Review: The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston

In her small early nineteenth century Welsh town, there is no one quite like Morgana, who has not spoken since she was a young girl. Her silence is a mystery, as well as her magic.  Concerned for her safety, her mother is anxious to see her married, and Cai Jenkins, a widower from the far hills, seems the best choice.
 After her wedding, Morgana is heartbroken at leaving her mother, and wary of this man, whom she does not know, and who will take her away to begin a new life.  But she soon falls in love with Cai’s farm and the wild mountains that surround it. Cai works to understand the beautiful, half-tamed creature he has chosen for a bride, and slowly, he begins to win Morgana’s affections.  It’s not long, however, before her strangeness begins to be remarked upon in her new village.  A dark force is at work there—a person who will stop at nothing to turn the townspeople against Morgana.  Forced to defend her home, her man, and herself, Morgana must learn to harness her power, or she will lose everything.

Review:
The premise of this book took me as a light read, something just to while away the time with a dash of historical fiction and maybe some magical realism in it.  One reviewer quote claims the book is for lovers of romance and fantasy alike.
Alright, I suppose so.
A silent protagonist, magic, romance, history - what else do you need?
Well, as it happens, a lot.
For one the "Morgana hasn't spoken since she was a child" thing was just sort of a set piece.  It was never really used to any great purpose and, if anything, detracted from her characterization.  There are chapters written from her POV, which helps, but whenever the reader isn't in her head, Morgana drifts away emotionally.  What's worse is that there is never any explanation provided as to why she decided to stop talking.  It's alluded to once or twice, but never explained, thereby making the whole thing pretty much pointless.
There is a romance in it, but the relationship between the two never seems to develop organically, but appears because the author decided that they will fall in love.  It's hard to see what the two people have in common besides a love of the outdoors, but perhaps that's my cold reptilian heart.
On top of which, the overall conflict of the story was between two women - and even though the protagonist is inexperienced, there was never any doubt that she was going to win.  Sure, Villainess McEvil leaves several bodies in her wake- spoilers/trigger warning, including a dog and other animals - but not for one sentence did I ever consider that Morgana would not get her Happily Ever After. 

This isn't to say that this is a bad book.  In fact, it reminded me greatly of The Wise Woman by Philippa Gregory in some ways, although Morgana is a much nicer person than Alys.  Both women have magic powers that can be a mark against them, in both books the women face adversity because of their gifts, and both books take place in a "historical" setting.  If you like this book, you'll probably like the other and vice versa.

All in all, it was a fine way to spend a few hours, but I certainly won't be going back for another read.

3 stars!

Review: Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel

Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel

Blurb:
Sixteen-year-old Peggy is a well-bred orphan who is coerced into posing as a lady in waiting at the palace of King George I. Life is grand, until Peggy starts to suspect that the girl she's impersonating might have been murdered. Unless Peggy can discover the truth, she might be doomed to the same terrible fate. But in a court of shadows and intrigue, anyone could be a spy—perhaps even the handsome young artist with whom Peggy is falling in love...

Review:
After a time of not-really-reading-a-whole-lot, it's nice to get back into the swing of things with a book exactly like this one.  Palace of Spies is not going to be the next Twilight or the next Hunger Games, and there's nothing wrong with that.  Instead, it's a historical fiction-plus-mystery with a dash of romance tossed in for good measure.  
After losing just about everything, Peggy finds herself in the company of people who ask her to take the place of a recently deceased courtier and spy for them.  Of course this plot requires a certain willing suspension of disbelief:  no one except perhaps identical twins looks that alike, and even with weeks of training and drills it would be hard to take on both the attitude and behaviors of someone you have never met.  However, once you have beaten your disbelief into dust, you are left with a delightful story that skips along cheerfully and doesn't fail to satisfy.  
The initial court scenes introduce a panoply of characters that each carry some mystery.  As she tries to figure out details for her benefactors, she starts to uncover evidence that perhaps her lookalike was murdered - and was perhaps part of a plot far more sinister than simply an illicit love affair.  There aer plenty of historical facts worked into the narrative to please those who are craving a little HF and there is enough goo-goo eyed scenes to sate the romance craving as well.  Mystery!  Politics!  History!  Romance! What else could you want?  However, this is the first book in a projected series, so don't expect everything to be wrapped up neatly with a bow at the end.
I don't have much else to say about this book.  It's fun, it has its high points, and it's a quick read. Recommended!
4 out of 5 stars!

