"the hope that you have carried since september / you will offer up to june"

[larryhammer]

Been a while since I've posted about reading. This is partly because I haven't been posting but also because not reading all that much. But what I have read includes:

The Element of Fire by Martha Wells, a tasty fantasy set in a roughly 17th-century analog France. I especially liked the depictions of court politics, handled more realistically than is the norm in fantasy.

Sabriel by Garth Nix -- a reread, of course, as part of preparing for Clariel. Still excellent.

Prisoner, the first installment of Echo's Wolf, a book in the Werewolf Marines series by Lia Silver (rachelmanija) -- which is now available free at most fine ebook purveyors, by way of an entry point to the rest of the series. I say installment, but it does come to a good emotional resolution while pointing to further story to come. Snappy writing and good fluffy paranormal romance between a werewolf marine (see the label on the tin) and a genetically engineered assassin who is one of two surviving clone sisters. I've started installment the second, Partner, which is just as good.

Though admittedly, I allowed myself to be interrupted by this odd duck: Within the Capes by Howard Pyle, a novel I had no notion existed till it popped up on Gutenberg. A sea yarn of the shipwreck survival subgenre that subverts several conventions, not the least by having the sailor protagonist be Quaker. Though that's not nearly as subversive as the hinkiness with the point of view.

Next up: Dodger by Terry Pratchett.

---L.

Subject quote from "Spring," Richard Shindell.

Comments

[cat-i-th-adage.livejournal.com]

I can testify that the sequel to Prisoner is also pretty good. Similar tone and pace to the first, with a few surprises and another satisfying emotional conclusion. One of the secondary characters is now my hero, but I won't say which so I don't spoil the plot.

(I wasn't quite so keen on Laura's Wolf. It has a lot of things of interest in it, and I'm glad I finished, but I probably wouldn't read it again. Partly that's the setting, I guess. Echo's Wolf has a setting with a thousand flowers blooming; in contrast Laura's Wolf is largely interactions between two characters in a wilderness cabin. But still - it does interesting things with structure and narrative weight, and is worth a look.)

[larryhammer]

Laura's Wolf is also loaded, waiting for me.

---L.