Book Book Book

I’ve been trying to put together this post for about eleven months!

Wyvern’s Spur, by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb (reread)

I reread this last Christmas. I wanted something light and fun to read, and Baldur’s Gate 3 had me primed for some Forgotten Realms literature. It’s fun.

1635: Music and Murder, by David Carrico

Maria Linder had plans to leave West Virginia and further her musical education. Franz Sylwester was a violinist in Mainz, until his rival maimed his left hand. Together, they (and an expanding crew of musicians and composers) aim to preserve and spread the musical legacy brought back in time by the Ring of Fire.

At some point I ought to write up my thoughts about the Ring of Fire series. One thing I’ve noticed, though, is that the writers will begin by writing a series of short stories about their pet characters, and those stories are often compiled and massaged into novel form.

This book is a successful example of that form. The connective tissue between stories is fairly strong. They don’t build up to a real climax, but the final story about Maria and Franz is a satisfying stopping point.

And then the last fifth of the book ditches those characters entirely to tell some detective stories. Huh.

Agent to the Stars, by John Scalzi (reread)

As I tweeted:

Reread. It’s about a Hollywood agent trying to figure out how to arrange first contact with an alien species (of the slime and tentacles variety). It’s fun. Holds up better than I’d expected.

Just Stab Me Now, by Jill Bearup

I read this eight ten months ago. I’ll share my tweet again:

This was enjoyable. It’s essentially a romance novel about someone trying to write a romance novel. One storyline is about her, her editor, and troubles at her day job; the other is about a fantasy heroine (who happens to look just like the author) and a guard (who matches her editor), and their attempts to bring an end to a war between neighbouring kingdoms.

1636: The Devil’s Opera, by Eric Flint and David Carrico

This is the sequel to 1635: Music and Murder. It’s an actual novel, not a story collection. So it’s going to be better, right?

(sigh)

This book had so much potential. Maria and Franz are establishing the world’s first opera house in Madgeburg. The detectives are investigating a mysterious murder and a series of suspicious industrial accidents. The United States of Europe is in political turmoil due to the emperor’s coma and a coup by the nobility against the democratic government. Aside from the mystery story, though, most of the potential is wasted.

It wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t good.

1636: The Barbie Consortium, by Paula Goodlett and Gorg Huff (reread)

It holds up.

Like 1635: Music and Murder, this is also a bunch of related short stories massaged into novel form. That’s why the start is so heavily focused on the kids making sewing machines, only for them to become sidelined in favour of the investment consortium. It rushes forward at the end in order to set the stage for the sequel, namely …

1636: The Viennese Waltz, by Eric Flint, Paula Goodlett, and Gorg Huff

Sarah Wendell, one of the founding members of the Sewing Circle, is off to Vienna to marry Prince Karl Eusebius von Liechtenstein. With her is her younger sister, Judy; and with Judy is the rest of the Barbie Consortium.

This was good. The Barbie Consortium and the Austro-Hungarian nobility clash in interesting ways, and it’s heartening to see the consortium act because they want to help people, not just to get rich. Sarah and Karl (especially Karl) are in the middle, bridging the gap. And there’s plenty in Vienna that needs doing.

My only complaint is that antagonists don’t do much ‘til the very end of the book. They feel shoehorned in.

1636: The Saxon Uprising, by Eric Flint (reread)

Right! Remember I mentioned political turmoil in my write-up on 1636: The Devil’s Opera? This is all about that. Amazing book.

1636: The Chronicles of Dr. Gribbleflotz, by Kerryn Offord and Rick Boatright

Dr Gribbleflotz is — depending on who you ask — the world’s greatest alchemist, a charlatan, or a surprisingly adept chemist. He also has a massive chip on his shoulder, mostly because he never actually earned the honourific “doctor” — his rivals prevented him from finishing his education, and he’s remarkably good at generating rivals.

Alas, it’s another story collection molded into a book. I suspect the first section is wholly original — it gives his backstory, from childhood to the arrival of Grantville, and it got me invested in this character. Then it became a series of stories which were all pleasant, but didn’t build to much. And then it ended.

1636: The Ottoman Onslaught, by Eric Flint

Knowledge from the future has made its way to the Ottoman Empire. Not only are they launching their invasion of Vienna years early, but Sultan Murad IV has airships and tanks in his army. Will Vienna withstand the siege?