Battle of the Books (2): The Secret History vs Theodora

For those of you new to my Battle of the Books, I read two books of similar story, setting and/or genre and pit them against one another.  I base my judgements on the following criteria:

1. Main Character
2. Supporting Cast
3. Worldbuilding
4. Pacing
5. Plot Development
6. Plot Resolution
7. Style/Use of Language
8. Cover Art (Tiebreaker only)

Today's Byzantine Book Battle pits A Secret History by Stephanie Thornton against Theodora: Accress, Empress, Whore by Stella Duffy.

This match-up was a bit more challenging than I expected.  For some silly reason, I assumed that it would be far easier to draw comparisons when the story was with the exact same character and exact same storyline.  Instead, this makes it somewhat harder:  with the plot taking the (more or less) exact same trajectory, and using (more or less) the same cast, you have to rely on nitpicking to draw the lines.
  
1. Main Character - Thornton
Here is one huge difference right off the bat.  A Secret History is told in the first person, using Theodora's own voice.  Duffy's Theodora is told the in third person.  By using the first person, you get a clearer view of Theodora, seeing her as more impatient, impetuous and sassy.  Thornton also uses dialogue to better effect, giving a clearer characterization and letting the characters be the IN and a part of the world, rather than just occupying it.  Both authors, though, do a fine job of giving Theodora a spine and a great deal of resilience. 

2. Supporting cast -Thornton
Thornton, again, delivers with her dialogue.  By living in T's head and using more dialogue than description, the reader is given a clearer picture of the people around her.  Not all supporting characters are given the same amount of screen time, of course, but the few that are seem better fleshed out.

3. Worldbuilding - Duffy
Duffy, hands down.  Whereas Thornton's dialogue gives better opportunities to illuminate the personalities of the characters, Duffy's third person prose allows for better description of the age and the area.  For readers completely unfamiliar with the time period, Duffy gives a wider canvas on which to paint the story.  The politics, religion and culture of the time are far more clear in Duffy's version of the story.

4. Pacing - Thornton
Thornton covers all of Theodora's life in one 450-page novel.  Duffy's story goes from childhood through her being crowned Empress.  (There is a second book, The Purple Shroud, that covers the rest of her life.)  Not that covering a life at a leisurely pace is wrong, but I prefer Thornton's complete story in one volume.  There are enough series out there.

5. Plot Development -Duffy
(Possible Spoilers)
Toward the end of Thornton's story, there is a bit of a melodrama about Theodora's son, and it felt shoehorned in and awkward, as if the author was grasping for something amazing to happen to the protagonist, since her meteoric rise and ongoing challenges and victories weren't enough.  Duffy's story felt more plausible, and more like the author kept with the known sources for the root of her plot line(s). 

6. Plot Resolution - Thornton
As previously stated, Thornton's A Secret History covers a woman's entire life.  The story is wrapped up in the most logical and inevitable way there is.  Duffy's Theodora stops just at the climax of our heroine's social climb.  You can pick up the second book, but do you want to?

7. Style/Use of Language - Thornton
Duffy really likes commas.  A lot.  I am not opposed to long sentences, but it's not uncommon to see one sentence that goes on four or five printed lines in the text.  If I were listening to an audiobook, it might not make a difference.  It does make a difference when reading a printed copy, and I had to reread a single sentence to get the meaning. 

Final Score:
Thornton: 5
Duffy: 2

As another reviewer friend has stated for me, Thornton's book read a lot like Kate Quinn's novels.  If you like her style (and I really, really do), then Thornton is the clear favorite.
HOWEVER, if you like your books more descriptive and heavier on paragraphs than on spoken dialogue, you'll probably prefer Duffy's depiction of the Byzantine empress. 

If you have an idea for another Battle of the Books match-up, post your suggestions in the comments!

Book Review: The Serpent and the Pearl

Title: The Serpent and the Pearl
Author:  Kate Quinn
Published:  August 6, 2013

Rome, 1492. The Holy City is drenched with blood and teeming with secrets. A pope lies dying and the throne of God is left vacant, a prize awarded only to the most virtuous--or the most ruthless. The Borgia family begins its legendary rise, chronicled by an innocent girl who finds herself drawn into their dangerous web...
Vivacious Giulia Farnese has floor-length golden hair and the world at her feet: beauty, wealth, and a handsome young husband. But she is stunned to discover that her glittering marriage is a sham, and she is to be given as a concubine to the ruthless, charismatic Cardinal Borgia: Spaniard, sensualist, candidate for Pope--and passionately in love with her.
Two trusted companions will follow her into the Pope's shadowy harem: Leonello, a cynical bodyguard bent on bloody revenge against a mysterious killer, and Carmelina, a fiery cook with a past full of secrets. But as corruption thickens in the Vatican and the enemies begin to circle, Giulia and her friends will need all their wits to survive in the world of the Borgias.

