Incarnate

Eighteen-year-old Ana has spent her entire life abused and reviled because she is a nosoul, born without a past into a world in which everyone else has been continually reincarnated for 5,000 years. Those who are reborn remember all their past lives and those of other people.  Ana was born when Ciana died and not reborn and most people believe she stole Ciana’s rebirth.  Ana has left the uncaring Li, the mother who hates her, setting out to find the answers about who and what she is and why she was born. She must go to Heart, the city where all but a few live, and it is a journey filled with bitter cold and the deadly attacks of sylphs whose burns never heal.

Ana meets a young man, Sam, who saves her life and shares with her a love of music while not seeming to be overly concerned about who she is. Sam leads her to Heart, a city with a huge temple and soaring white walls that pulse with heat and perhaps life. There she finds enemies and friends and those who would fight dragons and she begins her search to answer the questions that obsess her. Why was she born? Did she steal Ciana’s life? Is she the only nosoul—or newsoul—or just the first and what will happen to her when she dies? Will she be allowed to stay in Heart or is solitary exile her destiny?

Incarnate is the first entry in the Newsoul trilogy and is based on an intriguing concept, that of endless reincarnation and memory. It’s difficult to define, really, as it has elements of dark fantasy and science fiction as well as romance but that is not a flaw because it will have crossgenre appeal. Ms. Meadows develops her characters nicely and, at the end of the book, I found myself wanting to know what will happen to them all, not just the “good” ones. An odd thing happened as I didn’t always care very much for Ana, becoming rather tired of her self-pity, but that feeling faded soon after I finished and I now believe she is a character who will stay in my mind for quite a while.

One last note—the cover of Incarnate is one of the most striking I have seen in all my years as a reader and a bookseller and I’m pretty sure  booksellers in brick & mortar stores will shelve this face-out and in their windows for maximum effect.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, January 2012.

Poison, Your Grace

Simon Maldon’s life is much different now.  He previously spent a lot of time at Hampstead Castle when Princess Elizabeth was staying there.  The two had several adventures during that period.  Then Elizabeth’s father passed away and Elizabeth went to live at Whitehall with His Majesty Edward the 6^th.

Simon has taken a position as an apothecary’s apprentice.  Simon is also engaged to Hannah and they hope to marry as soon as Simon can be in charge of a shop of his own.   When one of the King’s advisors is murdered, Thomas Cuthbert, the apothecary that Simon works under, is summoned to the castle on an urgent matter.  Thomas asks Simon to accompany him. Thomas is assigned to examine the body of  Lord Amberson, the deceased, and attempt to determine how he was poisoned.  Thomas Cuthbert is ordered to bring to the castle whatever was necessary in order to protect the King from poisoning.

Simon fears for Elizabeth’s safety but Elizabeth is concerned about the fate of her brother.  A second death occurred on the same day when a young French maid took a fall on the steps and died.  It seemed no one was entirely safe at the castle.

Simon received a letter stating simply that he was to be in Richmond Park the next day at noon. The note was signed E.  When Simon and Elizabeth met, she begged him to help her find the underlying cause of the deaths at Whitehall.  She also asked Simon to ask Hannah to come to Whitehall to work for Elizabeth. In that way, Hannah could be allowed to meet Simon in the evening and they could pass messages without anyone in the castle being the wiser.

Simon and Hannah agreed and they both found themselves in danger on more than one instance as they tried to discover who was behind the poisoning.  Hannah was not excited about the task at first but soon was as interested and brave as Simon.  Simon had to resort to numerous disguises in order to spy in locations where he really had no business.

Poison, Your Grace is an entertaining read.  The politics and power seeking that went on at Whitehall is never ending and frightening to see what lengths people will go to for money and power.

Reviewed by Patricia E. Reid, November 2011.

Ashes

Three young people, strangers to each other, band together along with a dog named Mina for survival in the Waucamaw Wilderness after an electromagnetic pulse has destroyed all electronic devices. Unknown to them, billions of people have died but teenaged Alex, eight-year-old Ellie and Tom, just back from Afghanistan, are faced with other horrors—wild dogs and crazed humans—as they hike in search of help.  Not everything is horrific, though, as Alex has regained her sense of smell, which she had lost to a brain tumor, and that sense has an unusual quality, one that has saved them multiple times. As days and then weeks pass, it becomes more evident that their world has changed permanently and not for the better.

Then they hear about a place where “normal” people have found refuge. Heading to the town called Rule appears to be the best solution, particularly after a violent encounter with a roving band of thieves. Rule, though, may not be the sanctuary it seems to be and Alex will have to find her own way back to sanity.

