Back to the past..
Every Tuesday over at the The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic. The topic this week is:
‘Top Ten Historical Settings You Love’
I love reading books with historical settings, alternate history or figures from the past that are brought back to us on the page through the flights of fantasy. My choices this week are:
- Ancient Greece: The Just City by Jo Walton. This series takes us back to ancient times where the Gods are experimenting. The Goddess Athene has created a city populated by children who will be taught and raised by a few chosen people. The idea is loosely based on Plato’s idea for a Republic, where people could strive to achieve excellence. The story includes both past and futuristic ideas, it uses time travel and brings in characters such as Sokrates. I really enjoyed this. It’s very thought provoking and I love reading stories where Gods are playing their games!
- Ancient Rome: The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston. What a fantastic combination of history and fantasy. The Shards of Heaven takes us to a period just after Caesar’s death where Rome is on the brink of civil war with Caesar’s ambitious adopted son going to war with Antony and Cleopatra. An absolutely compelling story that centres not on those characters that we know so well but on those on the periphery telling an altogether different and intriguing tale and a search for ancient artefacts.
- Iron Age: Skin by Ilka Tampke. This is a wonderful book filled with ancient myth and folklore. The story brings to us a country on the brink of Roman invasion. The people of Caer Cad believe that ‘skin’ is their heritage. It’s what makes them part of the tribe. Ailia is without ‘skin’, in other words her heritage is unknown and therefore although she serves the tribe she is unable to take part in ceremonies, learn or wed. However, in a strange twist of fate she is chosen by the tribal ancestors ‘mothers’ and embarks on a journey of knowledge.
- Iron Age: Age of Iron by Angus Watson. This book is absolutely brilliant. I loved it. A little bit of magic, druids, warriors, bloodshed, laughter and amazing characters. No shortage of action and a country poised for war. What’s not to love!
- San Francisco 1800s: The Girl with Ghost Eyes by M H Boroson. Set in San Francisco’s China Town this book brings to us a young Daoist Priestess called Li Lin who has ‘yin’ eyes – meaning she can see spirits. This story is so wonderfully fresh and original and Li Lin is a character that I really enjoyed reading about. There is plenty of action and the story has almost a Ghibli feel to it. Fantastic monsters coupled with kung fu and Chinese gangsters plus fast pacing that have you jumping from one incredible dilemma to the next.
- The Regency period: Longbourn by Jo Baker. Taking Austen’s well loved classic and looking at the story through a different perspective. We follow the story of Sarah, one of the servants from the Bennett household. This is a fascinating look at the life of one of the servants during this period. It’s not the story’s intention to revisit Lizzy and Jane but more to use the family and setting to highlight something different and it works so well. Highly recommended.
- Regency period: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. An epic work of fantasy set during the Napoleonic Wars where magic is once again being made popular and the doorways to the land of the fae are once again opening.
- Russia: 1812 – 1917: The Danilov Quintet by Jasper Kent is set in Russia and brings to us creatures known as the voordalak. It’s a supernatural historical thriller and the series covers the period 1812 – 1917 covering the French invasion and culminating with the Russian Revolution. It brings a whole new slant onto the historical happenings of the time combining real historical events with supernatural creatures.
- The Roaring 20s. Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray. A book about diviners: people who can see into the future. This is a beautifully written book that brings to us a dark story full of horror. A story where people go to sleep at night but can’t be woken up in the morning. This is a subtly crafted layered book with something evil lurking at it’s heart combined with an intriguing conspiracy.
- 1960s Los Angeles: Made to Kill by Adam Christopher. Raymond Electromatic is a private detective and coincidentally the last Robot. His PI work is really a cover because Ray is actually a hitman but, at the start of the novel, he’s hired by a young brunette and how can he refuse such temptation as a big bag of gold. A blend of noir detective, spies, sparkling Hollywood actors and actresses and twisted plots to take over the world.
Rosemary and Rue (October Daye #1) by Seanan McGuire
Just finished reading Rosemary and Rue as part of a readalong with a great group of characters. I’ve had my eye on this series for a while but as I’m so far behind I found it a bit daunting – this readalong was the perfect incentive and Rosemary and Rue is a great set up book for the series. I very much look forward to seeing where Toby’s adventures take us next.
