Review: Death Masks

Death Masks by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files, book 5)
4.25 stars

Reasons for reading: I'm addicted to the series; 2-word title for Four Month Challenge

Description: "Harry Dresden, Chicago's only practicing professional wizard, should be happy that business is pretty good for a change. But he also knows that whenever things are going good, the only way left for them to go is bad. Way bad.

Recent examples: A duel with the lethal champion of the Red Court, who must kill Harry to end the war between vampires and wizards...Hit men using Harry for target practice...The missing Shroud of Turin - and the possible involvement of Chicago's most feared mob boss... A handless and headless corpse the Chicago police need identified...Not to mention the return of Harry's ex-girlfriend Susan, who's still struggling with her semi-vampiric nature-and who seems to have a new man in her life.

Some days, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. No matter how much you're charging."

My thoughts: This one gets slightly less in the stars department than others in the series because I couldn't quite buy the Shroud of Turin aspect and there was a bit too much murkiness around who wanted it and why. But overall, still excellent. The opening scene of Harry being on a Jerry Springer-like show was spot-on and a hoot. I was happy to see Susan again, even if their love affair appears to be doomed, alas. The return of Michael was also welcome, along with 2 other Knights of the Cross. Harry is just a really well-done character and that hasn't wavered throughout the 5 books I've read. I get series fatigue easily but I can tell it won't be setting in for the Dresden Files.

Review: Black Powder War

Black Powder War (Temeraire, book 3) by Naomi Novik
4.25 stars

Reason for reading: love the series!

Description: "After their fateful adventure in China, Capt. Will Laurence of His Majesty’s Aerial Corps and his extraordinary dragon, Temeraire, are waylaid by a mysterious envoy bearing urgent new orders from Britain. Three valuable dragon eggs have been purchased from the Ottoman Empire, and Laurence and Temeraire must detour to Istanbul to escort the precious cargo back to England. Time is of the essence if the eggs are to be borne home before hatching.Yet disaster threatens the mission at every turn–thanks to the diabolical machinations of the Chinese dragon Lien, who blames Temeraire for her master’s death and vows to ally herself with Napoleon and take vengeance. Then, faced with shattering betrayal in an unexpected place, Laurence, Temeraire, and their squad must launch a daring offensive. But what chance do they have against the massed forces of Bonaparte’s implacable army?"

My thoughts: I've read some reviews that call this book in the series pointless and other negative things, and I suppose it's not the best of the bunch, but even less than the best in this series is still a great read! Maybe if I knew more about the Napoleonic Wars I would have enjoyed it that extra quarter of a star? There were some rather long descriptions of the battles and a lot of flying and landing and eating cows. A band of feral dragons that Temeraire manages to semi-rein in both help and hinder Laurence and his crew. And having to protect the dragon eggs (and the fiery little fire-breather that hatches along the way and names herself Iskierka, thank you very much) added extra excitement. This one is maybe a bit of a bridge book, setting us up for the next installment.

Review: Paper Towns

Paper Towns of John Green
4.25 stars

Reasons for reading: Really enjoyed his Looking for Alaska; last book for the YA Challenge

Synopsis: "Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life - dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge - he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues - and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew."

First line: "The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle."

My thoughts: The way John Green writes is just so cool. I love his dialogue, his characters, and his humour. Q's interactions with his buddies Radar (who edits the "Omnictionary" website compulsively) and Ben (who tends to speak in capital letters and whose conviction that he is God's gifts to the "honeybunnies" of the world has yet to be proven) are hilarious. The discussions of Radar's parents' "world's largest collection of black Santas" alone is worth the price of admission.

The all-nighter at the beginning of the book is a great look at Margo's bold outlook on life and Q's timid (but trying to be braver) one. It's quite light-hearted, but there are some really dark times after she goes missing (and, I have to say, Q's search took a bit longer than I'd have liked). At one point I thought it was going to be like Looking for Alaska - boy in unrequited love with a charismatic but suicidal girl. But I should've trusted Green, he doesn't write the same book twice.

After the dark middle, the book ends with another light-hearted all-nighter, this time a road trip with Q, his buddies, and their girlfriends to find Margo. The peeing in bottles, the road-trip food, the camaraderie - it's excellent.

There's even a cool educational, well-researched element - did you know there's actually such a thing as a paper town? You'll find out all about them in this book.

At the heart of the book are questions of how well we really know people and ourselves. Are we all connected? Do we only see parts of people? How well do we know, and even really like, our best friends? Do we need to leave what we're familiar with to grow or can we stay where our roots are?

The verdict: Another winner from Green. It's no wonder he's a Printz Award winner.


Also reviewed at Care's Online Book Club.

Review: Graceling

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

4.25 stars

Reasons for reading: heard it was really good - one of our book suppliers said she was recommending it for all teenage girls who asked her for Twilight!; for the Young Adult Challenge

Description: "Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug. When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone."

First line: "In these dungeons, the darkness was complete, but Katsa had a map in her mind."

My thoughts: This book kept me up late into the night, always the sign of a great read! Everything about it is well-done - the fantasy setting of the 7 kingdoms, the idea of people being Graced as everything from swimmers to mind readers to fighters, the characters, the romance, the adventure and conflict...

Katsa really has to grow in this novel - she goes from feeling like nothing more than an attack dog, treated with fear and revulsion by almost everyone, to realizing that she is caring, intelligent, and that her Grace is something more than she realized. She grows into her Grace and, along the way, learns how to care about people and allow them to care about her.

