jinian | March books

The Wreck of the River of Stars, Michael Flynn. A very literary tragedy that just happens to be set in a system-crossing spaceship. Too many cute stylistic fillips, but interestingly character-driven and complex, with good interactions between plot threads.

Tropic of Creation, Kay Kenyon.

almeda read something else by Kay Kenyon, but the library had this instead. It had interesting aliens, who only looked a little like humans in funny suits, and good plot-weaving. The ecological premise was interesting but, I thought, not all that believable. Certainly not a bad read, though.

Eastern Standard Tribe, Cory Doctorow. A groaning slog through way too much attempted-alpha-geek attitude. Shiny ideas, some nonannoying wit, but overall I say ugh.

The Miserable Mill (4), Lemony Snicket. This book was actually a letdown after the related movie, which is certainly a first. The movie subordinated the books' individual plots to the overall arc much more, so the book was comparatively boring and repetitive. I suppose it's possible the series has gotten worse or that I just don't like it any more for some other reason.

A Traveler in Time, Alison Uttley.

gwyneira read this. Dreamy, sad story about a girl who moves between a present-day manor house and the same place when it was inhabited by partisans of Queen Mary, whose enterprise was doomed to failure.

The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat, by Eric Lax. From Syaffolee. Penicillin was developed as a useful drug through all sorts of coincidences, obstacles, and personalities. More science might have been nice, but it's an interesting book as is.

A Hat Full of Sky, Terry Pratchett. This was fine, but I'm just not mad about the Tiffany books. What am I missing?

Opening Skinner's Box, by Lauren Slater. From Syaffolee. Perhaps a little too sensationalistic, especially as Skinner's supposedly boxed daughter appears to object to a few of the author's assertions. Apart from that bit, though, the book certainly helped me understand what Skinner's various experiments were, and it was quite interesting.

Midnight for Charlie Bone & Charlie Bone and the Time Twister, Jenny Nimmo. I'm pretty sure that these were really called Midnight and Time Twister before the marketing weasels got them. Unfortunately, they echo Harry Potter very loudly on the inside too. Some original magic-bits and really a rather interesting world, in which one or maybe two novels should have taken place, but more are clearly planned than the setting can bear, and the second is noticeably less good than the first.

The City of Ember & The People of Sparks, Jeanne DuPrau. Heroic kids think outside the box when their fallout-shelter city is running down, then play a large part in reconciling two very different social groups. Pretty darn good for the type.

Snow, Tracy Lynn. From someplace around LJ. Good fairy-tale retelling in an alternate magical Victorian era. A little predictable even in the stuff that didn't come directly from Snow White.

Faerie Wars, Herbie Brennan. Non-positive queer in SF: (wee spoiler revealed on maybe page 10?) Mom's having an affair with Dad's female secretary, but she is surely far too femme to be queer!, and one of the nastier male villains is awfully flamey and boy-liking. Crummy botany (in, okay, just one place), too. Apart from hot-button issues, it's fairly interesting in a not-so-well-edited way, with awkward POV shifts and odd references. Admittedly I like the idea that the grey abducting aliens are DEMONS from HELL. Not one of the better YAs this month.

The Kin, Peter Dickinson. Paleolithic children -- what kind of hominid is only implied and there's more than one sort in the book -- survive natural disasters and deal with other groups of people. One is a mystic and speaks to spirits, but otherwise it's not SFnal. Very detailed and interesting. POV hops a little oddly to keep the protagonists the right YA age over the course of the stories, and there's always something missing about Dickinson somehow, which I wish I could place.

The Summer Country, James A. Hetley. Mentioned circa elisem. This didn't do much for me, but it had a few excellent touches. Sexual dimorphism!

The Girl With the Silver Eyes, Willo Davis Roberts. Mentioned circa coffee_and_ink. Fun wish-fulfillment. (I'm not the only one who wanted to be weird superpower girl, right?) Reminds me a lot of Into the Dream by William Sleator.