Toby Daye is a changeling. Her mother was a member of the fae and her father a regular old mundane human. Changelings are unfortunate in many respects because whilst you could argue that having a foot in both camps would be advantageous it actually leaves them being neither one thing or the other. They have to cover up their outward appearance so that human eyes won’t see their differences, using magic that is quite weak and they’re not particularly welcome at most of the fae courts being looked down on as lesser creatures. Toby has been gifted with a rare magic, she can use blood magic and she does so in order to become an investigator in the fae world. Unfortunately, at the start of R&R Toby is taken away from the family she loves, in fact away from everything she knows. I won’t elaborate other than to say this book certainly gets off to a dramatic start.
When Toby eventually returns to the world you could say she’s traumatised and left wanting nothing more to do with the fae underworld. Everything she knows, loves and has worked hard to achieve has been taken from her and she basically goes into a self imposed seclusion to lick her wounds. Unfortunately, the fae world have other ideas and in spite of her intentions Toby is pulled into an investigation of the brutal murder of a Countess and within less than an eye blink she’s sunk back into the twisty political world of the fae.
I really enjoyed Rosemary and Rue. I think it has good pacing, the writing is very easy to get along with, in fact the narrative practically reads itself and the characters are a whole mixed bag of the fantastic.
It pretty soon becomes clear that Toby has more support than she lets on as friends and allies from her past start to seep out of the woodwork. However, Toby also has a darker side to her past and it’s in this direction that she seeks aid making bargains with perhaps those that she ought best to avoid.
This was a great start to series. I loved dipping my toes back into fae waters and there’s no shortage of Knowes/Courts/Politics/Seelies/magical artifacts and other creatures of myth with a murder mystery thrown in for good measure.
A very promising start to this series that I look forward to continuing.
January: My Month in Review
And there it was, January 2016 all behind us and so quickly. I hope you had a good start to 2016. My month in review looks as follows:
Books read: (with links to reviews)
- Under a Colder Sun by Greg James SPFBO
- Monstrous Little Voices by Jonathan Barnes, Emma Newman, Kate Heartfield, Fox Meadows, Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Goldenfire (Darkhaven No.2) by A F E Smith
- Medusa’s Web by Tim Powers
- Scourge of the Betrayer by Jeff Salyards
- City of Blades by Robert J Bennett
- War of the Worlds by H G Wells
- Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
- The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo
- Changers: Book One: Drew by T Cooper and Allison Glock Cooper
- Shattered Sands by W G Saraband (SPFBO)
- Guns of Ivrea by Clifford Beal
Backlist books
None this month
Unfinished series completed:
None this month
Books Bought:
- A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire (No.2 Toby Daye)
Review Books: (with links to Goodreads synopsis)
- Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
- The Complete Double Dead by Chuck Wendig
- Jani and the Great Pursuit by Eric Brown
- The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- The Guns of Ivrea by Clifford Beal
- Quiet Neighbours by Catriona McPherson
- The Everything Box by Richard Kadrey
- The Fireman by Joe Hill
Cover Spotlight:
US or UK cover: I prefer the US version for this one:
Events:
Backlist Backburn is an end of month event organised by Lisa at Tenacious Reader. If you’ve caught up on any of your backlist then call over and link up. I find this a good incentive to dust off some of my books!
Vintage Sci Fi Month concludes at the end of January: I read War of the Worlds by H G Wells, I also have started 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and Starship Troopers – to be finished and reviewed at a later date.
The 2016 Sci Fi Event over at Stainless Steel Droppings also concluded at the end of January. Lock in and War of the Worlds both counted towards this event.
Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and Bookish (every Tuesday)
Waiting on Wednesday is an event hosted by Breaking the Spine where every week we get to shine the spotlight on a book that we’re looking forward to.
Announced two readalongs for January:
- Kushiel’s Scion by Jacqueline Carey, details here the readalong is up to week No.5
- Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuide details here. This readalong has now concluded and an announcement about a readalong for No.2 will shortly follow.
I read two of my SPFBO (Under a Colder Sun and Shattered Sands which now takes my total to 8 out of 10 (with two books left until the conclusion of this event).
Hope you all had a great month.
