Hopcross Jilly and Shifting Shadows

by Anna

By Patricia Briggs

Book Cover: Hopcross JillyRebecca bought me Hopcross Jilly, a Mercy Thompson graphic novel, by Patricia Briggs for my birthday, and it was awesome because I hadn’t even known it existed! It focuses primarily on Mercy’s stepdaughter Jesse, who is struggling to find her place in high school now that she is known as the daughter of the local werewolf alpha. I’m trying to be as spoiler-free as possible, so excuse the coyness, but the events also take place after the big showdown with the fae, so the main antagonist is fae.

Which is where my problem comes in. From just about the beginning of the series, I’ve been on the fae’s side in their struggle with humans. In Briggs’ world, the fae have been treated somewhat similarly (though better) to how the US treated Native Americans, with extreme prejudice and isolation. So, when they have finally taken as much as they are going to take, it feels like an underdog fighting back, even though they are in fact murdering people. I found myself on the unsupportable side of a debate with Rebecca in which I was trying to hand-wave away the (fictional) murder of innocent children.

Anyway, it was fun to see more of Jesse, who is usually very much a side character, and the fae villain was quite interesting, and it had a satisfying ending, even if it wasn’t as pro-fae as I would have liked. I do also want to qualify this by saying that Briggs is clearly a novelist, not a graphic novelist, so there are times when the action and dialogue gets a little muddled since she isn’t writing in quite the screenplay style that a graphic novel demands.

Book Cover: Shifting ShadowsI have also been reminded that I completely forgot to review Briggs’ Shifting Shadows, which is unforgiveable considering how long I’ve been whining for something exactly like this. Shifting Shadows collects all of Patricia Briggs’ short stories in a single volume, including the Alpha and Omega novella that kicks off that series, as well as some brand new stories. The  new stories feature Mercy, of course, but also a variety of side characters that haven’t been given much backstory before, including Ben, one of Adam’s least pleasant pack members; Ariana, the fae with whom Mercy’s ex, Samuel, falls in love; and Kara, a young girl werewolf mentioned very briefly in the second Mercy novel.

And, of course, it contains all of my favorites from a variety of anthologies, like “Seeing Eye,” in which a werewolf and a witch pair up to bring down an evil witch coven; “Fairy Gifts,” about a vampire summoned to save a trapped fairy; and “The Star of David,” a Christmas story about David Christiansen, a werewolf mercenary from the first Mercy Thompson novel. I am just so happy to have them all collected in one place!

—Anna

The Ghost and Mrs. McClure

by Anna

By Alice Kimberly

Book Cover: The Ghost and Mrs. McClureI have been kind of a cranky reader lately (post Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell), and I was cranky starting this book, too. You may have noticed that I can be a bit snooty about my pulp mysteries, and I only condescended to read this mix of a cozy and pulp mystery on my mom’s recommendation. It has a ridiculous premise: a recently widowed woman leaves her up-scale career and lifestyle in New York City to help her aunt run a small-town bookstore, which turns out to be haunted by a hard-boiled private eye, shot there in 40s.

The private eye ghost is a little over-the-top, our protagonist is often ditsy, and the writing is a bit amateurish (the author definitely hits her stride later in the series, though). It is the fluffiest of fluff, and it just makes me really happy. All of the various oddball characters in the small town are cartoonish in the way that cartoons are awesome: they are quirky, and accessible, and just so comfortable. I’ve read the first three on the last two weeks, so they are each a quick read and quickly addictive, too.

On the flipside, in case I was feeling too pleased with my new series, I also checked out Werewolf Cop from the library, thinking Werewolf! Cop! I should have been warned off by the blurb by Stephen King, but I was just too eager to read a possible supernatural noir novel! This book was so offensively bad that I couldn’t even hate read it for the blog. I won’t go into details or this post will run as long as my last one (and I only made it to chapter 2), but it reminded me why I stopped reading all male authors for a chunk of time in my teens. (I went back and got books four and five of the Haunted Bookshop series instead.)

—Anna

Edited to add more praise: I just finished the fifth and final published novel in the series (though another one is rumored to be in the works), and they just keep getting better and better! In the later novels, the ghost shows Mrs. McClure memories of his old cases, and the novels are build around two mysteries from different time periods in interesting ways. Reading all five books back to back, I also started to notice the subtle evolution of Mrs. McClure’s character. Through the encouragement of the supportive ghost and her successful investigations, she noticeably gains confidence and takes increased control of her life. It is just a really nice through-line.

