I've moved!

After all these years of keeping track of my reading through this blog, I've switched over to Goodreads. You can find me over there, under Celia Reaves.

A Darker Shade of Magic (V. E. Schwab)

The story started slow: it wasn't until nearly 1/3 of the way through that the two main characters met and the main problem was engaged. Until then there was a lot of world-building, with parallel London joined by magical doors only a select few can cross. There was also a rather stereotypical Feisty Female character, fun but a bit one-dimensional. By the middle, though, the action, and my interest, picked up, and it was satisfying enough in the end.

Codex Born (Jim Hines)

The second book in this series lives up to the promise of the first. When Gutenberg developed the printing press, he made it possible for thousands of people to read identical copies of the same book, and their collective belief in the story made libriomancy possible. Those with the innate ability can reach into books and pull out the things inside; phasers, sonic screwdrivers, magic seeds. But there's a darker magic hiding in the books, something much older even than Gutenberg, and it is coming through and threatening the world. Isaac, Lena, Nhidi, Smudge, and a whole army of good guys have to fight not swarms of magical insects, but enemy forces that seemingly negate magic all together. Lots of fun.

The Chaperone (Laura Moriarty)

This historical novel tracks the real-life story of Laura Brooks, Hollywood silent-film star and famous wild girl, from the perspective of a fictional character. When Laura was 15 she had the opportunity to study dance in NYC under the condition that she travel with a chaperone. History says very little about who this chaperone was, so the author imagined Cora, giving her a back story involving the New York orphan trains. Cora is a wonderful heroine, brave and tolerant and caring. I enjoyed being in her head as she confronted and overcame the prejudices of her time and culture to bring love and joy to the people around her. In places the plot seemed a little too pat, with some people's decisions motivated more by the author's decisions than the characters', but for me it all worked. The writing is clear and compelling, though the atmosphere and environments are not as well drawn as the people are. I recommend it for anyone who enjoys historical fiction or is interested in the changes in society from the 1920s to the 1960s.

Fool Moon (Jim Butcher)

Harry Dresden is a wizard in contemporary Chicago, working with the police to solve crimes that have occult elements. In this story, people have been torn apart by something with monstrous claws and teeth right around the full moon, and Harry has to figure out how to stop it. There are multiple kinds of werewolves in this story, some good, some bad, some in between, but the real complication comes as Harry tries to sort out his relationships with three women: his young apprentice, a smart and lovely reporter, and a tough, no-nonsense detective. I love this series, because the stories are engaging and Harry is someone I can really like.

Libriomancer (Jim C. Hines)

This is the first book in a series, and I expect to keep reading it. It's a contemporary fantasy based on the idea that books are magical. When enough people read the same book in the same form, and it's written well enough so that the story becomes real for them as they read, then people who have the proper magical abilities can literally reach into the book and pull things out into the real world. Isaac, the hero of this story, has pulled out things like sonic screwdrivers, blasters, and light sabers. There are magical creatures in the world, some naturally created and some book-based (such as the recent appearance of sparkly vampires), and there's a balance of power between the libriomancers who govern the magic of the books and other magical beings (vampires, werewolves, and such). This balance has been disrupted recently; both vampires and libriomancers have suffered attacks that they blame on each other, and before total war breaks out Isaac has to find out who's behind it and defeat them. Along the way he joins up with a dryad and his trusty pet fire spider. Isaac is a good hero, smart and engaging and sympathetic, and the idea of magical books appeals to me. Lots of fun.

Zer0es (Chuck Wendig)

The Zeroes are a motley group of hackers and trolls dragged to a prison compound by a mysterious government organization and put to work on various hacker-related tasks that don't seem to make much sense. They gradually figure out that there's a powerful and dangerous force that's taking over the Internet, causing death and mayhem, and they band together to escape and fight this power. I enjoyed the geeky references to tech and pop culture, but ultimately the story didn't really work for me. The characters never came alive, but remained cardboard stand-ins for stock people. The story also had two basic flaws that dragged my disbelief to the ground. One is that if a computer takes over the Internet then it can take direct control over any interconnected digital device, from the GPS in an airplane to your car's radio. The other, even more implausible, is that it is possible to throw someone down on a table, drill a hole in their skull, and shove in a cable that allows the computer to both download all their memories and upload a command program that turns them into a remote-controlled zombie. I'm sorry, but no.

Storm Front (Jim Butcher)

I've read a few of the books from this series here and there and liked them, so I'm starting over from the beginning. Harry Dresden is a wizard, all trained up and powerful and everything, living in modern Chicago and hanging out an actual shingle identifying himself as such. There are lots of other wizards around (he's got a very chancy relationship with the White Council that governs wizards' affairs), but he's the only one that's out and public. He's called in as a police consultant to study some particularly gruesome murders that have a magical basis, and also hired by a woman as a private investigator to look for her husband, an amateur wizard who's disappeared. Naturally, these two cases come together in an unexpected but satisfying way. I really like Harry's voice and attitude. He's a good guy with some serious skills who throws himself into problems way beyond his level when there are people in trouble. He reminds me a bit of Travis McGee, in John D. MacDonald's wonderful series, with a layer of cool magic on top.

