Song of Unmaking by Caitlin Brennan (Judith Tarr) ~ second book of The White Magic Trilogy ~ Valeria is now accepted by the Riding School, where gods of patterns and time take the shape of white stallions and help determine the future of the Empire. But she and her teacher, First Rider Kerrec, both carry damage from their encounters with enemies of the Empire. Those same enemies, barbarians who follow the Unmaking (which would lead to the destruction of the world), threaten the Empire again. Can two damaged Riders, and the stallion gods who carry them, help the Empire win a deadly war?
Shattered Dance by Caitlin Brennan (Judith Tarr) ~ third book of The White Magic Trilogy ~ the enemies of the Empire, failing in warfare, decide to bring down the Empire with more subtle tactics, with magical assassination attempts and by using the Riders and the stallion-gods against the very Empire they serve. Center to their plot is the Rider Valeria, embittered by the loss of the mate she loves...I did not enjoy this book as much as the previous two...there was way too much emphasis on the love lives of the characters to the detriment of the plot, IMHO.
The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien ~ a more complete telling of the Tale of Turin, previously published in The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. Well worth looking at, however, even if you have read the previous version of it, due to the wonderful art work of Alan Lee. While the color plates are awesome, the pencil drawings are even more so!
Dragonwell Dead by Laura Childs is the eighth book in a series called The Tea Shop Mysteries. Like the others, it is set in a charming tea shop in the historic district of Charleston, South Carolina run by Theodosia Browning. This one involves poisoned tea (something unfortunately used too often in this series), rare orchids, charity fund raising, and international finance. I read this series for the charm and atmosphere of both the tea shop, and of Charleston, and both are fully present.
Jack Knife by Virginia Baker is a wonderful first novel by a very promising writer. This one combines science fiction with crime fiction with mystery, and works on all levels. A scientist and a soldier are sent back to Victorian London from future America to capture and/or eliminate a (literal) mad scientist who had escaped through the portal back into time. While in London, they meet a noble born (younger son) detective, who is investigating a serial killer called Jack the Ripper. To their shock, the cases seem to converge...I really enjoyed this one!
All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris is the seventh book in her Southern Vampire Mysteries. New Orleans has been devastated by hurricane Katrina. This has eroded the power base of that city's vampire Queen... whom Sookie Stackhouse, heroine of the series, and our favorite mind reading bar maid from small town Louisiana, has promised to help out (for a boat load of money) at a big vampire conference and trial. A lot of people (both supernatural and mortal) would like to do damage to the Queen now that she is down and out. Can Sookie survive what could kill one of the most powerful vampires around? I enjoyed it, but still thought it to be one of the weaker books in this series. It all centered around one event, and while in the last book the author seemed to be getting the main character's love life straightened out, in this one it gets complicated again. I love these books, but sometimes I think that I am the only fan who does not care which male Sookie ends up with, as long as her love life is settled. To me, her love life is one of the least interesting parts of the books - though I realize that her growth as a character can come from her romances.
The Last Colony by John Scalzi is the third and last book in a trilogy that began with Old Man's War and continued with The Ghost Brigades. John Perry and his beloved second wife are now administrators of a human colony. Because of their military and administrative backgrounds they are picked to start up a new colony - but they are not told that the real purpose of the colonists is to be bait in a deadly trap for enemy alien species. But are those aliens truly enemies?Is there any way for humanity to peacefully coexist in a galaxy filled with other intelligent life forms? Who are the real enemies of mankind? John Perry is put in a terrible place - where he must decide the future and fate of his entire species. A fitting end to one of the best science fiction trilogies I have read in a long time! Bravo to John Scalzi!
Mammoth by John Varley tells the story of a multibillionaire who has interesting hobbies. One day he decides he would like to bring mammoths back into the world. Teams are sent to the Arctic to find mammoth carcasses frozen into the ice, with the idea of recovering good enough genetic material that a mammoth or mammoth/elephant hybrid embryo can be implanted into an elephant womb and be brought to term. But one of the teams finds a mammoth frozen with two humans - and one of the humans is wearing a wrist watch and they have a briefcase...the billionaire will have his hobby and then some...while I normally do not enjoy time travel books very much, this one was actually a lot of fun!!
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a classic of feminism and African American literature. I found it to be a very difficult read for many reasons - among them the heavy vernacular the book is written in, another being the disturbing racism and sexism in the book's content (one example being a group of men of color discussing how great it would be to beat up light skinned women because the bruises would show up better!). Just sheer stubbornness kept me going until the end...
The Diamond Warriors by David Zindell is the fourth and final book of his fantasy series called The Ea Cycle. Time is running out - by autumn the dark lord Morjin, should have the power to free his master Angra Mainyu from imprisonment on another world, and set him free upon the universe. Valashu Elahad has a few precious months to unite the few free peoples remaining on the world of Ea, and to get their armies marching for a final show down. But Valashu is going to be betrayed by the last person he (or the reader) would expect...a beautifully written finale to a lovely fantasy series.
The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin is a lovely little science fiction novel. Sutty (born in India and raised in Canada) decides to become a researcher and leave the Earth of her time, which is in tumult from terrorist attacks from religious fanatics. She is sent to the world of Aka, where the new regime has systematically been destroying all traces of its original culture, history, tradition, and literature. But Sutty gets the opportunity to travel to a backwards mountainous region of Aka, and there she encounters the Telling, an oral tradition of the past...a deep and intelligent short science fiction novel that I really enjoyed.
The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis is classic science fiction novel, which has won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. In our future, historians travel back to our past to do their research. A young Oxford undergrad named Kivrin is sent back to the Middles Ages for her research. But a health crisis both of Oxford past and Oxford future, endangers Kivrin in the past, and her colleagues in the future. And Kivrin is in greater danger than anyone thought possible...a beautiful written and very moving story.
Sweet and Deadly by Charlaine Harris in her original novel, recently republished. Catherine Linton has returned to her tiny hometown in rural Mississippi to wait for the murderer of her parents to strike again. She is going to find the killer and bring that person to justice.She figures that she is on the right track when one of her father's employees is found murdered...but what if the killer gets her first? A bit dated (the newspaper where Catherine works still uses typewriters) but still a very engrossing story!
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