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It's a while since I've read any Heyer and I confess I found this a bit slow when compared to some of the more recent Regency romances. (Bridgeton comes to mind.) But Heyer is what it is. When Sylvester Rayne, Duke of Salford, decides it's time to marry he picks out five potential young debs, with all the right qualities, and asks his mother to choose. She refuses, of course, so Sylvester decides to look over them once again, not believing for a minute that any young woman he picked would refuse him, money, title and all. He's in for a shock when he meets Phoebe Marlow who considers him arrogant and when she (mistakenly) thinks he's going to propose she runs away, knowing her mother would pressure her into the match regardless of her feelings. An accident on the road forces Phoebe and Sylvester to spend time in each other's company and she discovers he isn't the monster she thought him to be. Thus starts a chain of events which leads to the obvious conclusion but on the way there are misunderstandings semi-accidental kidnappings, a scurrilous book, and a rescue. Not my favourite Heyer, but by no means the worst.Dec. 28th, 2021
It's a while since I've read any Heyer and I confess I found this a bit slow when compared to some of the more recent Regency romances. (Bridgeton comes to mind.) But Heyer is what it is. When Sylvester Rayne, Duke of Salford, decides it's time to marry he picks out five potential young debs, with all the right qualities, and asks his mother to choose. She refuses, of course, so Sylvester decides to look over them once again, not believing for a minute that any young woman he picked would refuse him, money, title and all. He's in for a shock when he meets Phoebe Marlow who considers him arrogant and when she (mistakenly) thinks he's going to propose she runs away, knowing her mother would pressure her into the match regardless of her feelings. An accident on the road forces Phoebe and Sylvester to spend time in each other's company and she discovers he isn't the monster she thought him to be. Thus starts a chain of events which leads to the obvious conclusion but on the way there are misunderstandings semi-accidental kidnappings, a scurrilous book, and a rescue. Not my favourite Heyer, but by no means the worst.
The Scholomance is a school for magic users, but forget about Hogwarts, this school is deadly and only the best (or luckiest) survive the everyday perils… knowing that when graduation comes, they will all be chucked in a pit with a bunch of powerful mals, hungry for flesh and for magic, and those who get out alive are deemed to have graduated. El (Galadriel) is an immensely powerful magic user, but her talents lie in darkness, and she knows no one likes her. In fact even her own grandmother believes she's cursed. So her mother brings her up solo. Because El won't give in to her urges to gain power by stealing the life force from those around her, the other magicians-in-training think she's a wimp in need of rescuing, when really she's on the edge of anger and violence all the time. When Orion 'rescues' her for the third time, making her look even more wimpy, she decides to do something about it, but Orion simply doesn't take the hint. He's the school hero, and everyone thinks she's his girlfriend, so suddenly the other kids will eat lunch with her and talk to her, but she knows it's only to get closer to him. But finally she might have the opportunity to make alliances that will help to get her through the graduation trial. A lot of this book is set-up and explanation of the magic system, so it's detail rich, and a bit infodumpy at times - though they are interesting infodumps. A lot of the action centres around defeating monsters lurking in the Scholomance's ducts and dark corners.
Leigh Bardugo is a buy on sight author for me. Her Grishaverse is complex and multi-stranded with characters crossing over into each others' stories. The Grisha have powers. They are heartrenders, fabrikators, squallers etc. This is the second book to feature King Nikolai Lantsov of Ravka and his general, Zoya Nazyalensky, a Grisha squaller. Each has their own story, but they intertwine. Both have problems, though Nikolai seems to have conquered the demon living inside him to the extent he can let it out and use it as required – though he doesn't want to be seen as the demon king, so he's careful only to use it when the situation is extreme. The second major thread is Nina, the Grisha Ravkan spy in Fjerda, living dangerously in the household of Jarl Brum, leader of the Druskelle – troops whose sole purpose is to root out the Grisha. Brum is desperate for Fjerda to declare full scale war on Ravka, and intends to use the war to depose the Crown Prince and take over. Nina has to spy for Ravka while at the same time protecting herself, and Jarl Brum's daughter who is also, secretly, Grisha. There's an initial threat from the Shu after a planned royal wedding goes wrong. Ravka can't afford to fight wars on two fronts. Wily Nikolai manages to counter that threat, but he's not sure how he can beat Fjerda when Ravka is almost bankrupt and Fjerda seems to have unlimited resources. There's a satisfactory ending and right at the end a link to Kaz Brekker (my favourite Bardugo character) who featured in the Six of Crows duology and had a small part to play in this book. It very much looks like there will be another Brekker book which has me (metaphorically) jumping for joy!
