Shake it but don’t break it

Leave it up those crazy kids at Tor.com to dedicate an entire month to the steampunk genre. I can dig it though, seeing as how there are a smorgasbord – yeah I just went there – of the Victorian era novels hitting bookshelves this fall. While I find aspects of steampunk to be pretty cool, as a whole it gets a collective eye roll from me… maybe I just haven’t found “the one” yet.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not looking. There has been some big buzz on a few new steampunk-based titles lately, and I decided to jump in, seeing as how there just happened to be a copy of one said notable titles laying around: Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker.

Could this be it?

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The Law of Blech

The Sword of Truth series and I are like old lovers. The early years were puppy love, filled with afternoons of hand holding and exploration, each revelation seeming like an amazing epiphany. Then we grew up and problems started to arise. What once seemed like golden promises now seemed tedious and dull, filled with the same arguments and dialogue we’ve heard and said a million times before. Old family came out of nowhere and ruined our dynamic. Political and philosophical differences that once could be ignored now became obsessive and ingratiating and finally we broke up. Then after a long while where the bad memories started to fade and I thought back to the good times at the beginning.

And one day I ran into her again. We spent a trilogy together reliving the old times but no matter how much better it was the bitter remains of what ended our relationship was still there. I was glad to see her again, and enjoyed our final moments, but they were final and I discovered I had grown up and moved on.

Terry Goodkind’s The Law of Nines is like a drunken call at midnight from that ex who you were done with and never needed to talk to again. (From Here On Out There Be Spoilers)

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No Swooning here…

Last week my office had free book day.  Now on free book day, the different imprints in the building put their extra books into bins, and those books are laid out in a conference room for the employees to grab.  It’s great.

One of the books I grabbed was called Swoon.

I’d seen the title and been intrigued, but never got around to buying it.  First person narrative is my favorite, when it’s done right, and Nina Malkin writes it well—a narrator with a totally unique personality that jumps off the page from the very first sentence.

Dice is from the Upper West Side—she’s edgy, bold, with plenty of quotable comments.  And it’s a great concept.  Dice’s cousin Pen is possessed by the ghost of Sinclair Youngblood Powers, a man killed unjustly in colonial America.  Dice is somewhat psychic, and her abilities allow her to see Sin’s presence as no one else can.  By grabbing her cousin’s hand, she can see him, talk to him, make him flesh.  She falls in love with him when he only exists as a spirit living in her cousin Pen, but the story really begins when he becomes corporeal.

Romantic, right?

Only somewhat.

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These mages are making me thirsty

I thought it would be pretty simple to review Lev Grossman’s The Magicians.

I mean, it’s a simple pitch: An excellent read that – while based in fantasy – ANYONE can enjoy because the magic shares the spotlight with well, life. If you’ve ever had to face the real world and finding yourself, you can relate to this story. Plus, there’s tons of boozing and illicit activities by mages, and who doesn’t love that? However, twenty or thirty pages in, it feels hauntingly familiar to Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia. Some people don’t really care for that. I guess my problem is, how do I get you to read this book?

Here’s a start: I never really liked Chronicles of Narnia, and I may never read a Potter novel, but The Magicians is easily my favorite book of the year (so far!).

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onward to the tenth dimension

If you’re reading this blog there is a good chance that you are like me, someone who every once in a while imagines infinity, the universe, and what lies beyond. There is also a good chance that you’ve googled or wikied string theory and multiple universe theories and pondered the significance of Schrödinger’s Cat. Or I could be a nerd. A nerd about to blow your mind.

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Hunger Pangs

I had this really, really clever first line planned out for my reviews of Suzanne Collins’ awesome books, Hunger Games and the soon-to-be released sequel, Catching Fire – I laid in bed after finishing both and thought it up – but unfortunately I still believe in heaven, so I’m not going to use it. Score one for morality.

Poor taste jokes aside, if you’re looking for something definitely worth your time reading, this is it.

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Cures for a book hangover anyone?

The amount of books I have been knocking back at work lately, I’m amazed I can make it home afterwards.

My own personal Dune reread is over, and I’ve now entered the unfamiliar area of the saga (God Emperor, Heretics and Chapterhouse: Dune), though I am taking time in-between to complete the Twilight saga… if you really want to call it a saga. In their own respective ways, each series is a lot for me to take in and not feel a certain way when it’s over. I could equate the experience to doing a shot of prison-made booze and chasing it with a shot of grey goose vodka to wash the aftertaste out of my mouth.

Guess which one’s the prison booze?

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The Nymphos of Rocky Flats

“I don’t like what Operation Iraqi Freedom has done to me. I went to the war a soldier; I came back a vampire.” From the opening line I knew Mario Acevedo’s The Nymphos of Rocky Flats was going to be fun. I was right. The hero of our tale is one Felix Gomez, formally an infantryman and human, now he is an undead private investigator. Nymphos is about exactly what you think it is. An outbreak of nymphomania on a government base in Rocky Flats leads the assistant manager to call in Felix to investigate. What he uncovers is a giant conspiracy involving the government, Roswell, and a group of crazed European vampire hunters. Also it’s a lot of fun.

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Up Next: Jeaniene Frost

Since half-vampire Cat Crawfield and her undead lover Bones met six years ago, they’ve fought against the rogue undead, battled a vengeful Master vampire, and pledged their devotion with a blood bond. Now it’s time for a vacation. But their hopes for a perfect Paris holiday are dashed when Cat awakes one night in terror. She’s having visions of a vampire named Gregor who’s more powerful than Bones and has ties to her past that even Cat herself didn’t know about.

Gregor believes Cat is his and he won’t stop until he has her. As the battle begins between the vamp who haunts her nightmares and the one who holds her heart, only Cat can break Gregor’s hold over her. She’ll need all the power she can summon in order to bring down the baddest bloodsucker she’s ever faced . . . even if getting that power will result in an early grave…

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My Swordhand is Singing…or not

Tomas and his son Peter are woodcutters.  They live as nomads, wandering through Romania, always living on the fringes of village life.  When Tomas finally decides to settle in Chust, Peter enjoys the stability, brief though it may be, and the chance to get to know the draper’s daughter, Agnes.  It’s a chance to get away from his father’s orders—chop wood, don’t touch the long, thin, box under the bed.  But winter’s coming, and as Tomas continues to drink more and work less, it falls upon Peter to provide his small family.

Peter’s always looked with amusement on the superstitious practices of the villagers.  And, thanks to his father, he doesn’t understand the reasons behind them.  But when Peter meets a hostage, one of the living dead, he will need all his father’s secrets to survive…

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