Catching Up, Part 2

[bibliogramma]

And now for Part 2 of the omnibus thumbnail reviews of recently-read sff.


The Temple and the Crown - Katherine Kurtz & Deborah Turner Harris

Kurtz and Harris write wonderful alternate history occult fantasies, drawing to some degree on Templar mythology with (in the Adept series) a large splash of Blavatsky et al. The is actually the second of two alternate history books they’ve written in which survivors of the discredited Templar Order place their abilities in battle, both mundane and arcane, at the service of Robert the Bruce in his struggle to free Scotland. I’ve not read the first book, but this one was lots of good fun, assuming you enjoy reading about Templar occultists fighting for the Scottish throne against the villainous Sassenach.


Swordspoint - Ellen Kushner

I am kicking myself for only now having read my first book by Ellen Kushner. Swordfights, politics, intrigues, long-lost heirs to ancient noble houses, and wonderfully gay heroes – good reading and wildly entertaining.


Crossroads - Mercedes Lackey
The Valdemar Companion
Sanctuary

I have discussed my weakness for Mercedes Lackey’s books in other entries. Crossroads is another Valdemar anthology, and includes stories written by a number of authors including Judith Tarr, Tanya Huff and Lackey herself. Much fun. The Valdemar Companion is of course a reference work for those whose memories can’t keep track of all of the characters of all of the Velgarth stories, but it also has some fun articles and new material written by Lackey herself. Definitely for fen.

Sanctuary is the third book in Lackey’s new series about dragon-riding pseudo-Egyptians, and it continues the series well. The evil magicians are now in control of both Upper and Lower Egypt, er, the lands of Tia and Alta, and the remaining dragon riders, er, Jousters, of both countries are hiding out in the desert protected by Bedouins, er, whatever she’s calling them instead. We’re all set up for the fourth and final book of the series, in which young Kiron, the dragon-boy with a Great Destiny, leads his valiant army of free dragon-riders to the rescue and restores truth, justice and goodness to the Two Lands. And I’ll just lap it up once it’s out in paperback. ;-)


A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L’Engle
A Wind in the Door
A Swiftly Tilting Planet

I confess, I had never read Madeleine L’Engle’s oft-recommended Time quartet until this year. Now I’ve read the first three books and have been properly charmed by her writing, which, while somewhat quaint and perhaps just a shade too overtly religious at times (much like C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books, which one loves, if one does, perhaps as much because of as in spite of these things), are indeed delightful. I fully intend to read at least the rest of the Murray-O’Keefe (Kairos) books, which continue the adventures of the family from Wrinkle in Time and I may try the Austin (Chronos) books as well, although since they are generally described as being more realistic than the Kairos books, I may not enjoy them as much.


The Dragon Prince Trilogy - Melanie Rawn
Dragon Prince
The Star Scroll

I read Rawn’s two interlocking trilogies, The Dragon Prince and Dragon Star, when they were first written back in the late 80s and early 90s, so these two books go in the list of re-reads. I deeply enjoyed both trilogies, at least in part because of the complicated and interwoven political manoeuvrings of both secular and esoteric power bases. Like many others, I regret that real-life difficulties have so far prevented her from completing her Exiles trilogy, and continue to hope that someday The Captal’s Tower will appear. In the meantime, I can always re-read the Dragon trilogies again.


Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J K Rowling

Well, I’m ready for the final book now. I surely hope that Rowling has a finale that’s big enough and strong enough to carry the weight of all these years of building expectations. But whatever happens to Harry, Snape has to be one of the great literary love to hate, hate to love characters.


The Last Enchantment - Mary Stewart
The Wicked Day

More re-reads! I was going to wait until I had the full set in hand again, but there I was one afternoon, really craving some good old Arthurian historical fantasy, and there the two books were, and I said to myself, “I know what’s in The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills, I can re-read them separately once I pick them up.” So I read what I had to hand, and it was indeed fun to relive some of the earlier books of the popular Arthurian lit explosion of the 20th century.


The King’s Peace - Jo Walton

This is the first volume of Walton’s alternate history based on the Arthurian legend, and it looks to be the beginning of a worthy addition to the genre. I am, of course, delighted with the fact that the tale is set in a world where there is a good deal of gender equity and that the POV character (who appears to be fulfilling the Lancelot/Bedwyr function, at least so far) is a woman. A good historical fantasy read in general, and a treat for fans of the Arthurian material.


Empire of Bones - Liz Williams

Another new author (to me, anyway) and another novel I enjoyed very much. An original take on the classic star-seeding idea, with a well-realised alien culture, a non-Anglo protagonist and earth-based setting, and (minor but enjoyable to me) an honest look at issues of teleporter technology. I also liked the fact that the story line dealt with issues of disability and medical care. Worth reading.