Also, I meant to write this before, but forgot: with every single novel, about halfway through I would start thinking how obvious the solution was, but every single time, I got it wrong, and not in a disappointing way, either. (Of course, in my defense Mrs. McClure was wrong as often as not as well.)

The Thief

by Kinsey
thiefAges ago–maybe two or three years ago–Anna sent me a Kindle book called The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner, as a gift. She told me it was YA fantasy/adventure book that she really liked and she thought I would like too. And I read it and I thought it was fun and and well written and had an interesting twist at the end, and I moved on with my life and didn’t think about it again. Then a few weeks ago I was on vacation, sitting on the beach, and when I finished my trashy romance novel I didn’t feel like walking back the beach house to get another book. So I started poking around my Kindle, looking for something else to occupy me until I was willing to leave the beach, and The Thief popped up. I started re-reading it and was reminded of how much I enjoyed it and then a tiny voice emerged from somewhere in the depths of my memory: could there be . .  did Anna say . .  is there a sequel? You guys, there wasn’t just one sequel, there were THREE, and apparently two more books on the way. And as much as I liked The Thief, the two books that came after it were so so good that I am now completely obsessed and desperately waiting for number 4 to come in at the library.

So The Thief is about a thief (yes) named Gen who we first meet in the king’s prison after he was caught stealing something audacious and then bragging about it in the pubs. Enter the king’s magus, who offers to get Gen out of prison if he will use his considerable thieving skills to steal something important for the king. The thief, the magus, and the other folks in their little party then ride around dodging soldiers, looking for this mysterious object, and trying not get killed by any of their enemies. The actual thing they’re trying to steal was a bit of a MacGuffin for me, but Gen is a smart, tricky character, and up until the last minute it’s never quite clear who’s using who and how much Gen is controlling the situation. It’s suspenseful with a dark edge (there are deaths along the way and prison is not sugar-coated), but Gen himself is very entertaining.

It’s the second and third books that take the action to a whole new level with intrigue and awesome characters and complexity. However, it’s challenging to talk about these, because you can’t even describe the most basic plot elements of any books past the first without ruining the fun of the first book. So I’m not going to say a word about what happens in the rest of this series–I’m not even going to write out the titles. You’re just going to have to trust me when I say that books get twistier and darker and better.

This is like when I owned paperback copies of the Philip Pullman’s Sally Lockhart books, a YA Victorian mystery trilogy he wrote before his famous His Dark Materials trilogy. They’re great books that I was constantly loaning to people, but reading even the first line of the description on the back of the second book just about ruined the first one, so I taped post-it notes over the back of the books so that I could hand someone the whole stack with spoiling them on the plot before the were ready. So consider this review a virtual stack of books with post-its taped on the back. I love these books. The third one is my favorite, but these are quick reads and fit nicely together as one whole story. I should have listened more carefully to Anna when she initially told me about these, since she’s always right these things. Don’t make my mistake!

Kinsey’s Three Word Review: Dark, complicated adventures.

You might also like: The Phillip Pullman books that I mentioned, actually, as well as a number of things that we’ve already raved about here: the Graceling books by Kristen Cashore, The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson, and the His Fair Assassin trilogy by Robin LaFevers (the killer nun books). You might also like Cinda Williams Chima’s series that starts with The Warrior Heir, a fantasy YA story that did a number of interesting things and that hasn’t gotten nearly the attention it deserves–it’s the better version of the Mortal Instruments series.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, part 7

by Anna

By Susanna Clarke

Book Cover: Strand & NorrellSo, last episode! I’m running a little late with this one since I was on vacation last weekend, but better late than never, right? I thought about never, but just couldn’t quite bring myself to leave it hanging. The conclusion in the tv show was very satisfying, but the book conclusion was particularly gripping, I thought. Here are all the final spoilers in a particularly long post, I’m afraid, since a whole lot happened at the end. Continue reading →

Fallen Angel: To Serve in Heaven

by Rebecca

FallenAngelFallen Angel: To Serve in Heaven
by Peter David (author) and J. K. Woodward (illustrator)
2006

This graphic novel was beautifully drawn and had a quite interesting philosophical take on God and the meaning of life, etc. I like religious themed stories, especially ones that deal with the motivations and choices of god-like beings, so this was right up my alley. On the other hand, it was a bit too noir-ish for my particular taste.

