The Fitzie Book List - josianne's posterous

November 26, 2009

The Riven Kingdom and The Hammer of God, by Karen Miller

"What is it like, I wonder, to feel faith like a bedrock, to believe in a god as though it were the sun in the sky? I can hardly imagine." So muses, Dexterity Jones, toymaker by Royal Appointment, about the faith of Mijak, the people we met in the first book of the The Godspeaker trilogy, Empress. The people of Mijak believe in a god that shows its presence in the world in a myriad ways, from healing the wounded to smiting the empire's enemies. The god is also unquenchable in its thirst for sacrificed blood.

The first book, Empress, tells the tale of how a girl slave rose to become empress, thanks to the grace of her god. Hekat is as bloodthirsty as the god and firmly convinced that she "lives in his eye." She is character one grows to respect and even love, or at least, love to hate. I reviewed that book here.

The second and third books feature another strong female, one not a savage ruler, but equally strong. In The Riven Kingdom,Princess Rhian loses her brothers to plague and her father, the King of Erthea, soon after. King Eberg has ruled long and well, but failed to appoint an heir or arrange for a state marriage for Rhian. The princess feels that even though Erthea has never had a ruling queen she is the qualified to rule, having been tutored in statecraft by the king himself.

The Church in Erthea is a strong force, and its leader, Prolate Marlan, intends to rule the kingdom by marrying Rhian off to his mentally-deficient nephew. Rhian is violently opposed to Marlan's bid for power and manages to escape his clutches long enough to get married to her banished lover, Alasdair. She returns to the capital, having gathered supporters as she went, and in the end, nobility of purpose (hers) defeats corrupt power (Marlan's.) In the third book, The Hammer of God, her kingdom and its allies face the deadly might of the Mijak Empire and she again prevails against the corruption of power, this time a corruption by the evil god of Mijak.

The three books explore themes of faith and belief, as well as those of nobility and corruption. While not as omnipresent as the Mijak god, the god of Erthrea acts through Dexterity Jones, bringing him a messenger who appears to him in the form of his wife. He becomes the Burning Man and does miracles in the cause of Queen Rhian. So, while he muses on the faith of the Mijaki, he does not seem to realize that his faith is also strong and compelling.

I love the way Karen Miller gives her characters such distinct voices. The Mijaki are instantly recognizable as alien, not only because of their total belief in their god, but also in the way they speak. Karen Miller makes even their grammar seem foreign. Queen Rhian and her people seem more familiar to us, with Erthrea a city-state similar to European kingdoms in the Middle Ages, when the Church ordered everyone's lives.

Great series. I really enjoyed the second two books - the first was a bit much because Hekat is such a believably atrocious person. I was pleased to see that Karen Miller has other books, some under the name K.E. Mills. The Accidental Sorcerer is a completely different read, more lighthearted but again with great use of voice in character development.

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Filed under // 2009 ebook fantasy series

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November 21, 2009

Shadows of the Apt series, by Peter Tchaikovsky

By Adrian Tchaikovsky on indiebound.org

Adrian Tchaikovsky has created a world swarming with insects. There are many human races on his world and each shaped in the archetypal image of their kindred insect. There are the Wasps, soldiers for a young, brutal Empire which seeks only to conquest and expansion. Pitted against them is Stenwold Maker, a Beetle, and whoever he can cajole, hector, coax and prod into standing with him.

As a young man, Stenwold Maker witnessed the invasion of a city, one which he tried to save from the Wasps. He lost many friends in the battle and managed to just barely return to his home city, Collegium, there to attempt to warn the Lowlands of the Wasp threat. No one listened, though, and for 20 years he rants and raves about the Wasp threat to uncaring ears. He becomes a history professor at the Collegium university, teaching his students about the Wasps and attempting to light the spark of horror and resistance that is a passionate fire within him. His closest friends are a Mantis, Tisamon, and his daughter, Tynisa, a half-Spider. Tynisa grew up as his ward, ignorant of her parentage. His niece, Che, is a student at Collegium, always in the shade of her gorgeous Spider ward-sister. She is a Beetle, through and through, practical and stolid, For all her insecurities, she can be strong, creative and open-minded.