Post-apocalyptic fiction can be disturbing, fascinating, frightening, heroic and enlightening, regardless of the cause of the disaster, but Ms. Bick has brought a fresh element to this EMP-caused event. Readers are accustomed to the destruction of all things electronic but here we have direct effects on the humans who survive. The idea that there are essentially three classes of people—those with special senses, those who have turned extremely violent and all those who fall between—is very interesting and the author has done a nice job of creating and maintaining a high level of tension.  She also upends the reader’s grasp of the storyline by having a major event take place midway through the book and some readers will be discomfited by the sudden change while others will find it increases the stress and drama and makes the tale even more provoking. The book is longer than many young adult novels but the length is necessary for the story and my reading through the night is because of my own need to know what would happen next, always a sign of a good tale.

Ashes is the first book of a trilogy, to be followed by Shadows and Monsters, and this reviewer hates having to wait till next August or September for Shadows.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, October 2011.

Germline

In the not so distant future, war is being fought over the resources that fuel the world’s need to supply a population’s ever growing needs. Nothing new about that. But too many young men have died in these never ending wars and the opposing nation’s labs have created a new species–genetically engineered supersoldiers. The U.S. have female soldiers–deeming them less likely to go rogue. Russia has male genetics. What these Germline units have in common is that they all have a “shelf life.”  When drug addict Stars and Stripes reporter Oscar Wendell is imbedded in a subterranean fighting unit, he gets a terrifying look at war in all it’s deadly detail–and then he falls in love.

Mr. McCarthy has written a fascinating story. While Wendell is not the most endearing protagonist, he has an interesting character arc. The secondary characters provide sometimes amusing, sometimes heartrending, backup in the novel. The action shows the reader PTSD carried to extreme and brings with it greater understanding. Written with a sure hand, the concepts are thought provoking. I found Germline an excellent read.

Reviewed by C.K. Crigger, August 2011.

Ashfall

Alex, a fifteen-year-old living in Cedar Falls, Iowa, is alone for the weekend, having browbeat his parents into letting him stay home while they take his little sister to visit relatives in Warren, Illinois. He’s looking forward to doing his own thing (mostly geek stuff) for a few days but, after several hours of online questing on World of Warcraft,  Alex’s life changes forever.

Nine hundred miles away in Yellowstone Park, the supervolcano has exploded and Alex’s house is shattered by what feels and sounds like incoming artillery. Digging himself out, he struggles to escape the blaze and finds shelter with neighbors. The noise, the continuous explosions, the fear of the unknown are nearly overwhelming. All telephone communication is out so Alex has no way to reach his family.

Then the ash begins to fall. And the darkness comes with it, along with a sulfurous stench. Two days later, water flow is gone. Finally, the first looters come and the resulting terror and devastation give Alex the resolve to find his family no matter what it takes. The journey ahead will be long and fearsome, a nightmare Alex will face alone until he meets 17-year-old Darla who has a maturity far beyond her years. Will these two survive the journey or will this nightmare prove to be too much?

I have a particular fondness for post-apocalyptic and disaster-related fiction and have, I think, developed a discerning taste over many years of reading such novels. Ashfall is one of the very best I’ve read and is more remarkable because it’s Mullin‘s first book. His descriptions of the conditions, environmental and human, that will most certainly follow such a cataclysmic event have the ring of truth and he maintains a level of intensity and despair, as well as strength and hope, that are difficult for many writers to convey without being “over the top”. It’s a compelling tale with dystopian elements and what could be an overpoweringly dark story is alleviated by flashes of humor and a bit of romance. In fact, the way Mullin handles the developing relationship between Alex and Darla was especially appealing to me as it is realistic and tasteful. Parents should not be concerned when their teens pick up this book—it was written with them in mind.

Ashfall is the first of a trilogy and I’m looking forward to Ashen Winter in October 2012. In the meantime, I’m waiting till Ashfall is released so I can buy a copy for my bookcase and I’ll be including it in my list of Top Five favorite books for 2011. I strongly recommend it to adults and teens alike.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, August 2011.

Toys

Toys moves the reader forward to the year 2061 where humans are referred to as skunks and the Elites are in charge.  Hays Baker is an Elite.  Although every Elite has special powers, Hays Baker seems to have received more than his share of strength, intelligence and good looks.  Hays has a beautiful wife, Lizabeth, and two wonderful children.  The future is bright for Hays until the fatal day when he was called to a Toyz store where many were dead due to a violent attack.