The romance element with Po also works well - it's not treacly at all. These two have finally found a person who is both their equal and a complement to their personalities.

The verdict: I can't wait to read the sequel, Fire! This is a novel that works well as everything - an adventure, a fantasy, a coming-of-age story, and a romance! (I wonder what my Grace would be....?)

Review: Murder With Puffins

Murder With Puffins: a Meg Langslow mystery by Donna Andrews
4.25 stars

Reasons for reading: I loved her first book, Murder With Peacocks; Seconds Challenge

Description: "A romantic getaway was what Meg Langslow had in mind when she and her boyfriend planned a trip to the tiny island of Monhegan off the coast of Maine. They would spend their days hiking the trails and their evenings by the fire. But in this remote place, birds of a feather flock together and Meg quickly learns that this vacation isn't going to go as planned. Although the puffins have already flown south for the winter, the island still harbors a flock of birdwatchers-and Meg's family...Discovering her parents, her brother, her aunt, and a nosey neighbor on the island is Meg's first surprise. Her second one comes when a body is found and her father is accused of murder. Now instead of quiet walks by the water, Meg finds herself scouring the island for clues. In the process, she uncovers more than she bargained for. "

First line: "I see land ahead," Michael said."

My thoughts: Another winner from Andrews! I didn't love this one quite as much as the first book mainly because I really, really liked the crazy three-weddings scenario of Peacocks and the rainy birdwatching of this one didn't quite grab me as much. But that's a minor quibble - I'm definitely into this series.

Meg's crazy-wonderful family is back, particularly her glamorous, enchanting mother (in fact, much is revealed about her, way too much for Meg). Michael is still the sweetest boyfriend ever, being a totally good sport about the rain, the lack of privacy, and the murder investigation. While not quite as involved as he was in the previous book, her mystery-loving dad still manages to end up as a suspect, rather to his glee. And various puffin-crazed birders and residents (whose fierce love of their rather dismal island is impressive) are hilarious, particularly Rhapsody, the odd, shy, children's book author who writes drecky children's books about the Happy Puffin Family.

The chapter headings are all titles (mostly books, some songs) with "puffin" subsituted in them, such as "Zen and the Art of Puffin Maintenance" which is a fun added touch.

This is a cozy mystery - you're rather glad the victim was killed. In this case, the victim is Victor Resnick, a conceited painter who is electrocuting the birds and chasing "trespassers" off with a shotgun, so no great loss there. Meg once again has to get involved because two of her relatives are suspects and there's a lot of slogging around in a hurricane. Not a nail-biting mystery, but the Langslow family's antics make for a great read.

Verdict: I'm flying (ha!) through these, it seems, and am looking forward to Owls Well That Ends Well.

Review: The Winter Rose

The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
4.25 stars

Reasons for reading: I lurved The Tea Rose over my Christmas vacation; Seconds Challenge

Summary (from Publishers Weekly): "In late Victorian London, idealistic new medical school graduate India Selwyn Jones goes to work at a clinic in the city's poorest neighborhood, much to the dismay of her aristocratic mother and ambitious fiancé, political up-and-comer Freddie Lytton. The squalor is a bit much for India, but she manages to keep her emotions under control until she meets underworld crime boss Sid Malone. Sid begins as India's nemesis, becomes her patient and ends up something much more than that. What India doesn't know is that Sid is the brother of tea heiress Fiona Bristow, wife of self-made, highly principled businessman Joseph Bristow. What Sid doesn't know is that India's fiancé is as ruthless as Sid's most ruthless henchman, willing to commit theft, betrayal and even murder to launch his career, force India out of hers and bring down Sid in the process. In typical epic style, Donnelly (The Tea Rose) alternates India's story with Sid's, Freddie's, Joseph's and Fiona's, leading the reader through turn-of-the-century England from the Houses of Parliament to ale houses and whore houses, and from London to Africa and beyond."

My thoughts: I liked this one almost as much as The Tea Rose, hence the quarter-star difference. The life of a female doctor in 1900 was really interesting and well-researched and again Donnelly made the squalid surroundings of East London and its proud, hardworking residents come to life. It was lovely to see Fiona and Joe again, with their growing family, although they're still no strangers to heartbreaking tragedy. And I really liked the characters of aristorat-turned-doctor-to-the-poor India and gangster-with-a-heart-of-gold Sid. I think I enjoyed their romance even more than Fiona and Joe's. Also, the African settings were well-drawn, and it was interesting to read about the beginnings of British colonization there.

Freddie Lytton was a great villain (well, he's loathsome, but great for a villain), almost as evil as Jack the Ripper/William Burton in the previous book. Perhaps more so, actually, since Burton seemed at least somewhat mad, while Freddie is completely ruthless and calculating.

But I didn't enjoy the mountaineering parts so much, though. While it was nice to see a bit more of Fiona's little brother Seamie and I liked brave, determined Willa, his climbing partner on Kilimanjaro, I skimmed over the descriptions of crampons and whatnot. Also, the scope of The Tea Rose also seemed broader - while the about same amount of time (10 years-ish) elapses in each book, it seemed like there were more details of what happened to the characters in the first book. There was quite a 6-year jump in this book. I gather nothing much happened, but it seemed a bit abrupt.

Still, this was a great follow-up to an excellent book. I've heard that she's working on a third book in this series, which I'm already looking forward to!