Consider Her Ways and Others - John Wyndham

Another of my classic re-reads. Some thought-provoking stories, including the dystopic title story. I’ve always had problems with “Consider her Ways,” and the years haven’t changed that. The analysis of the role of romantic love in the social control of women remains solid after all these years, but Wyndham’s insectoid vision of sexless worker drones and brainless mothers in an all-female future makes for a terrifying alternative. I don’t believe that Wyndham lacked the ability to imagine a third alternative, so I must assume that this is some kind of cautionary tale to feminists, to be careful not to (in a deliberately maternalist image) throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Comments

[sausconys-books.livejournal.com]

I also have a weakness for Lackey's Valdemar books and I'm going to try to catch up on the series soon now that I seem to be in a Lackey mood again. I haven't read much else by her yet, but I have her first Luna book sitting near the top of my TBR pile and I have a bunch of her other books around here somewhere too. I love the Last Herald Mage Trilogy and say what you will about her fluffiness and angst, she writes great gay characters.

I just got Swordspoint a few months ago and I'm anxious to read it.

I've read the first of the O'Keefe books and I hated it because the protagonist seemed so naive in it that he got on my nerves. I liked the bits with the Murry/O'Keefe family though and Poly was amazing so I'll be reading the rest of the series.

I have Walton and Rawn on my to read list and I even have one of Rawn's dragon books. So many books, so little time.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Yes, one of the things that really redeems a multitude of literary... well, maybe not sins, but pecadilloes, is the fact that she has written queer characters into her books, with great understanding and generosity, from the very beginning - you may remember there is a sympathetic lesbian couple (Ylsa and Keren) in the very first book, Arrows of the Queen (and while one of them dies, which happens to far too many queer characters, the survivor goes on with her life and finds a new lover, which doesn't often happen in "mainstream" writing about queer characters, and certainly not back when the first Valdemar books were written). What I also appreciate about much of her writing - even though I make fun of the "child with everything against him/her but a Glorious Destiny waiting" set-up that she uses so often - is her use of her novels to advocate for the rights of abused children. It is perhaps done best in her "NASCAR Elves" books, because the protagonists are not the abused children but the elves who are compelled by their innate love of children to help them escape.

Kushner, Walton and Rawn are all, in their ways, good reads - I hope you get time to read and enjoy them.

The L'Engle books, I think, take a certain switch of attitude to really get into - partly because they are children's books, and partly because they are of another generation - even though it's true that L'Engle has kept on writing, certainly well into the 1990s. Her voice remains that of a woman of her time, even though her perspective is quite modern in many ways, including the intellectual and professional capabilities of a goodly number of the women in the three books I've read so far.

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

I like Swordspoint.

And Jo Walton was my big find of 2002, when I read The King's Name (sequel to The King's Peace), was really impressed by it and went off to get hold of The King's Peace. I've got all her books now, including the latest, a fine alternate timeline novel called Farthing.

I read Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time as a child, and found it compelling and memorable. The later books in that series weren't published until I'd grown up and though I have read the two you name I don't remember them very well. To judge from her website (http://www.madeleinelengle.com/), she seems to be still writing - had a collection of poems out last year.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Most of what are now considered children's classics of fantasy - the Narnia books, the Curdy books, even Charlotte's Web, I did not read as a child. I blame it, to some extent, on being such a precocious reader. I taught myself to read before the age of three, and while my mother had done a lot of reading to me before that - age appropriate books like Babar and Madeleine - as soon as my mother realised I could read, she encouraged me to read for myself, and let me select the books I wanted to read. Without any guidance, for some reason I didn't find the fantasy classics. Instead, I spent several years reading lots of very fun books for young adults - none of which I regret reading - and then wandered into science fiction and didn't look back for a very long time.

I also think that in the 60s there may have been a shift away from fantasy in North America, which could partly explain why I didn't find all that much of it in libraries. Most of the non-sf young adult fiction I read between the ages of five and ten was historical fiction - Sutcliffe, Renault, and anyone else writing about younger people anywhere in time other than where I was. Although I did go through a period of reading both The Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew, contemporary children's adventure series extending to dozens and dozens of relatively formulaic books that may or may not have made any impact on your side of the ocean. I also read a great deal of non-fiction, particularly related to astronomy and other science - this was primarily triggered by the space race, I think, as was my early plunge into science fiction.

It was in university, when I was taking a class in children's literature, that I discovered the wonderful world of children's fantasy and since then I've been picking up the classics that I missed as a child whenever something brings one of them to my attention.

In the case of the L'Engle books, I saw a TV movie based on Wrinkle in Time not long ago, and it sparked my interest.