Owen McGill, Hays partner, was sure that the killings were the result of an attack by skunks.  Hays set out to catch the skunks that had caused the carnage but in his attempt to catch them he took a fall that was beyond even his capacity for survival without serious damage.  Hays winds up in the hospital.  Suddenly Hays was no longer the perfect example of an Elite but a person that the Elites hated and wanted to torture and interrogate.

Hays goes on the run and ends up at the home of his parents.   In reconnecting with his parents Hays learns the truth of his heritage as well as the horrors that humans have been subjected to at the hands of the ruling Elites.

He learns that the Elites are planning to wipe out the whole human race.  Hays’ conflict between his sympathy for the humans and his connection with the Elites makes for interesting reading.

Reviewed by Patricia E. Reid, March 2011.

The Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen is a survivor. A reluctant heroine in a terrifying, post-war former North America, Katniss is 16 years old and has taken responsibility for her family after her father died. Every day she risks her life to hunt for food to sell and consume, the only thing saving her from persecution is the fact that she had the smarts to sell to local authorities. Her world falls apart when she is forced to volunteer for a horrifying, inhumane reality TV show.

A game to the death, The Hunger Games is reminiscent of Gladiator battles of old, with honour and glory bestowed upon the winner. None of the participants – one from each district of Panem – are volunteers, though those from the richer districts are more blood thirsty than their lesser competitors. Katniss is from District 12, the last and poorest district of her native country. She makes a splash pre-games and receives much attention, thanks to her stylist who seems to genuinely want her to win.

The games begin after much pomp and ceremony, and we are thrust into the action-packed, run to the death horror that are the Hunger Games. While the country watches on the television, these children (you have to be under 18 to participate) are forced literally to kill or be killed. Not only do they have to fight each other, they also have to counter the rules and deathly obstacles put in the “arena” by the Capitol – the oppressive government of the country.

This book, recommended to me by our own Lelia Taylor, had me on the edge of my seat (literally) and I can honestly say that Katniss Everdeen is the first hero or heroine I’ve really loved since Harry Potter gripped my heart 10 years ago. Like Harry, she is a reluctant hero, she does what it takes to survive and tries her best to keep her integrity in tact by living up to her own principles in a temporary world that goes completely against them. Don’t be put off by the fact that Stephenie Meyer is quoted on the cover. For all her authorial faults, she clearly has great taste in what she reads.

Suzanne Collins has given us a strong, sympathetic female teenage lead and a world that reminded me often of bloodthirsty, disgustingly rich and horrifically poor historical Europe. I absolutely can’t wait to read the last two books in the trilogy, as I have no idea where they’ll go. I just know I’m going to enjoy the ride.

Reviewed by Kate Ernst, November 2010.

Ghost Country

Paige Campbell has just left the White House when she and her Tangent colleagues are attacked and everyone is killed, everyone except Paige. She has been kidnapped but, before being taken, she manages to make a desperate call to Bethany Stewart, another colleague, for help. Paige directs Bethany where to find the “entity”, a duplicate of the one which has now been stolen, and tells her to seek out Travis Chase for help. Bethany and Travis will need to use the device, the entity, and will then see the horrible future awaiting mankind in just four short months. They must go public with the facts but they can’t go to the authorities…not even the president.

Travis is from Paige’s past, a past that included the Breach and its fabulous scientific secrets and the dire things the wrong people will do to control such secrets. It also included a destiny for Travis revealed to him through the Breach, a destiny that forced him to leave Paige behind despite the great love they had for each other. Since then, he has lived under a false identity and has had no contact with anyone from his past. Now, a strange girl has come to his door and spoken his name, Travis, the first time he’d heard it in more than two years. She tells him that her name is Bethany and they must race to find Paige and to somehow stop Doomsday.

Patrick Lee established himself, to my way of thinking, as a premier thriller writer with his first novel, The Breach, one of my favorite reads of this year—

http://www.cncbooks.com/blog/2010/03/03/review-the-breach/

Lee meets my demands for a very good writer, technically speaking, meaning his prose is to the point yet leaves no doubt as to intent and his work is generally free of spelling and grammatical errors. That in itself is an accomplishment these days when so many books are riddled with mistakes and appear to have skipped the copyediting process. He also has a masterful way of blending suspense and science fiction so that readers of both genres can enjoy his novels and they are thrillers in the best sense of the word. You know a book is good, really good, when you simply must keep reading through mealtimes and into the night to find out what is going to happen next.

The Breach will be on my list of best books of 2010. Now I have to add Ghost Country to that same list. I think this is the first time I’ve ever had two books by the same author on an annual tallying up and, well, that tells me this author is a keeper.  I suspect he’s going to become like Lee Child—titles don’t matter so much, you just say “Last night, I finished the latest Lee Child” or “I can’t wait for the next Lee Child” and every discerning reader knows what you mean.  I just hate that I now have to wait a year for the next Patrick Lee.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, December 2010.