Review:
 For reasons I can't entirely explain, I am a bit of a Kate Quinn fangirl.  There's something about her particular writing style that has rekindled my flagging interesting in reading not once or twice, but FOUR times.  The women is batting a thousand, people.  That's worth a gold star right there.  This might cloud my judgement on her books. 

This is Quinn's first stab at a time period outside the Roman Empire.  That didn't stop her from choosing interesting protagonists, just like she always does.  Giulia Farnese is an idealistic young woman who finds her beliefs and character challenged when she finds out that her marriage was arranged for the benefit of another man.  Carmelina is on the run from Venice, hiding a bundle of recipes, a stolen relic and pile of secrets.  Using her skills as a cook and more than a little bravado, she works her way into the households of the powerful in Rome.  Last, Leonello is a sharp-tongued dwarf who would rather stab you than juggle for your amusement and is out to avenge his murdered friend.  

There's something about her character choices that make the story interesting right away.  Choosing two female protagonists in a time when they didn't possess any real power, and a dwarf when they were considered amusement for the wealthy, means that the narrative shows these three very different people trying to work alongside one another while finding their place in an uncertain world.   

As the story progresses, each of the characters find their own strengths, learning to see (and use) the world as it is, rather than how it might be.  Pragmatism rules the day as Giulia trades her respectability for a reputation that opens some doors while slamming others - and she finds how that can be a freedom and power on its own.  Carmelina begins to take ownership of her fate while Leonello starts to smooth his edges and starts making inroads into the murderer's identity.  

And something really dramatic happens - and the book is over.  And I'm left saying "No no no!  There has to be more!"  And there is.  It's the second book of the series, due to be released in January of 2014.

So, I'm going to deduct part of a star for that dirty, dirty trick, and still say I really love Kate Quinn.  I will absolutely be purchasing The Lion and the Rose when it hits shelves.  

4.5 out of 5 stars!

I loved it, but...

Blurb:
"An immigrant tale that combines elements of Jewish and Arab folk mythology, Helene Wecker's dazzling debut novel tells the story of two supernatural creatures who arrive separately in New York in 1899.

Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life to by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master-the husband who commissioned her-dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899.

Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop. Though he is no longer imprisoned, Ahmad is not entirely free-an unbreakable band of iron around his wrist binds him to the physical world.

Overwhelmed by the incessant longing and fears of the humans around her, the cautious and tentative Chava-imbued with extraordinary physical strength-fears losing control and inflicting harm. Baptized by the tinsmith who makes him his apprentice, the handsome and capricious Ahmad-an entity of inquisitive intelligence and carefree pleasure-chafes at monotony and human dullness. Like their immigrant neighbors, the Golem and the Jinni struggle to make their way in this strange new place while masking the supernatural origins that could destroy them." Taken from goodreads.com

Review:
Once I decide I like a book, I turn around a nit-pick at the one thing that didn't make sense to me. I really did enjoy this book. I loved the idea of the main characters; a golem and a jinni and I loved the setting, 1899 New York. Just from reading the blurb, I knew it would a wonderful book, and it was!

It is a slow-moving book that took thought and pause while reading it, which I enjoyed. Since I spend most of my time reading YA novels it was nice to read a book where I actually had to think and learn. I thought the setting was perfect. In 1899 immigrants were flooding New York and little neighborhoods were established that reflected the different places from the old world that they were travelling from.

One of the things that bothered me were the characters in Little Syria. Why were they Christians and not Muslims? The Jinn are a tradition that comes out of Arabic legend and are mentioned in the Qur'an so why were the people that the Jinni was surrounded by Christians, or more specifically Maronite? This prompted a search (yes, mostly Google and Wikipedia---don't tell my students!) and apparently Little Syria had a large population of Maronite Immigrants fleeing their oppression from the Ottoman Empire. That was an interesting piece of information, why wasn't it in the book? In a book as intricate and descriptive as this book is, this should have been mentioned. It is possible that it was mentioned briefly and I missed it but there should have been an explanation.