The premise is that there’s a city, Bete Noire, that’s sort of the center of reality and fully of dark grittiness and only certain special people are able to access that city. It’s a pretty common trope (Simon Green’s Nightside springs to mind, but also Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, Melissa Marr’s Carnival of Souls, etc.) Our main character is a fallen angel and the plot circles around some machinations by the city’s Magistrate and conspiracy, but mostly serves as an exploration of Liandra’s backstory and introducing the other main players in the city, introducing the series as a whole.

So it was beautiful, it introduced at least one really interesting idea, and there was at least one really funny scene (the Magistrate is furiously trying to interrogate Liandra about her past, but she’s spent the last several hours trying to drown her sorrows about an entirely different part of her past, and it was pretty hilarious failure to communicate). However, that failure to communicate isn’t uncommon as these characters mostly alternate between being threatening and being cryptic. It makes the characters come across as both unpleasant and more than a bit dumb.

It wasn’t great but was still worth reading.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

by Rebecca

uprootedUprooted
by Naomi Novik
2015

This was so good! I love it!

I love this so very much, and luckily I’ve been on vacation so I was able to just blast through this book within 30 hours (which did include a full night’s sleep, for which self-control I should definitely get kudos.) Of course, now I’ve finished it, and that is a travesty and I may need to start it all over again.

Novik created a world of magic and politics and then wrote these gorgeous, vivid descriptions, and complex characters. I love Agnieszka (the main character) and I can empathize with literally every other character who appears, good and evil and in-between. The characters are complex and human. The story is a fairytale, but it’s also a fully developed novel and it addresses the difficulties and horrors that get skimmed over so easily in a short fairy tale.

Uprooted reminded me of Robin McKinley’s various fairytale books, but I think I like this even more. Unlike McKinley’s stories, Uprooted is an original story with original characters, but is steeped in Polish and Russian folklore.

The story starts with Agnieszka being picked as the once-very-ten-years tribute to the Dragon. The Dragon is actually the local lord and an immortal wizard who protects the land from the Woods, which are quite dangerous. It’s unclear what happens when he takes his tribute except that when they are released after ten years, they are well-dressed, well-spoken, are delighted to see their families, but refuse to live anywhere near the Woods ever again.

After that, things happen! And it’s all very exciting.

You can read the first chapter here.

Go read it!

more Graphic Novels

by Rebecca

RunawaysRunaways, Vol. 1: Pride & Joy
By Brian K. Vaughan (author) and Adrian Alphona (illustrator)
2011

This is a really excellent comic book with the premise that these kids are all acquaintances because their parents are friends, but there is nothing exceptional about any of them… until they realize that a) their parents are actually a super-villain group, and b) they all have various super-powers of their own. Having superpowers is awesome, but who wants to be a supervillain when you can be a superhero instead? Except that their parents are supervillains and are killing people and what in the world are they supposed to do about that because despite it all, they’re still their parents?

As a thirty-something, parental issues aren’t really my thing, but I wish I’d found this when I was somewhat younger and into the X-Men. There was a time when the thought of super-powered teenagers dealing with school and parents and teachers and working in groups while still remaining an individual really spoke to me. At the moment, this book addresses issues just a trifle young for me, but it’s still really good and I do recommend it.

TheWickedAndDivine_vol1-1The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act
By Kieron Gillen (author) and Jamie McKelvie (illustrator)
2014

This was beautiful and I loved the premise that there are these reincarnated gods who are hanging around. However, it turns out that there’s a pantheon of 12 reincarnated gods, and they all know each other and have complex, interrelated backstories that relate in complex ways to the actual plot, and all of this is presented in large data dumps. I couldn’t keep track of what was happening or who was involved. It’s a beautiful book, and the premise really does remain pretty fascinating, so I may try to read the second volume eventually and see if it helps at all with tracking what’s going on.