Cryoburn
Lois McMaster Bujold
Baen Books, November 2010
ISBN 9781439133941
Hardcover

“Within the last few months,” [Miles went on,] “as the flagship facility we saw in Wing’s vid was nearing completion, WhiteChrys began collecting contracts on future customers. Not unnaturally, they targeted Solstice upper-class elderly women’s clubs. At the same time, another sales team made some limited strategic stock offerings to certain wealthy and influential Komarrans, to give the local powers-that-be a stake in the future success of their operations. I expect the two sales teams didn’t compare hit lists, nor realize that some wealthy old ladies are retired Komarran traders who can read a balance sheet to a gnat’s eyebrow.

“And one of those little old ladies looked at the two proposals before her and said, ‘This smells, but I don’t see how,’ so she took it to her beloved great-niece, who said, ‘You’re right, Auntie, this smells, but I don’t see how,’ who took the problem in turn to her devoted husband, better known as Emperor Gregor Vorbarra. Who handed it to his loyal Imperial Auditor, saying, and I quote here, ‘Here, Miles, you’re better at diving into the privy and coming up with the gold ring than anyone I know. Have a go.’ And I said, ‘Thank you, Sire,’ and took ship for Kibou-daini.”

Cryoburn, the latest installment in Lois McMaster Bujold’s brilliant Vorkosigan saga, has Barrayaran Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan investigating possible shady dealings in the cryonics industry on Kibou-daini, a world heretofore unexplored in the series. The story, which opens with a drugged and hallucinating Miles wandering through a warren of underground cryocombs – a storage facility holding thousands of cryonically frozen bodies – after escaping a botched kidnapping attempt, unfolds through the eyes of three narrators: Miles, his bodyguard Roic, and Jin Sato, a young Kibou boy with a personal stake in cryonics.

When I heard that Bujold was working on a new Vorkosigan novel, it was like Christmas and birthday rolled into one. It’s been a long dry spell for Vorkosigan fans; the previous installment, Diplomatic Immunity, came out in 2002, with the short story “Winterfair Gifts” in 2004. Cryoburn was thus, for me, easily the most eagerly-anticipated book of the year.

It doesn’t disappoint (not that I ever had any doubts). As is the case with several of the later installments in the Vorkosigan series, Cryoburn is essentially a mystery novel, with Miles playing the part of the intrepid detective. In some ways it’s like Komarr, in which unraveling one mystery only leads to another, more complex one – I suspect it’s not by chance that the cryocorps’ efforts to establish a foothold on Komarr are what lands the case in Miles’ lap in the first place. Pursuing a tip from Barrayar’s Komarran-born empress, Miles travels to Kibou-daini purportedly to attend a conference on cryonics. Because adventure is drawn to Miles like a moth to a flame, it’s not long before he’s the recipient of an intriguing bribe and then nearly kidnapped by the New Hope Legacy Liberators, a grassroots organization hoping to break the stranglehold the cryocorps have on Kibou society. Throw in the cover-up of botched cryo-preservations, a growing underclass forced to resort to black-market cryonics, the silencing of dissenting voices, and an extremely far-sighted attempt to conquer Komarr, and stir.

One of the aspects I enjoy most about the Vorkosigan series is the way Bujold explores advances in science that have potentially real impact on the way we live our lives – in fact, much of the science in the Vorkosigan novels deals with the nature of life itself. Uterine replicators are probably the advanced tech fans of the series are most familiar with, particularly their critical role in Miles’ early life and their effect on Barrayaran society. Bujold has also used the series to explore end-of-life issues, first in Mirror Dance with clone-brain transplants on Jackson’s Whole and Miles’ traumatic encounter with cryo-preservation, and in Cryoburn she returns to that theme, even bringing back Raven Durona (a minor character in Mirror Dance) to provide an update on the Durona Group’s life-extension research in addition to his expertise as a cryo-revival surgeon.

With Bujold, fortunately, scientific advances are not ends in themselves, but rather tools for an examination of humanity and relationships – in the case of Cryoburn, the possibility of extending life beyond current limitations or putting death on the back burner sets the stage for a couple of very poignant conversations between Miles and his clone-twin Mark about their aging father.

(It occurred to me while reading Cryoburn that it kind of tweaks the zombie trope that’s so popular these days. I don’t know if that was deliberate on Bujold’s part, but it still made me chuckle.)