The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene)

This highly acclaimed novel by a well-respected author tracks an unnamed priest on the run during a time when Mexico declared the Church to be illegal and the priesthood to be treasonous. He knows he's not a very good priest; he drinks, he had sex with a parishioner and has a daughter, he is too focused on his own ambitions to think much about his flock. On the other hand, he can't bring himself to completely turn his back on his faith, so he runs. Little by little the police, led by a Lieutenant whose hatred of the church is second to none, close off his escape routes, and he is finally trapped. This book raises interesting questions about the nature of faith and of God, and what it means to be a godly person in a broken world. I'm sorry to say that I wasn't able to connect with the story or the characters very much, so I pressed to the end out of a sense of duty, much as the unnamed priest did.

River Marked (Patricia Briggs)

I still love this series of contemporary fantasies, featuring Mercy Thompson, who is tough, brave, sexy, and compassionate. In this story, the focus is firmly on Mercy's relationship with Adam, and on coming to terms with her Native-American culture and with Coyote, as they band together to fight an abomination of a river monster that's been returned from the dead to prey on people. Her mechanic shop, the vampires, fae, and even the rest of the wolf pack are secondary. The action is intense, the stakes are high, and Adam and Mercy are put through the wringer in every possible way, but they manage to come through in the end. I will definitely keep reading these as long as she keep writing them.

This is Your Brain on Music (Daniel Levitin)

I already know a fair amount about music and about the brain, so some of this book was old hat, but I still learned a lot about the intersection between the two. For instance, I never appreciated the importance of the cerebellum in timing and rhythm. I also never realized that even non-musicians can generally sing a very familiar song from memory and get the key, the tempo, and even the singer's vocal mannerisms right. Music is a very complex and meaningful set of promises, and I enjoyed learning more about it.

All the Birds in the Sky (Charlie Jane Anders)

I really enjoyed this book that perfectly straddles the line between science fiction and fantasy. Two children form a bond because they are both misfits, misunderstood by their families and rejected by other kids. Over time their lives cross, diverge, and recross as they follow different paths. Patricia is a witch who feels a mystical connection to nature, especially birds; Laurence is an engineer who invents machines to bend nature to his will. As the things around them begins to fall apart due to ecological disasters and ensuing war, they have to find a way to blend their different perspectives to save the world. I loved how the books language shifted as the children grew up into powerful adults, and their stories drew me in, though the ending didn't have as much resonance as the rest of the book did, at least for me. Still a worthwhile read.

Mars, Inc.: The Billionaire's Club (Ben Bova)

This story reminds me of some of the stories from my youth, about kids who put together a rocket in their backyard and go to the moon. It's grown up a little, but the basic thrill remains of someone who refuses to notice how impossible his plans are and makes them happen anyway. Art Thrasher is a millionaire, a rough-hewn, smooth-talking womanizer who can schmooze with the big guns, determined to get humanity to Mars without the help of the goddamn government (only once in the whole book that I noticed did he use the word "government' without "goddamn"). He runs into obstacles, and headbutts them or stomps them or jumps headlong right over them, to reach his goal. There's no deep insight here and no great technological precision, but it's a fun ride.

An Officer and a Spy (Robert Harris)

A gripping fictionalized retelling of the famous Dreyfus Affair that tore France apart at the start of the 1900s. Dreyfus was a Jewish army officer falsely accused of spying for the Germans, stripped of his rank, and imprisoned under the harshest conditions. Everyone from the highest levels of the government to the people in the streets believed him guilty and hated him with indescribable passion, partly because of widespread fear of Germany and partly because of rampant antisemitism. Piquart, the narrator of this tale, was as convinced as anyone of Dreyfus's guilt to begin with, but after Dreyfus was convicted Piquart took over as head of the army's intelligence division and became aware of inconsistencies in the government's case. The more he dug into it, the more convinced he became that Dreyfus was actually innocent and the German spy was still at large. His story, historically accurate but turned into an epic, fascinating novel, is one of courage and righteousness triumphing at last over power and greed. Highly recommended.

Maisie Dobbs (Jacqueline Winspear)

Just after WWI, Maisie Dobbs sets herself up in London as a private detective. She is a terrific character: former downstairs maid, university student, wartime nurse, and now solver of mysteries, someone who cares a lot about people and is stunningly brilliant. In this first story of the series she is drawn into an investigation of a secluded farm called The Retreat where soldiers disfigured in the war can find comfort and acceptance, but her instinct that something is amiss there proves appallingly true. Masie's weapons include a near-telepathic ability to tell what people are feeling and the ability to blend in and play many roles, but mostly she is brave and smart and compassionate. I expect to read more in this series.

Land of Shadows (Rachel Howzell Hall)

This is a good, solid example of a gritty police-procedural murder mystery. The protagonist is a tough homicide detective, a black woman who grew up in the Jungle, a low-income high-crime area she now polices. A new murder has elements that remind her of her own sister's murder many years before, and she becomes obsessed with not only solving this murder, but showing that the same man is responsible for both. There are some flaws, but it is a good first effort and indicates some promise for the future of the series.

Einstein: His Life and Universe (Walter Isaacson)

A fascinating look at Einstein's life. Isaacson seems to have done impeccable research and presents his portrait of Einstein with balance but also with obvious admiration for the amazing man he was. I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to learn more about this important character who shaped much of modern life. Isaacson even manages to give a clear overview of the basics of Einstein's science and his thinking about quantum mechanics, with no math and nothing too intimidating. It's not a detailed picture, of course, but enough to get an understanding of what was going on in that wonderful mind. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.