Vintage Sci Fi: A buffet of covers
31 January 2016
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Covers, Little Red Reviewer, Roundup, Vintage Sci Fi
The final day of Vintage Sci-fi over at Little Red Reviewer. You may have noticed that I set myself a small challenge to post covers – for books I’ve read – that fall into the vintage category. For the final day of the challenge I’m showcasing a smorgasbord of some of the book covers I’ve highlighted:
Kushiel’s Scion by Jacqueline Carey, Readalong week No.5
31 January 2016
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Scion, Readalong week 5
Today is week five of our readalong for Kushiel’s Scion.
If you’re interested in joining the readalong the details and other participants are below. Feel free to join in with the comments and obviously, if you haven’t read this series but are intending to do so please be aware of spoilers – because they’re running amok below
This week I’m hosting. Now, to the Q&A:
1. Firstly, what do you make of The Guild and why do you think Anafiel declined to join them. Do you think Imriel should join them?
Well, I liked Anafiel and the fact that he declined to join the Guild makes me wonder whether Imriel’s getting involved in something that he shouldn’t. The jury’s out for me with the Guild so far – I can’t see anything to be gained by Imriel for example. And the whole thing with the student riots was a bit of an eye opener with Claudia telling Imriel to take care before she thought to tell her own brother. I don’t know, I think Imriel wants to be part of something so badly that he maybe isn’t thinking about what’s actually the best thing. The Guild, well, they obviously want to recruit people who are in a position to help them and certainly Imriel could do that. And, they’re literally trying to seduce him into their fold. So far, I can’t say I have an overwhelmingly good impression of them.
2. We have the philosophical debates – how do you think these are going to play a part in the story overall, if at all?
I like this aspect of the story. It’s interesting to see the students, who all come from such different backgrounds, discussing things together. I thought the discussion about war and the impacts that the Skaldi war had on them all was really interesting to read about. Brigitta made an interesting point about the Skaldi just wanting to improve themselves, but it made me think of all our discussions during the Skaldi war – if you want to improve then you have to do it yourself, not just take what somebody else has achieved. It was interesting to see Brigitta try to defend that stance. I thought Eamonn was great during that discussion – in fact he’s really growing on me! I feel a book boyfriend in the making…
3. Claudia – what do you make of her. Do you trust her?
I don’t really trust Claudi to be honest. At the moment it feels like Imriel is very much in lust with her, and I admit I quite like this side of him, he feels like he’s developing, letting out some of his frustration, anger and becoming more comfortable. Things are certainly changing very quickly for him at the moment. I don’t know – this whole Guild is very dodgy and Claudia feels just like the tip of the iceberg. I certainly wouldn’t turn my back on her – I don’t think any of her feelings for others run very deep. She comes across as fickle tbh.
4. We have lots of possible attempts on Imri’s life, even going so far as to start a student riot – and his own attempts to bring these to a stop. What do you make to all of it?
It’s very puzzling for me to be honest and I’m hoping that somebody else can shed some light on it all as the drama and attempts have certainly been stepped up! It feels a little bit as though things are escalating quite quickly now, almost as though whoever is behind the attempts is becoming desperate – I’m not sure what’s behind that desperation, is it because Melisande is out and about? It feels like things are reaching going to reach a head.
5. Two particular characters that I find intriguing are Canis and Piero. What were your first impressions and how do they differ now?
Canis is very intriguing. There feels like there’s a lot more to him than is currently being shared with us. It seems a strange coincidence that his barrel found it’s way to being positioned directly outside their residence. I can’t help wondering whether he’s keeping an eye on Imriel. He’s either protecting him – and certainly somebody seems to be doing so, dispatching bodies with efficiency – or he’s spying on him. I quite like him as a character so I’m hoping that he’s there to help Imri. Piero – I don’t feel like we’re finding out as much about him as I would like to at the moment. I enjoy his time with the students but Imri seems to skip a lot of class doesn’t he! He took a chance on Imri and at the moment I don’t think Imri is quite repaying that.
That’s it for me this week.
Here is the current schedule:
And here is the current list of participators:
Allie at Tethyan Books
Lisa at Over the Effing Rainbow
Lynn at Lynn’s Book Blog
Emily at Emma Wolf
Susan at Dab of Darkness