This then begs the question, why did the Jinn end up in Little Syria and not some other area with a more dominant Muslim population? When I first saw the title the Golem and the Jinni my mind immediately went to Jewish mythology versus Arab/Muslim mythology. Perhaps there would be religious or cultural conflict that we are so used to seeing between these groups of people. By putting the Jinn in a mostly Christian/Maronite group the conflict I was expecting was not there. Was this a deliberate action from the author and if so, why?

I thought the larger philosophical or more universal idea of the book to be very engaging and thought-provoking. Chava was created to serve a master but she was able to put aside what she was created to be in order to live in this world among people. Near the conclusion of the book the Jinni was willing to try and live in this world as best he could, while the man who created Chava had refused for generations to defeat his bad nature and work for good.

This was a great book that made me look up information on my own, it kept my attention and ended with hope. A wonderful read that I highly recommend.


4/5 stars

Book Review: Habits of the House

Habits of the House by Fay Weldon
Series:  Love & Inheritance  (Book 1 of 3)
Rating:  3 Stars

Blurb: As the Season of 1899 comes to an end, the world is poised on the brink of profound, irrevocable change. The Earl of Dilberne is facing serious financial concerns. The ripple effects spread to everyone in the household: Lord Robert, who has gambled unwisely on the stock market and seeks a place in the Cabinet; his unmarried children, Arthur, who keeps a courtesan, and Rosina, who keeps a parrot in her bedroom; Lord Robert’s wife Isobel, who orders the affairs of the household in Belgrave Square; and Grace, the lady’s maid who orders the life of her mistress.

Lord Robert can see no financial relief to an already mortgaged estate, and, though the Season is over, his thoughts turn to securing a suitable wife (and dowry) for his son. The arrival on the London scene of Minnie, a beautiful Chicago heiress with a reputation to mend, seems the answer to all their prayers.

Review:
Thanks to the surging success of BBC's Downton Abbey (aired on PBS here in the US), there has been a boom of books taking place in the late Victorian/early Edwardian era.  Since I am going through Crawley withdrawal, once I found out about this series - written by a writer of Upstairs, Downstairs no less - I had to get my hands on it.

The first thing I noticed was the immediate parallels to the Upstairs, Downstairs characters, as well Downton Abbey.  We start with the servants going about their jobs while bad news is about to be delivered to the family.  The very next thing I noticed was how long it took that news to actually get delivered.  The book felt like a setup to a television episode, but the actual "[item] is going to cause dramatic tension in the story arc" scene was several chapters into the book.  There was lots of description about who was in the house, and what they were doing, and why they felt how they felt about the other characters, but none of it was especially engaging.

When we finally get to the "financial concerns" described in the blurb, a decent chunk of the book has passed while only about two or three hours in book-time.  I started wondering, based on the amount of pages remaining, if the book was going to take place in two book-days.  The pacing remains somewhat herky-jerky throughout the book, some chapters covering one hour, and others jumping weeks or months at a time, but it rarely drags quite as much as it does in the first few chapters.


The plot line has been done before - Edith Wharton did it first in The Buccaneers.  It has since been repeated:  by marrying an American heiress, an English noble family hopes to reestablish their financial solvency.  Romance writers make this a rosy plot, Wharton made it about shattered illusions, and more recent authors have made it something in between.  Weldon goes for the in-between plot as well.  Given what the blurb says, there are no real shocks in store for any reader.

Now, the characters.  I have to admit that I didn't love any of them, at least not at first.  The Earl and his family have squandered all of their money and scorn the people who are saving them:  first their financial advisor (because he's Jewish?) and then the disgustingly wealthy American family (because they aren't proper English nobility/gentry).  The daughter is self-righteous, and the mother is a bit of a hypocrite.  The Earl himself gambles and makes stupid decisions, while the son has a martyr complex.  "I have to marry a wealthy, pretty heiress who suits my personality and keeps my life interesting but I want to marry my mistress even though she's screwing my former friend."   When the O'Brians showed up, I hoped for a fish-out-of-water type character to root for, but was ultimately disappointed.  Not even the servants have a good root-for-me candidate among them, and I've even completely forgotten their names.

It seems like most of the characters have some sort of secret or "interesting" backstory but only the Americans' were actually meaningful in any way.  These secrets and plots weren't exactly enough to redeem an otherwise bland book.  The ending feels wrapped up hastily and most problems get the "deus ex machina" treatment.  

The story is not a waste of time, and I plan on reading the sequel.  But for hardcore historical-fictionistas, you might be disappointed.  If you're dying for a Downton Abbey fix - anything at all will suffice - this is probably the book for you.