Monday, April 30, 2012

May Planned (hah!) Reads

 

I’ve already begun Dissolution by C.J. Sansom (a murder mystery with the detective a hunchback lawyer back in Tudor England) and the fifth book of the Malazan series Midnight Tides by Steven Erickson.

On deck:

Tea with the Black Dragon – R.A. MacAvoy

Raven Black – (book one of a series) – Ann Cleeves

The Sword-Edged Blonde – (first of a series) – Alex Bledsoe

After the Armistice Ball – (another first of a series, sigh) – Catriona McPherson

New Amsterdam – Elizabeth Bear

The Technologists – Matthew Pearl

April’s Reading Roundup

I burned through the S. J. Parris historical murder mysteries, as I’d gotten the third one for free from Library Thing’s Early Reviewer program:

1. Heresy

2. Prophecy

3. Sacrilege

I really enjoyed them. They feature Giordano Bruno, a fomer monk on the run from the Inquisition.

Also:

4. Eagle of the Ninth – Rosemary Sutcliff

5. The Winter Garden Mystery – Carola Dunn

6. Faceless Killers – Henning Mankell (first of the Kurt Wallander Scandi murder mystery series)

7. A Clubbable Woman – Reginald Hill (first of the Dalziel and Pascoe murder mystery series)

8. Stardust – Neil Gaiman

9. Blackbirds – Chuck Wendig (this is a fabulous, if violent, thriller)

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Review: Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig

Wow.  Talk about a wild ride and a book you can’t put down.

Miriam can see the future. She touches someone and knows how they die. She’s tried desperately to change a few of those futures and has always failed. Now someone she might love is at risk. Can she finally affect the future, and challenge fate and remake the world?

Violent, so not for everyone. But if you love a thriller, and a mystery, give it a try. Oh, and the cover is magnificent and fits the book totally.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Two Short Reviews

A Clubbable Woman - Reginald Hill This was an audio book. The first of the Dalziel and Pascoe series. Okay, nothing particularly special. Dalziel is, as ever, annoying...

 

Stardust - Neil Gaiman Fairy tale that is cute and engaging. Differed from the movie significantly - and I confess I thought the movie better!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Review: Faceless Killers–Henning Mankell

Modern Scandia murder mystery, set in wintry Scandia. Refreshing in that the police are prone to make mistakes, and the murderers aren’t found in short order. In fact, Kurt Wallander goes down many unproductive paths, and only solves the mystery through sheer persistence and a lot of luck.

I’ll definitely read more of these. Have book two on hold at the library, but I’m second on the waiting list.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Review: Sacrilege by S.J. Parris

Giordano Bruno: Heretic. On the run from the Inquisition. Italian and thusly doubly suspicious in defensive and conspiracy ridden England in the age of Elizabeth.  After all, he must be a papist, despite his excommunication.  And, well, he agrees with that Pole Copernicus and consorts with the likes of John Dee, so he’s a magician too. Oh, and he’s in search of the mysterious lost book of Hermes Trismegistus.

What the majority of people don’t know, is Bruno is also an agent for Sir Francis Walsingham, Principal Secretary to Elizabeth 1. And the go to guy when someone is found murdered.  He’s also Walsingham’s spy inside the French Embassy, since he’s staying there because his patron, King Henri of France has given him asylum from Rome.

At the moment though, Bruno wants to go travel to Canterbury.  He’s been asked by a young woman he knows for help.  Her husband has been murdered, and she had met Bruno in Oxford, so she begs him to clear her name and find the real killer.

What Bruno doesn’t know yet, is that this seemingly simple murder investigation will lead to yet more Catholic conspiracies to oust Elizabeth and place Mary on the throne, bringing England back into the Catholic fold.

Wonderful characterizations, complex and realistically drawn settings, bring the world of the 1580s to life. The mystery itself is intriguing and multilayered. Several times I thought for sure I’d figured it out. I was wrong!

If you love historical fiction that can seem to put you there, you’ll love the Giordano Bruno series. And the series only gets better.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Review–Prophecy–S. J. Parris

The second book of the Giordano Bruno series finds him in London in 1583, and still searching for the lost book of Hermes Trismegistus.  He becomes friends with John Dee, the Queen’s Astrologer, from whom the book has been stolen.  He’s also still working as a spy for Walsingham and living in the French Embassy. 

When a young girl who was one of the Queen’s maids of honor is found murdered, with the astrological symbols of the Great Conjunction carved in her breast, Walsingham calls in Bruno.

Is this murder part of the ongoing Catholic plot to overthrow Elizabeth and place Mary on the Throne? Or is it something else entirely? Bruno is in a unique position to find out.

An exciting thriller which keeps you guessing up to the last, it portrays the city, the miseries of the times, and the air of fear and confusion of Elizabeth’s time. Highly recommended for those who love historical fiction.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Short Review: The Winter Garden by Carola Dunn

A pleasant cozy mystery, set in the 1920s. Light hearted and fun read, but not one to stretch your gray matter.  Likeable characters and pretty fair mystery.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Review: Eagle of the Ninth–Rosemary Sutcliff

A tale of adventure in ancient Britain. A young centurion arrives in Roman Britain to take his first command at a small Roman fort in Britain. During an uprising he's badly injured.  As he's trying to regain his health he hears rumors of a missing Roman Eagle.  His father had led the missing legion whose Eagle it was. He determines to go off above Hadrian's wall and bring back the Eagle and hopefully clear his father's name. And, with luck, bring honor to the Ninth Legion once again.

A good adventure with very likeable characters. And a wolf! 

Fairly slow start, as the circumstances are set up by the author, but once the quest is on, very exciting and enjoyable.

FWIW: I have no idea why this is tagged so often 'children' or 'young adult'. I nearly didn’t read it because of that.  It is not a coming of age story and all the characters are adults.

Sunday, April 08, 2012

Review–Heresy by S J Parris (Stephanie Merritt)

Irony abounds as Giordano Bruno, on the run from the Inquisition in his own Italy, arrives in Oxford in hopes of locating a rare book (that is outlawed by the churches both in Rome and in England).  He is immediately drawn into a mystery involving the murder of a college don which is posed as similar to the death of a Christian martyr.

Suspicion and fear dominates everyone in England, and suspicion reigns particularly in regard to Oxford, as the country is in the throws of a religious war, with the state fearful of every Catholic and the possibility of a far worse death than hanging facing anyone, no matter how innocent they may be, if they are accused by anyone of being Catholic.

The mystery is complex enough to hold one's attention and the main character, although a bit dim at times, is engaging.

I personally would have liked more with regard to the science debate, but that’s just me (Bruno is a follower of Copernicus but has taken the conclusions even further than the astronomer has).

I look forward to book 2 of the series. Hoping for more of the science debate as apparently John Dee is in that one.