Picks for December 2007). The book was also brought to my attention by an interview with Durham on ScifiWire. Durham was previously known for historical fiction, and he's posted an open letter on his website explaining why he decided to write fantasy.

Title:	Acacia: The War with the Mein
Author:	David Anthony Durham
Date published:	2007
Genre:	Fantasy
Series:	Acacia
Number of pages:	753

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What cost is too high for Peace? This book presents a world ruled by the "Peace Authority", a group who created a new technology that allowed them to enapsulate anything or anyone that they deemed dangerous to mankind (e.g., nuclear weaponry and the people with the power to use it), in an impervious, reflective "bobble." Now, fifty years later, the world is a wild, feudal land with little 'civilized' government in the ruins of the cities of California (large portions of the population were destroyed by a bio-engineered plague around the time the Peace Authority took over). Innovative new technology is being designed and created by the "Tinkers," family groups, and they rely on algorithms designed by the elderly Paul Naismith. When Paul sees a nearby bobble burst and makes the discovery that the people using the technology didn't really understand it to begin with, he uses his wits, his new apprentice, and his Tinker allies to wage war on the Peace authorities who have tried to contain anything "dangerous" in humanity.

In their attempts to keep humanity from self-destructing, the leaders of the Peace effort destroyed any government that might have been capable of resisting them, and they keep any new governments or technologies from progressing far enough to become a threat. The result is that they are keeping all of humanity in a feudal state and stifling innovation; their own technology has barely progressed from what they were using fifty years before, which was plenty when they were the only one with the all-powerful bobble technology. There are also subtle suggestions that gender roles and equality have regressed in this time; one of the most clever and successful agents working for the Peace Authority is a woman, and her place and authority is questioned by many of those around her, yet she is fiercely loyal to the Peace Authority. The Tinker families are very patriarchal, and women aren't allowed to be involved much in the technical work or in the big decisions. This state of affairs is highlighted by the contrast with Allison Parker, a woman from fifty years before....

Some of the most interesting ideas are about creativity - Paul's insight into the way bobbles actually work gives him the capability to use bobbles defensively instead of only for attack. Similarly, the Tinker technology is much more sophisticated than the Peacers suspect-- partly because they haven't been developing their own technology, and even seem to have lost some understanding of the old technologies they use that have kept them dominant. For one thing, the Tinker tech is much more energy efficient-- because they had such limited resources, they figured out a way to adapt.

I found this to be an exciting book, and very readable (although it took me a while to get engaged and really drawn in), but there are a lot of ideas here that are quit thought-provoking.

Title:	The Peace War
Author:	Vernor Vinge
Date published:	1984
Genre:	Science Fiction
Number of pages:	304
Notes:	recommended and loaned by Levi

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I re-read this book over a weekend when I wasn't feeling well, and it was perfect timing to forget how miserable I was and lose myself for a while in Sunshine's fascinating world of vampires and magic and baked goods. I guess that means that it must be "escapist" literature, although I don't really think of it that way. There is so much worth thinking about here, and parts of this book stay with me. Sunshine discovered more of herself and who she is-- and she struggles with it, because she thinks it means that she is some kind of monster. She has this dark "affinity" for vampires, even helped save one, which she's sure no one around her could understand (although it is her very generosity towards the unthinkably Dark Other that saves her). She thinks this makes her a dark creature herself, but those around her have to help her see that it is because of her brightness, because of who she is and the source of her power, that she can face such darkness.

The fascinating character of Con, Sunshine's unlikely vampire ally, gives McKinley the chance to dig into the workings of vampires in this world she's created. Vampires are completely other and scary to humans on an instinctive level, as hunter to prey. The normal path for a vampire who survives to any kind of age is to become a wealthy master vampire with teams of younger vampires working for him-- in part, because the old vampire can't go out in any kind of light, even moonlight. We see this with Con's enemy Bo-- he has become so corrupt and evil through satisfying every dark appetite he could imagine for many centuries that he is no longer even fully corporeal.

A great book that I could (will) re-read again. I see that McKinley has published a few other books lately, which is exciting, but I hope that sometime she gets inspired to give us another glimpse of Sunshine and her world.

