Assorted book reviews

[holyschist]

I've been trying to review every book I read since January 2009 (am still behind on the end of 2009 and this February), so here are reviews of some of the fantasy books I've read so far this year. Links go to ful reviews.

Urban Fantasy

Rosemary and Rue, by Seanan McGuire (contains spoilers)

Faerie-based San Francisco urban fantasy. Great sense of place, moderately interesting take on faeries, but I was a bit annoyed by the kitsune-in-name-only shoved into the European framework. Overall, I liked it and look forward to the sequels, which I hope will somewhat better reflect the multicultural nature of San Francisco.
Recommended? Yes.

Bone Crossed, by Patricia Briggs (contains spoilers for book 3)

Urban fantasy about Mercy Thompson, a coyote shifter and VW mechanic. This is the fourth book in the series and it goes a long way towards fixing some of the things that bugged many readers about the ending of book 3. It's a good story, and the characters continued to be well-developed and interesting.
Recommended? Yes, but read 1-3 first.

Discworld

Jingo, by Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett takes on pointless wars. Not really one of my favorite Discworld books, although it has some amusing bits.
Recommended? Only for completist Discworld fans; not a good book to start Disc with.

Wyrd Sisters, by Terry Pratchett

Macbeth/Hamlet mashup, mostly. A solid Discword novel, especially if you like theatre (especially Shakespeare), and I always love the witches, but Granny Weatherwax doesn't seem quite fully Granny yet.
Recommended? Yes.

A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett

The second Tiffany Aching book. I think these may be my favorite Discword novels, and I love this one even more than Wee Free Men. Tiffany is a young witch-in-training with some small, blue pictsie friends who love booze and stealing sheep. In A Hat Full of Sky, she is pursued by a strange, terrifying entity.
Recommended? Yes!

Fairytales

Ash, by Malinda Lo

Most reviews describe it as a "lesbian Cinderella story," but it's not really either. It doesn't follow closely to the original Cinderella story at all (for which I am glad), and the romance plot really only comes into play in the second half of the book. Lo's writing is really beautiful, and her characters are interesting, but the world so far seems to be generic Eurofantasy (apparently her next book will flesh out the world more and it's not as European as it seems here, but in Ash there just wasn't much about it that stood out from the hundreds of other generic Eurofantasy novels out there). Overall, I enjoyed it, but didn't love it as much as I wanted to.
Recommended? Yes!

Kissing the Witch, by Emma Donoghue

A collection of nested fairytales about women, many with queer themes. Lyrical and highly recommended.
Recommended? Yes.

Comments

[holyschist]

There is absolutely nothing Japanese about her, nor is there anything about Luna other than multiple tails that fits with kitsune legends (and kitsune legends don't map well onto a European-fae framework). Basically, the name "kitsune" seems like window dressing--I would have been happier had she called that character a "fox faerie".

While it's true she transformed her folkloric elements, to me there is a HUGE difference between a white person transforming European folkric elements and a white person taking bits from other traditions and putting them into a European framework. I think it's disrespectful and loses a lot of the richness of those non-European mythic traditions. Lily the undine, same issue--of all the characters, she would be the one I would expect to be from Japanese mythology, and she wasn't--she's an undine (European mythology) who for some reason speaks Japanese and lives in a Japanese tea garden. I did discuss this all in somewhat more detail in my longer review.

I'd just like to see more urban fantasy that draws respectfully and equally on non-European mythology. Fantasy that lets kitsune et al. stay in their own mythological framework, or transformed version of that instead of wedging them into a transformed-European framework. I think it would be interesting.

That said, I'm looking forward to the next book, too.

[starlady]

I suppose I was peripherally aware that there was nothing intrinsically Japanese about her, but to be honest it's a short book and I didn't give it (or the undine) a great deal of thought.

[holyschist]

I think about everything I read. :) It's just my nature. And I am starting to feel like urban fantasy is very homogeneous--I'd like more variety. Heck, I leapt at T.A. Pratt's Marla Mason books just because they're--shock!--written in the third person! (Happily, they seem to be awesome as well--I just finished book one.)

[starlady]

Oh, I'm definitely with you on the thinking about everything boat. I just don't think about everything in everything...yet.

And I'd agree that urban fantasy is indeed pretty homogeneous (have you noticed that most protagonists' names end with Y, even?). In some ways my favorite urban fantasy is the least stereotypical (namely Michelle Sagara's Chronicles of Elantra. also in third person. coincidence?).

[holyschist]

Not sure about the names ending in Y (Anita, Rachel, Marla, Allie, Maxine -- Harry, Mercy, Kitty)--I think that's just that a lot of diminutive nicknames used in English-speaking countries end in a y sound.

I've picked up the Elantra books many times, but the cover blurbs never pinged "urban fantasy" for me. Hmm.

The first person thing drives me nuts! Of course some people like it, but it seems to be practically required in urban fantasy, and I think I would be getting tired of it if I actually liked it in the first place.

[starlady]

I can't say enough in praise of Michelle West/Michelle Sagara. I'd definitely argue that the Elantra books are urban fantasy, but part of the reason I argue that is that they are right at the edge of the envelope in many ways.

I don't mind first person as a reader, but it does seem to have become a nearly iron-clad convention of uf in a very short time, and I'm not sure there's any valid reason for it.

[holyschist]

I've heard good things about Michelle West, but her other books tend more towards epic fantasy (?), about which I am exceedingly cautious. I may see what the library has, though.

First person is fine with me when it's done well; the problem is that it seems to be really easy to do it badly. As for in uf, I think likely the same reason uf protagonists are often young women mired in romantic and supernatural-powers angst, and why so many urban fantasy characters get more and more powerful (until finally they're toe-to-toe with gods in some cases) in lieu of developing their personalities, and most of the covers show women's backs with tattoos, regardless of the main characters tattoo status or dress code (male equivalent, probably trenchcoats and fedoras a la Jim Butcher's covers). Ruts and trends.

(I sound grumpy, but I love urban fantasy! I'd just like to find more series that don't start irritating me around book 5 or 6 when the main character develops super-powers or incurs the wrath of a demon or whatever.)

[starlady]

I never thought of Michelle West's books as epic fantasy until I wrote a really long post extolling them.

Reading your thoughts on uf, it amuses me how many of those tropes are subverted in the Elantra books.

[holyschist]

Part of my problem is that I can't put my finger on why I don't like epic fantasy ("It's boring" isn't very specific), or even really define it beyond "those really huge series I do not like because they are deadly boring". But I've heard enough MW recs from people who don't like epic fantasy that I might give her a try.

So many books to read!

Out of curiosity, do you have an opinion on George R.R. Martin? In theory, A Song of Fire and Ice is something I might like despite its epic-ness, and I've had recs from people whose taste I trust, but the first book has been sitting on my bookshelf for years now, unread.

[starlady]

I read the first George R.R. Martin and was unimpressed (though people whose taste I trust like them). I too don't really care for epic fantasy.

I'm not sure why I never thought of West as epic fantasy; I think partly in some ways her books are both more and less serial than Jordan or Elliott or Goodkind or Martin. They are pretty damn awesome, though, in my book. *g*

[krait]

I think I would be getting tired of it if I actually liked it in the first place.

THIS. So much this!

Someone should do a rec post for Third Person Urban Fantasy! (Wish that I knew enough titles that I could do that rec post!) :D