Deadpool_Kills_the_Marvel_Universe_Vol_1_1Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe
By Cullen Bunn (author) and Dalibor Talajic (illustrator)
2012

Deadpool has been crossing my radar somewhat more frequently recently and I noticed one of the trade comic books at the library and decided I should give it a shot. It’s fun and gratuitously violent, but with the sort of satisfying comic book violence that’s also a commentary on how ludicrous previous plots have been to kill various characters. I didn’t like the characterization of Charles Xavier who plays a minor but pivotal roll in setting up the plot, such as it is, for this story. But characterization is not really the point of this story. Instead, irony seems the order of the day, to the extent that at the end I was kind of wondering if the author was trying to ironically be ironic. My take-away is that Deadpool might be the most violent, most hipster character ever.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, part 5

by Anna

By Susanna Clarke

Book Cover: Strand & NorrellAlright, I am in Volume III now – titled “John Uskglass” (the mundane name for the Raven King, remember). I am now wholeheartedly enjoying reading the book, but am not quite enjoying trying to recap all the characters and events. I am about two-thirds of the way through the book (Chapters 45-52), and so much craziness is happening now that I’m in awe of the screenwriters. They are practically having to rewrite huge chunks of the book in order to fit it into the seven episodes. Anyway, here’s part 5, with spoilers:

Continue reading →

The Royal We

by Kinsey

royal

One of my favorite places on the internet is Go Fug Yourself, which you could describe as a celebrity fashion blog. However, the site is so much smarter and kinder than that makes it sound. Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, the two women who run the site, do post pictures of celebrities and discuss their clothes, but a few things make them very different from TMZ or some of the other less savory celebrity sites:

  • They are VERY careful to criticize the clothes and not the person, so their comments often end up being along the lines of, “You are so much better than this is outfit!”
  • There is really no body shaming at all
  • They are interested in fashion as an industry and an art, and cover fashion shows as well as celebrities
  • Their Friday links round ups are great
  • They are legitimately good writers, so their commentary is smart and often spins off on these hilarious tangents. Like, they’ve created a whole persona for Jennifer Lopez, so whenever they cover one of her outfits, the commentary is all from her (fictional) point of view, and fictional Jennifer Lopez is a total badass.

While Go Fug Yourself is still going strong, in the past few years Cocks and Morgan have turned their writing skills towards books, starting with a YA series that includes Messy and Spoiled. I thought those were nice if not exactly my cup of tea, but I am all in for the recent adult title The Royal We.

First you have to know that Cocks and Morgan are obsessed with the various royal families around the world—they will happily review the fashions at the wedding of minor royals from Luxembourg—but with Will and Kate specifically. They’re not alone in that, certainly, but they turned their obsession into a charming romantic novel. Their premise is that a fun American college student went to study abroad at Oxford for a year and met, and fell in love with, a young Englishman who just so happens to be in line to be king. The tabloids go wild, but what is actually happening behind the scenes? What is it like to be the focus of all that attention?

The book walks a careful line, in that it’s clearly inspired by Will and Kate and the current House of Windsor but it changes enough to keep from being a flat-out Lifetime movie retelling or feeling exploitative. (They branch off from official British history around Queen Victoria.)  And Cocks and Morgan have done their research—the story includes details about life at Oxford and in Buckingham Palace, and the descriptions of dressing for the cameras and running from paparazzi clearly reflect their years of writing about celebrities. And they manage to make the characters, including the Queen, feel like real people.

My sister read this book before I did, and her entire review was: fun, but a little too long. And I think she summed it six words what it is going to take me hundreds to do here. While things could have been a little tighter at the end and the story spins off into an unnecessary sub-plot with the Kate character’s twin sister, overall the book was a very enjoyable way to spend some summer afternoons. If you spend as much time reading People and Hello magazines as I do, you’ll especially enjoy matching the fictional characters to real people. But even if you’ve never gotten at 5:00 in the morning to watch a royal wedding on TV, the story is still chatty and fun, with a sweet love story at the heart of it. Also, how cute is that cover image?

Kinsey’s Three Word Review: Sharp, sexy, and sweet.

You might also like: something by Meg Cabot (she’s written about a zillion, but the Size 12 is Not Fat series has a similar flavor) or Liane Moriarty (What Alice Forgot is my favorite) for more smart rom-coms. If you like how-the-1%-live stories, Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan is fun. If it’s the British aristocracy that catches your attention, the non-fiction To Marry an English Lord is a super-entertaining history of the rich American girls (including Winston Churchill’s mother!) who went to the U.K. and married cash-poor British nobles after the snooty American upper crust snubbed them for being new money. And if you just want more celebrity fashion discussion, Genevieve Valentine (an author Anna has talked about here before) writes fabulous red carpet rundowns that discuss pretty dresses and how celebrity fashion is actually an elaborate, coded form of communication.