Title:	Sunshine
Author:	Robin McKinley
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Horror / Fantasy
Number of pages:	405
Notes:	repeat reading

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It was so delightful to read the newer Chrestomanci books and re-acquaint myself with the wonderful characters of Cat and Christopher Chant that I found myself wanting to go back and read their own stories again. Both stories tell stories about young boys with nine lives, destined to be the Chrestomanci, the only magic-user powerful enough to police the rest of the magics in the twelve related worlds. But when we meet them, both boys are quite powerless and pretty lonely, and don't have any idea that they are actually powerful magicians. In Charmed Life, the orphan Cat lives with his beloved sister Gwendolyn, who is very pretty and seems to be a talented young witch. What he (and we) don't realize for quite some time is that Gwendolyn isn't all that powerful on her own; she has simply been using Cat's magic. In The Lives of Christopher Chant, young Christopher isn't an actual orphan but he might as well be-- his rich, society mother drives away his kind, worried father (who has enough premonition to sense something bad is going to happen to Christopher, but not enough power to know what to do about it). In his dreams, Christopher travels to strange and wonderful lands, but the gifts from strangers that he carries back in his dreams actually end up in his bedroom. When a clever nanny figures out what this means, Christopher's uncle begins making use of this ability to do some "experiments"; the young, lonely Christopher is so eager to please his uncle that it doesn't occur to him for quite some time that he might be doing something dangerous or illegal.

Cat and Gwendolyn eventually go to live with Chrestomanci (the grown-up Christopher Chant). Chrestomanci decides that Gwendolyn cannot be taught or practice magic until she has caught up on other things (which she neglected entirely, devoting herself to magic). Her tantrums and spiteful magic on the castle grounds, in the house, at the dinner table, and the like are quite entertaining and an interesting look at what it might be like to live with a powerful and capricious teenager (hopefully anyone who has to deal with that has a staff of trained magicians to clean up and keep them in check, as Chrestomanci does). Eventually, she decides she isn't going to get what she wants so she decides to jump to a different reality where she will be worshipped and adored-- but in doing so, she burns up another of Cat's nine lives and shifts a whole sequence of alternate Gwendolyn doubles into different realities, leaving a girl named Janet from an unmagical world like ours in her place. Finally, Cat makes the painful discovery that Gwendolyn was completely selfish and uncarinng, and he finally decides that he does mind having his magic borrowed and used without his permission, and is able to use some of his powers to help save the day in the climactic fight.

The young Christopher Chant seems to have no aptitude for magic because of an undiagnosed magical "allergy" that inhibits his powers. When he finally goes to a teacher that his father finds, he is instructed to empty his pockets, and then when he does the spell that's asked of him he had so much power he lifts the whole roof of the house off. The travelling between worlds that he does is also quite powerful and beyond what most people can do; because of his nine lives, he can just leave a life behind in bed and go somewhere else. But there are consequences, too-- when an accident kills his dream-self, then something similar happens in real life to finish the job and takes on of his lives. In the midst of his world travels and unknown black-market smuggling for his uncle, Christopher meets and strikes up a friendship with a girl who is the living Asheth, a goddess-- in exchange for a temple cat named Throgmorten, he brings her books to read.

Although he is pretty unhappy about it, Christopher eventually goes to live with the current Chrestomanci, Gabriel de Witt. When de Witt is incapacitated in the fight against the mysterious smuggler they can't seem to catch (Christopher's uncle), Christopher has to take over organizing the fight (with some help from Throgmorten and Millie, the former Living Asheth, who chose a name from her favorite series of books about a schoolgirl), Christopher has a revelation-- he sees that de Witt doesn't enjoy his duties as Chrestomanci at all, but finds that he, Christopher, loves it and is actually pretty good at it.

Title:	The Chronicles of Chrestomanci Volume 1 consists of Charmed Life (1977) and The Lives of Christopher Chant (1988)
Author:	Diana Wynne Jones
Date published:	2001
Genre:	Young Adult Fantasy
Series:	Chrestomanci
Number of pages:	598
Notes:	second reading

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