Surviving the Applewhites, Stephanie S. Tolan. Mentioned circa coffee_and_ink. Good theater people. Not a bad book, but a too-heartwarming/mainstream outcome for the "troubled teen" character. If I were a rebellious kid, I'd have pitched the book across the room.

Hellspark, Janet Kagan. Comfort reading. Still one of the best books ever. It works out too neatly, and I don't mind a bit.

The Time of the Ghost, Diana Wynne Jones. I liked this one better than Fire and Hemlock, though it was highly reminiscent of it, because I found it more intelligible. What am I missing in F&H?

Clade, Mark Budz. Happened across on Amazon recs. Pretty good biopunk, though I didn't really like the male lead's voice. Not impressive enough for me to read the next one in the same world.

Pendragon: The Merchant of Death, R.J. MacHale. Tough-guy kid comes into his own as a sort of Imperial Auditor in a set of parallel worlds, and sends his journals back to his Earthbound pals. Not bad, but the kid's personality (and the multitude of sequels) turned me off.

Probability Moon, Nancy Kress. Mostly believable aliens with a rigidly biologically enforced consensus reality, inscrutable Precursor technology being used in a space war, and compelling people.

Brilliance of the Moon, Lian Hearn. I haven't been happy with these since the Doomed Love turned out not to be very doomed, but they're enjoyable Japaneseish light fantasy. This trilogy's over, but I sense more on the way.

A School for Sorcery, E. Rose Sabin. Looked charming at Ophelia's*. Was. It's not Stevermer, but few things are, and this has fine magic, especially affecting the school itself, and believable kids.

Dragon Rider, Cornelia Funke. Sweet YA adventure with the best foldout map ever. The characters are simple, but what do you expect? There's a parallel to Funke's Inkheart in that the main villain has been created deliberately by someone not thinking about consequences.

Maximum Ice, Kay Kenyon. Traveling folk on a generation ship come home to an Earth almost totally covered with ice which is not just frozen water. Somewhat interesting societies and people.

The Sea of Trolls, Nancy Farmer. Tiptree shortlist 2004. I found this hard to get into right at first, and the gender transgression wasn't huge, but it was simple and I want to say pure, like a much older story that's been worn down.

Family Happiness, Laurie Colwin. Some things happen to ordinary people in an ordinary family, and somehow it is interesting. (I understand where the shiny is in SF a lot better than in mainstream books.) Namely, a woman, married with children and job, has an affair with a man, feckless and hermitish, and has a crisis of conscience about doing so. Vivid family encounters and strong overall mood.

Redgunk Tales, William R. Eakin. Library shelf. Southern-US magic-realism, not really my speed but I could see how people would really enjoy it. I did best with the shorter stories that I could read in one bus trip and found the longer ones hard to go back to.

The Guardian of Isis, Monica Hughes. Saw this mentioned in passing and didn't think I'd read it before. I had, as I started to remember the second I saw the cover. I still don't think I've read The Isis Pedlar [but I had, see May].

Comics:
Alice 19th (book 2), Yuu Watase.
Ceres (2), Yuu Watase.
City of Light, City of Dark, Avi (writing) and Brian Floca (drawing). A fine short YA story about a magic plot token, but not a good realization of the comic form. For instance, voiceover text should not be used to describe the characters' actions in a tense moment, though it's all right for background. I think more work at the storyboard level would've improved it quite a bit.
Clover (1-3), CLAMP. Slow-paced and cinematic, lots of lingering focus on just a few people and situations. Really beautiful.
Fruits Basket (4), Natsuki Takaya. Still mind-bogglingly sweet, but the creepiness is growing. Brilliant posts, which I recommend to anyone who enjoys comics, have been made on manga design and FB in particular.
Oh My Goddess!: The Devil in Miss Urd, Kosuke Fujishima. Pretty but not so interesting. And I don't think they'd have made that title reference if they'd seen the movie.
Mars (4), Fuyumi Soryo.

* Ophelia's Books, no longer the Fremont Twice Sold Tales, is named for the sweet tail-sucking cat who lived there until earlier this year. She died due to gall-bladder problems.