Each race has its own Art. The Wasps have a sting, a sort of fire that shoots from their hands. The Ants mind-speak to each other, and their cities are silent but purposeful. Beetle-kinden are industrious and mechanically inclined. Moths are mystics and once ruled the world, enslaving all the other races. Mantis-kinden are great warriors. Their Art lies in their exo-skeleton, with barbs and spikes along their hands. Fly-kinden are small, can fly, and have uncanny reflexes. There are only a few Mosquito-kin in the world. They are powerful and evil sorcerers, and although their kind have dwindled to a very, very few. This is only a few of the Kin. Tchaikovsky has millions of insect species from which to draw inspiration.

The world is at war. Wasps are poised to conquer all of it. The Lowlands must unite to stand against them and Stenwold Maker seems to be the only one to fully realize it. Throughout the course of the first three books, he gains followers and believers, but the struggle to ally the races of the Lowlands is a fierce one.

The plot is excellently woven. It most definitely traps you in its web. However, the real strength here is in the characterization. Stenwold Maker is driven by his fear of the Wasp Empire, fear that all he holds dear will be destroyed. His friend, Tisamon the Mantis, was tortured by his belief that his Spider-kin lover had betrayed them and so very surprised to find out that he has a daughter. She in turn tries to reconcile her Spider and her Mantis sides, both races that have hated each other for centuries. Thalric, the Wasp captain, is fiercely loyal to the Empire but his faith starts to crack and he ends up running for his life and branded a traitor. Totho, the Beetle, is an artificer and has always dreamed about making weapons. He gets his chance when he is captured by the Empire and he is horrified to put his talent to use against his people.

Even the minor characters are deftly drawn. With a few strokes, Tchaikovsky paints believably characters on his insect archetypes and it seems almost a shame that after crafting them so cleverly, they die or are sent away in the service of the plot.

I have to admit that the books are slightly repellent to me. Perhaps it's the insect characters. They are so beautifully drawn that they are somewhat repugnant. Humanity is not meant to have wings and antennae, spikes and claws. Still, the story fascinates and compels, and I am eager to see what else is in store for Stenwold Maker and their allies. Book Four comes out in February 2010.

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Filed under // 2009 fantasy series

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November 6, 2009

Erec Rex: The Dragon's Eye, by Kaza Kingsley

There's a lot of middle school fantasy available right now. I tell myself I have to read the realistic fiction for middle schoolers to better serve the middle school students in my school, but I'm always getting distracted with the fantasy titles.

Last night's distraction was Erec Rex: The Dragon's Eye. Erec Rex lives with his adoptive mother and his 6 siblings (or is it only 5 - not sure, there's a lot of them but they do not feature much in this first book in the series.) They have moved often during his life and their latest place is a tiny apartment in Manhattan, where Erec has to sleep in the laundry room. One morning, Erec wakes up to find his mother gone and a rather horrendous babysitter installed at the door.

All his life, Erec has been plagued by "cloudy feelings." These are compulsions that come on him, taking over his body and forcing him to do something which in the end saves someone else. One time, for example, a cloudy feeling got him to push his sister out of the way moments before a truck turned the corner. It would have hit her if Erec had not heeded his cloudy feeling. On the morning of his mother's disappearance, Erec has a cloudy feeling about her - hence the need to escape the babysitter.

Erec finds his way to Grand Central station, and with the help of a new friend, the niece of a grumpy newsstand vendor. There they enter the underground world of the Keepers, the people who kept the magic that was once heritage to all humans. The people of the mundane world are the Losers, because they lost that magic 500 years ago. The Kingdoms of the Keepers are ruled by triplets and it is time for them to retire, so there is a competition to choose the next three rulers. Erec and his new friend, Bethany, are able to enter the competition and go through all of the events.

In the background to the competition is the Sorcerer Prince, Thanatus Argus Baskania. In the mundane world, he is a multi-billionaire who heads a world peace organization called Eye of the World. As the book starts, the TV is announcing how the Eye of the World has been accepted as the ruling body of the United Nations. In the Keepers world, he is now as the Sorcerer Prince and he created the Kingdom of the Keepers, separating them from the Losers, 500 years ago. He is obviously crazed by power, and even more obviously will be Erec's nemesis during the rest of the series.