To cite a tweet again:

Also: this was mostly a war and politics book, as the main series has been since 1633 (or arguably 1632). 1633 and 1634: The Baltic War were both enjoyable slogs. But this one … I could dive into the next book right now, because I want to find out what happens next.

1637: Dr Gribbleflotz and the Soul of Stoner, by Kerryn Offord and Rick Boatright

OK, so this was written to be a novel. I like Gribbleflotz. This should be good, right?

So disappointing. It’s about science versus superstition, and the two lead characters are an alchemist and a pharmacologist who distrust each other […] — Stoner thinks Gribbleflotz is a charlatan, and Gribbleflotz is upset that Stoner tricked him in their previous encounter. Great! And their conflict is nearly entirely squandered.

I could imagine a light rewrite developing that conflict while leaving the rest of the plot untouched, and it’d be a thousand times better.

(tweet)

The Order, by Daniel Silva

Gabriel Allon, Israeli intelligence operative, is drawn into Vatican intrigue after the unexpected death of his friend Pope Paul VII. Can he stop Europe from descending into chaos and recover a long-lost gospel?

It’s a better book than The DaVinci Code, but that book’s bonkers plot was more entertaining.

1632, by Eric Flint (reread)

I mostly read this because I was travelling in June and wanted something to read on my phone. And hey, you can download this book for free.

… Plus I’m irrationally fond of the entire series.

The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien

Book club book #1!

Everyone says it’s a slog, but I enjoyed it. It’s the subtext of The Lord of the Rings raised to text. I enjoyed the mythology at the start well enough, but it really gets going when some of the elves rebel and return to Middle-earth. It’s a story of their rise and fall, and reading it fall apart is fascinating.

1636: The Vatican Sanction, by Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon

Pope Urban has retreated to the city of Besançon in Burgundy. He’s summoned as many cardinals as he can to decide on the next steps of the Catholic Church — if he’s indeed in control of it anymore — and he’s summoned representatives of the various other Christian faiths in the hope of bringing an end to the endless religious wars. Can he do it? Or will Cardinal Borja’s assassins get to him first?

I hated it. I started reading it back in January, then put it down for six months. I should’ve read a summary instead of pushing through.

The big problem, as far as I’m concerned, is that the protagonist of the book is actually one of the assassins. The book is deeply invested in how the different cells operate and communicate. It spends way too much time in the heads of killers and too little inside the characters I like from the rest of the series.

It’s funny: The previous book was written by the same two writers, and I loved it. But this one … ugh.

1637: The Polish Maelstrom, by Eric Flint

1635: The Eastern Front ends with Gustavus Adolphus foolishly starting a war between the USE and Poland. It more or less went on hold during the political crisis of 1636: The Saxon Uprising, and simmered in the background of 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught. Now Gretchen Richter, revolutionary with the backing of the USE government, is stirring up trouble in Silesia.

It was fine. Eric Flint was a good writer (RIP). By the end of it, tho, I could use a break from war.

1633, by David Weber and Eric Flint (reread)

So I went back to the second book in the series. It’s so good. 1632 was a great novel, but this turns it into a great series.

The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

Book club book #2!

As I tweeted:

There’s an annoying tick in it, where characters will state profound truths that they don’t necessarily have any reason to know. It started bugging me by the end. And there were sections where the writing left me confused about what was supposed to be literally happening. But on the whole, it’s a fantastic book.

1634: The Baltic War, by Eric Flint and David Weber (reread)

This is the second half of 1633. I couldn’t stop in the middle.

I liked it more on the reread. It was still a bit of a slog, but not as much as I’d remembered. That said, so much of this book is about the military and war, and that ain’t my jam.

Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree

Book club book #3!

Viv, an orc fighter, hangs up her sword to start a new life based on her new passion: coffee. Is the city of Thune ready for its first coffee shop? And can Viv truly put aside her life of adventure, even when the local crime syndicate tries to shake her down?

It’s a cozy fantasy novel. In my opinion, it’s a little too cozy. It gestures at overcoming prejudice (an orc opening a cafe with a succubus barista and a ratkin baker), but most people in the story are immediately accepting. The characters we like are rarely in conflict and clear up their misunderstandings quickly. The events proceed forward logically with few curve balls. I could’ve used more tension.

It all clicked when I got to the acknowledgements section at the end: this is a NaNoWriMo novel. It’s an excellent idea and well-executed, but it’s missing something to turn it from good to great. I can see why it resonated with folk, tho.

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And that’s it!