Book Reviews

[beccastareyes]

Dust, by Elizabeth Bear

Rien is a normal servant girl of Rule, assigned to care for the captured knight, the Exalted Sir Perceval of Engine, until she is executed. Then Perceval tells her that not only is Rien her sister, but that the two of them need to stop a way between the forces of Engine and Rule.

Jacob Dust is a computer program in the form of an angel, part of the fragments of the computer AI that broke when the generation ship Jacob's Ladder got stranded orbiting a star about to go nova. Security protocols prevent him form acting without human initiative, so he needs to find a captain for the ship -- and soon. There is also the pressing matter of his 'brothers' -- other fragments of the AI who would like just as well to get at his programming.

Yes, both of these are happening in the same book. I liked this book since it did a nice job of mixing elements of fantasy, adventure, science fiction, and some thoughtful stuff. In general, Elizabeth Bear does a cool job of mixing Neat Ideas, cool settings, decent plots and characters that you can really relate to. She also does convincing non-humans, but that's less of an issue here, though there is some exploration about status and what it means.

Oh, if same-sex relationships or incest squick you, you might want to give this book a pass.

A Companion to Wolves, by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette

I picked this book up knowing it was a response to all the animal companion fantasy out there. Especially Pern. You know the sub-genre -- a society of people psychically bonded to animals, protecting the normals from something. Anne McCaffrey had her dragonriders, Mercedes Lackey had her Hawkbrothers and Heralds, etc. In most cases, the animals aren't that off from humans, and have a deficiency in personality, besides 'encouraging and supporting their human'*.

* I've also heard this complaint from fans about some series of Digimon anime -- I could compare the pet monster genre of anime to the animal companion fantasy, but I'd rather not. Plus there are elements of Pern (read: *cough*mating flights*cough*) that I never want to see in Digimon fanfic. (Oh, crap, Rule 34!)

ACtW also has wolves that act like wolves -- the trellwolves were intelligent, but not human, and this influenced the wolfcarls. The wolves also have personality -- they are as much characters as the humans. It also deals with some of the consequences from getting what amounts to psychic feedback from creatures who organize a lot different from humans -- and that leads in to some musings about sex and sexuality from the main character. For that matter, the other non-human cultures featured are interesting in what glimpses we get of them.

Even if you haven't read Pern, it's still a good book. The basic premise is pretty simple -- Norse-like northern culture, being attacked by trolls from the north. They turn to the wolfcarls, a group of men bonded to large wolves (trellwolves) who fight them. The main character is Njall/Isolfr, the son of a jarl, who is tithed (against his father's wishes) to bond to one of the wolves. He is chosen by Viradetchis, one of the rare female trellwolves, and very likely to grow up to lead a pack of her own. Set against Isolfr adapting to his new life and both man and wolf coming of age is the fact that the trolls are moving south, and are poised to overrun the human settlements.

About the only problem I had was that most of the wolfcarls had 'wulf' or 'ulf' or 'olf' in their names, so it was a bit hard to keep the characters names' straight.

If same-sex sex and relationships bother you, give this one a pass.

The Twelve Kingdoms: Books 1 and 2, by Fuyumi Ono

So, the first time I heard about Twelve Kingdoms was as a comparison to other crossover fantasy animes, like Fushigi Yuugi, The Vision of Escaflowne and the like. Basically, it made the point that, unlike... well, unlike Miaka, Youko from Book 1 actually has to figure out what is going on when she is brought to the land of Twelve Kingdoms. And how to deal with the fact that the one person she knows in this world has gone missing in action.

The second book does not continue Youko's story,but focuses on the kirin Taiki and how he becomes minister of the kingdom of Tai. I liked it more for the worldbuilding.

Small Favor, by Jim Butcher

Okay, the best way I can describe it was it was like Jim Butcher had taken all the elements I liked about The Dresden Files, and combined them into a story of awesome. It handled the fact that there was a lot going on pretty well. Murphy was also Made of Awesome. And has to put up with short jokes from Harry:

"I saw you [kill a troll] once. How hard could it be?"
I found myself grinning. "I had a little help."
Murphy matched my smile. "One more short joke and I'm taking a kneecap"
"Murphy," I chided, "petty violence is beneath you. Which is saying something."
"Keep it up, wise guy. I'm always going to be taller than you once you're lying unconscious on the ground."
"You're right. That was a low blow. I'll try to rise above it."
She showed me a clenched fist. "Pow, Dresden. Right to the moon."