It's pretty obvious to adults that Erec Rex is going to become king of one of kingdoms. The book is pretty predictable and the name is a dead giveaway. There are plenty allusions to Greek mythology. King Pluto is lord of a hot, fiery kingdom. Queen Posey is the queen of the sea. Posey - Poseidon. The bad guy is Thanatus Baskania, as in Thanatus the god of death. The action is a bit manic, with the competition serving as an excuse to put the characters into different types of danger, and there isn't much character development of any but the main characters, but still, it's an enjoyable read. Kids who enjoyed the Rick Riordan Olympian series will like this.

More kids' literature from www.indiebound.org.

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Filed under // 2009 fantasy young adult

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November 5, 2009

Dewey, The Small-town Library Cat Who Touched the World, by Vicki Myron

Dewey Readmore Books was a library cat for 18 years in the town of Spencer, Iowa. He was a public cat, one who loved his library and its patrons, and he belonged to the whole town. Vicki Myron was his first human. She found him in a book drop, where someone had stuffed him one frozen night, and they adopted each other right away.

Dewey became the emblem of the library and of the town, and he was famous world-wide. The book, Dewey, The Small-town Library Cat Who Touched the World, is a love letter written by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter to Dewey, to the town of Spencer and the state of Iowa. It's a little saccharine for me sometimes, but I'm not a cat lover and I've never had pets. Don't go by me. It's a heartwarming memoir of a small-town librarian who believed the libraries should be community centers much more than a collection of books, and of the cat who helped her spread that message.

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Filed under // 2009 memoir non-fiction

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October 28, 2009

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, by J.K. Rowling

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of four stories set in J.K. Rowling's wizarding world. The stories are short and fun, and are accompanied by commentary by Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts Wizarding School at the time of Harry Potter. Tales does not advance the story of Harry Potter and stands on its own.
Tales is a fun read. The tales themselves are fun, but the faux academic commentary from Albus Dumbledore is tongue-in-cheek and laugh-out-loudable. I enjoyed the 20 minutes it took to read.
The prologue in my hardback copy explains that the profits on the sale of the book go to the Children's High Level Group charity, which was set up in 2005 by J.K. Rowling and Baroness Emma Nicholson to help institutionalized children. For more information, and a clearer explanation of the charity's aims, visit www.chlg.org.

More kids' literature at indiebound.org

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Filed under // 2009 children's literature fantasy

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October 25, 2009

Finding Nouf, by Zoe Ferraris

Magnificent!

Finding Nouf

Finding Nouf is a murder mystery set in Saudi Arabia. A young girl disappears from her home just before she gets married. She is found a few days later, dead from drowning in a wadi, a dry river bed in the desert. She was found by the family, who had two search parties out for her. One of the search parties, the one that didn't find her, was led by a long-time friend of the family. He is a deeply devout Muslim who has spent most of his life with the Bedouin and who now is a desert guide. He is unsatisfied with the way in which the girl was found and is determined to find out the truth, even though the family is not interested in knowing more details. One of the sons of the family is engaged to a forensic technician who becomes equally obsessed with the case, and that allows us a view into the female perspective. The chapters alternate between the male character's and the female character's points of view.

The novel is set in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi culture is both a backdrop to the plot and the essence of it. The author paints a detailed and non-judgemental view of Saudi culture. The female characters struggle against the restraints of the culture, but so do the male characters.

For me, this was a trip to the past. We lived in Lebanon for three years, and although Lebanon is much more relaxed towards women, a great portion of the population is Muslim. Many of the women that I came into contact with during those three years dressed modestly, and about a quarter of them, while not veiled, did wear headdresses. Perhaps because of this, the setting felt so familiar to me, but I think that even readers not familiar with the Middle East would be able to quickly settle in to the setting thanks to the author's craft.

This was a wonderful novel which I enjoyed immensely and would recommend wholeheartedly. Zoe Ferraris deserves an award for this, if she hasn't already received one. It is truly a superlative piece of work.

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Filed under // 2009 fiction mystery

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September 24, 2009

Moonheart, by Charles de Lint

The blurb on www.ereader.com for Charles de Lint's Moonheart promised the heroine would travel back in time from the modern world to "a far-off land of forests and magic, where the mythical is very real." Yep, there's some of that, but it's only the tip of the iceberg. It starts with Sara and her uncle, Jamie Tams. They live in The House, a huge sprawling mansion that takes up a whole city block in Ottawa. Jamie owns an antique shop where Sara works. While cleaning the back rooms, Sara finds a medicine pouch and a painting. That find sparks an adventure that brings together different dimensions, Native American shamanism, European mysticism, and Welsh wisdom. There's also throwbacks those flimsy paranormal brochures from the 70s, the ones that you used to get at yoga studios and vegetarian restaurants. (Yoga studios and vegetarian restaurants are now too sleek and zen for that.)