As any Vorkosigan devotee knows, however, it’s not the plot that matters so much – except perhaps as it impinges directly on Barrayar – but rather the lives of the characters inhabiting the Vorkosiverse. While Cryoburn does not allow for many familiar faces to make an appearance, their presence is nonetheless felt. Bujold knows how much we care about people like Ivan and Mark and Ekaterin, and so she goes to the trouble to update us on events of the past seven years, since those in Diplomatic Immunity.

We learn, for example, that Miles and Ekaterin now have four children, and that Miles’ nickname for his eldest daughter is “Hellion” (yes, I laughed – out loud); that Gregor and Laisa have several children of their own; that Roic is courting Armsman Pym’s daughter (I’d just like to say that I called this one while reading Diplomatic Immunity; I couldn’t help thinking that those long months spent on Miles and Ekaterin’s honeymoon trip to Earth, with a side trip to the Betan Orb, might have been conducive to sparking a little romance between their respective attendants); that Ekaterin’s garden design business is doing well and that she’s in charge of terraforming projects in Vorkosigan’s District. We also learn of the final days of the brave and beautiful Taura and that – a detail that made me cry – Roic was able to be with her at the end. Mark and Kareen make an appearance (memorably, of course), and while we don’t learn the fate of the infamous bug-butter business from A Civil Campaign, it is clear that Mark is a successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Alas, there’s little mention of Ivan, his mother, or Simon Illyan, but reports coming out from Bujold’s West Coast book tour indicate there’s a new book on the horizon, and that it will be Ivan-centric.

And then, finally, there is the revelation at the end of the book. Rather than spoil anyone, I’ll say only that those were probably the most dreaded and anticipated three words in the entire series, and the fact that they still came as a bombshell attests to Bujold’s extraordinary skill in creating a universe and characters I care so deeply about.

Reviewed by Laura Taylor, November 2010.

Leave a comment to be entered in the drawing for a copy of
Cryoburn.  This is the first printing, which includes the
highly-prized CD, and was provided by the publisher,
Baen Books, through Simon and Schuster, Inc.

Oops.  It has been pointed out to me that I failed to give a deadline for the drawing so let’s say you’ve got till the evening of November 24th.  That’s next Wednesday, folks.

At seventeen, Katniss has survived the arena twice and has become the reluctant rallying point of rebellion.   Now living in District 13 since the Capitol destroyed her District 12 homeland, she acknowledges the refuge but can’t be entirely grateful.   Her best friend, Gale, and her sister and mother have also survived the destruction but she has no idea whether the captured Peeta is alive or dead and so many more have been lost.

The rebel side wants much more from her—they want her to be the actual face, the embodiment of the revolution, the Mockingjay.    All Katniss wants to do is to run away, to escape the terrible memories, but she is caught by the question of Peeta.  As long as he might still be alive, she doesn’t really have a choice.  And so it begins.

Her training for war does not go smoothly and, along the way, there are many reasons for Katniss to abandon her apparent destiny.  One goal keeps her focused—the chance to kill President Snow, the man she holds responsible for all the tragedy in her young life.  This will carry her, and her companions, through events no teenager should have to face.  That’s the point, though, isn’t it, that young people are the ones who lose the most in times of war and rebellion.

With the first two books of the trilogy, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins raised the bar incredibly high for young adult science fiction, and readers of adult science fiction have been just as captivated by Katniss and the horror of the Hunger Games.  This third and final book does not disappoint in any way and, for this reader, the long wait was well worth it.  There were any number of directions the author could have taken with the ending of Katniss’s story but she did not take an easy way.  Some of the events in Mockingjay are shattering and unexpected but, having read it, I have to say I think this is what had to happen.

Ms. Collins brings her secondary characters, even a cat, to life every bit as much as the central figures and  there is much sadness as well as joy in their stories.  Katniss, Gale and Peeta are heroic and tragic and, until the very end, the reader can not be sure how, or even whether, their feelings for each other will be resolved.  As a side note, I must also say that, while I normally detest first person present tense, it works for this trilogy, enhancing the excitement and intensity as no other point of view could do.

Mockingjay will be in my Top 5  for 2010; it’s the first time this year I have cut off the phone and TV and computer and stayed up all night to finish a book, and the entire trilogy is among my favorite series of all time.  I cannot recommend it highly enough for young adult and adult readers.  It is a shining example of how good science fiction can be but it also has strong elements of mystery and fantasy.  In a word, WOW.

P.S.  Now, I’m going to listen to the audio book—Carolyn McCormick has been an outstanding reader of the first two books and I expect no less in this one.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, August 2010.