The downside was that there were a bunch of factions involved -- and I'm still not entirely clear what the Summer Court was doing. Well, besides, 'Winter is doing something. Must oppose! Oh, crap, I think it was actually something we might have agreed on..." It calls for a reread.

Comments

[jchaos.insanejournal.com]

I just finished Small Favor the other day as well. And yeah, it was made of win and awesome. XD I'm loving the way this series goes... now we have to wait for the next one!

[meganekko.insanejournal.com]

Oh I want to read Small Favor so bad u_u

[gehayi.insanejournal.com]

I think I actually got what was going on with Summer and Winter.

See, Mab named Harry her Emissary back in Death Masks; she, as she put it, bought Harry's mortgage from his godmother, the Leanansidhe. I believe that Harry thinks, "Okay, that case is over, I'm not her Emissary anymore." But it's pretty clear from Mab's point of view, she owns Harry's ass as long as he owes her a couple of favors.

There's not a lot of gratitude among the Faerie Courts, after all; but there are a lot of favors bartered, given and received. From a strictly fae standpoint, it would make sense that if you were in debt to Mab, you would be obliged to serve Mab--and indeed, Winter itself--until the debt was fully repaid. Ergo, it's probable that to Mab, Harry is still Winter's Emissary--and that she doesn't realize that he doesn't understand this.

So Summer didn't anticipate his being named Emissary. Harry's been Emissary for a few years.

So why did Summer want to kill Harry? Well, remember what Aurora said in Summer Knight?

"I've watched you," she responded. "You're a mercenary. You work for hire."

"Yeah. To pay the bills and—"

She lifted a hand. "You've made bargains with demons."

"Nickel-and-dime stuff, nothing huge or—"

"You traded yourself to the Leanansidhe for power."

"When I was younger, and a hell of a lot stupider, and in trouble—"

Her inhuman eyes met mine, penetrating. "You've killed."

I looked away from her. There wasn't much to say to that. My stomach turned, and I pushed the food a bit away from me.

Aurora nodded, slowly. "From the beginning, you have been meant to be a destroyer. A killer. Do you know the original purpose of a godparent, Mr. Dresden?"

"Yeah," I said. I felt tired. "A godparent was chosen to ensure that a child had religious and moral guidance and teaching."

"Indeed," she said. "And your godmother, your teacher and guide, is the most vicious creature of Mab's Court, more than Maeve's equal, second in strength only to Mab herself."

I let out a harsh laugh. "Teacher? Guide? Is that what you think Lea is to me?"

"Isn't she?"

"Lea barely noticed me except when she thought she could get something from me," I spat. "The rest of the time she couldn't care less. The only thing she taught me was that if I didn't want to get walked on I had to be smarter than her, stronger than her, and willing to do something about it."

Aurora turned her lovely face fully toward me and regarded me with deep, quiet eyes. "Yes." Unease gnawed at my belly as she continued. "The strong conquer and the weak are conquered. That is Winter. That is what you have learned." She leaned closer and said, quietly emphatic, "That is what makes you dangerous. Do you see?"

***

Now. Put someone like that with the Denarians.

I don't know that Summer knew that Harry ever had Lasciel's coin. But given that view of Harry as Winter-honed, dangerous and murderous...Summer's assumption would be that Harry would grab the chance for power. And a wizard as powerful as Harry willingly joining with the Denarians--that would be a nightmare.

So Summer launched a pre-emptive strike. Kill Harry before he joins the Denarians. Before Mab sends him into contact with them. Before he gets a chance to grab an unreal amount of power.

Remember the reactions we saw in this book. Fix--the Summer Knight, who knows Harry--thought much the same thing as Titania: that Winter was shaping Harry's thoughts, making him power-hungry and dangerous. The second oldest gruff was amazed that Harry, who was working for Winter, was capable of mercy. The oldest gruff saw Harry fighting and fleeing the Denarians...and then decided that his orders to kill Harry were wrong.

So I think that's what was going on with Summer. We don't see it as clearly because we're privy to Harry's thoughts and emotions and experiences. We KNOW he won't take up a coin.

But Summer is outside Harry's mind. And Summer doesn't know that.