While I couldn't help scoffing at the mystic ramblings, I must admit that the author did an excellent job at tying all those influences together and delivers a compelling adventure of truths gained and lost. It made me want to take up my zen meditation again and deepen my inner stillness. I'll go meditate as soon as I finish the next book on the list.

Note on the ebook version: The novel has many Native American names in it. These have been spelled with lots of apostrophes, for example, Ha'kana'atha (I may be misspelling the letters but I can't forget the apostrophes.) Because of the small width of my iPod those apostrophes kind of blurred into each other, jumping collectively out of the screen to hit my eyes and distract me from the plot. Probably not noticeable in the print version, but rather annoying on the screen.

Other books by Charles de Lint from indiebound.org

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Filed under // 2009 ebook fantasy

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September 22, 2009

Not a book review post - My daughter's knock knock jokes

The photos have nothing to do with the audio. Andreína is six and she chose them 'cause she liked them, just like she likes her knock-knock jokes.

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September 22, 2009

The Secret Society of Seven Sorcerers, by J. A. Areces

I've just finished listening The Secret Society of Seven Sorcerers, the sequel to Interview for a Wizard which I reviewed here a few months ago. The author is planning a sequel to be released in October. I'm looking forward to that as well.

The Secret Society of Seven Sorcerers returns us to Mount Dora a year after the events in Interview for a Wizard. Jesse is busy with preparations for his store's first annual Halloween costume competition. The wizard Ch-U-Ch is busy too. Too busy, in fact. He gets himself pulled off a case for overzealousness in his pursuit of his nemesis, Lord Alex. Raven Claw escapes and there are more deaths by panic, deaths that become even mysterious when Claw himself becomes the victim of the scared-to-death spell. Bane's crystal ball, still at Jesse's store comes to life and Jesse calls in the witches from This and That to help him, not realizing he has given the witches a blanket invitation to enter his store which will let them circumvent the inmunio concordio spell. The wizard Ch-U-Ch's sons, Brendan and Andrew, who have grown ignorant of the wizarding world at the request of their mother, start noticing students at their school behaving in odd ways and discover the wizard classes. All of this twists and turns around itself in interesting ways and comes to a very satisfying end.

This second novel is more complex than the first. Ch-U-Ch's son Andrew rejects his wizard nature but befriends a huge iguana and experiences an almost mystical bond with it. Brendan, the wizard's younger son, rejoices in being a wizard and impetously rushes into magical situations. All in all, it's a believable characterization of two teenagers grappling with identity and adds dimension to the main story.

Both novels are well worth listening to, and also purchasing. They are now available on Amazon.com. To subscribe to the podcast version of Interview for a Wizard, click here for the author's official website. The podcasts are also available on www.podiobooks.com, where you can leave a donation for the author.

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Filed under // 2009 contemporary fantasy podcast

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September 11, 2009

Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman

I finally got Neil Gaiman. He's trying to be funny. I should say he IS funny - although I don't get him so much that I find him side splittingly so. Still, I enjoyed Anansi Boys quite a lot.

Anansi the Spider is the trickster in African tales. In other cultures, the trickster is sometimes Rabbit, but he Is always cunning and sly and defiant of authority, which almost always is represented by Tiger.

In Anansi Boys, Fat Charlie has always been embarrased by his father, who is charming and debonair and sly and cunning. His father dies and Fat Charlie, who is not fat at all, learns he has a brother.

It is immediately obvious that Spider, Fat Charlie's brother, is in touch with his inner god. He is, in fact, a God. He can do all sorts of wondrous things, women throw themselves on him, and seems not to have a care in the world. Fat Charlie is not surprised to find out his dad was Anansi, but he had expected to be free of family embarrassments. Spider, however, turns out to be a brother's worst nightmare.

Read the book for a humorous take on the ties that bind and complete.

Sent from my iPod

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Filed under // 2009 fantasy satire

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