Movies of the Year 2021
Dec. 28th, 2021 01:33 amWith quarantine our moviegoing fell off a cliff and it wasn't until August that H & I began to cautiously creep back into the cinema on quiet Tuesady Afternoons, wearing masks, of course, even though the majority of people we saw in the foyer were not. Sometimes we were the only people in a showing. This is what we saw (though not necessarily in this order - and I might have forgotten some):
In addition I saw The Dig, The Sisters Brothers, and The Harder they Fall on streaming. The Dig was delightful, The Sisters Brothers quirky, and The Harder they Fall was too grim for me (and I have a fairly high grim tolerance level).
- Black Widow - Pretty much a storytelling mess. Very disappointing
- Jungle Cruise - Good fun. Dwayne Johnson has excellent comic timing.
- Free Guy - surprisingly entertaining
- No Time to Die - Excellent Bond movie. I wasn't sure about Daniel Craig at first but his take on Bond has grown on me.
- Dune - Pretty damn fine splendid. Looking forward to the other half of the first book.
- Ghostbusters Afterlife - Much better than I expected.
- Eternals - Yes, good, and obviously leading into a sequel
- West Side Story - I'm a big fan of the original (Natalie Wood as Maria) from the 60s, but this is probably on a par.
In addition I saw The Dig, The Sisters Brothers, and The Harder they Fall on streaming. The Dig was delightful, The Sisters Brothers quirky, and The Harder they Fall was too grim for me (and I have a fairly high grim tolerance level).
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A side-story from Alex Verus's magical world, this novella features the time mage, Sonder, who was an ally of Alex's in the early books of the series. It's set between Alex's book #6 (Veiled) and #7 (Burned), during the time Alex is working for the Keepers, who police magic in Britain, but Alex never make an appearance. After a year of secondment in Washington DC, Sonder returns to London and is immediately called in to work with earth-mage Keeper Caldera (who is as grumpy as ever). There's been a burglary. Incriminating papers have been stolen and Sonder looks into the past to see if he can identify the burglars. One thing leads to another and we see how and why Sonder follows his head rather than his heart, and picks a side.
Jodi Taylor's Christmas day short story. This is set during the events of 'Another Time Another Place' when St Mary's is under Treadwell's new (unfriendly) management. It's Christmas, and rather than being with their respective families Max and Markham are away from St Mary's, enjoying the hospitality of Lady Amelia Smallhope and her bodyguard/butler/thug, Pennyroyal, currently employed as bounty hunters, or, rather, recovery agents. There's a Flying Auction announced. Someone is auctioning off plundered historical artefacts at a specific place and time… and that place happens to be a near-derelict St Mary's in 1921. Markham manages to appropriate some of the aforementioned items (don't ask what he's got down his trousers) so they have to hide them, and return to St Mary's in their own time to retrieve them. Expect tea, toast and eggs, Parish Councillors, naked gardening and a very happy Christmas.My Whole Booklog 2021
Dec. 28th, 2021 09:02 pm
With the year drawing to a close, here's my list of books read in 2021. There are 73 in total, including re-reading a couple of my own. I'd like to give a quick shout-out to T Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon, particularly for the two Saint of Steel books I read this year; also to John Scalzi for his Old Man's War series. Special mention to Benedict Jacka for wrapping up his twelve book Alex Verus series in fine style. New to me this year was K.J. Charles's trio of excellent Will Darling adventures which I read one after the other. Julia Quinn, author of Bridgerton which hit TV screens this year, provided some lovely fluffy Regency romances - my guilty pleasure. There were single books from some of my favourite authors: Liz Williams, Juliet E. McKenna, N.M. Browne, Sebastien de Castell, Kari Sperring, and Lois McMaster Bujold. I had a great reading year, topped off by Leigh Bardugo's Rule of Wolves which at the very end promised another Kaz Brekker book. He's my favourite character from the Six of Crows Duology. Here's my full list. You can get my thoughts on these by scrolling back through this blog. Happy reading in 2022. (Don't forget my seventh book, The Amber Crown, is out from DAW on 11th January.)
1) Simon R Green: The Best Thing You Can Steal
2) Liz Williams: Blackthorn Winter
3) Georgette Heyer: Venetia
4) Hannah Matthewson: Witherward – Witherward #1
5) Julia Quinn: Mr Cavendish I Presume – Two Dukes of Wyndham #2
6) Charlotte Anne: The Unworthy Duke
7) T. Kingfisher: The Hollow Places
8) Julia Quinn: Dancing at Midnight – Splendid #2
9) Julia Quinn: Minx – Splendid #3
10) Patricia Briggs: Wild Sign – Alpha and Omega #6
11) T Kingfisher: Paladin's Strength – Saint of Steel #2
12) Julia Quinn: Everything and the Moon – Lyndon Sisters #1
13) Julia Quinn: Brighter than the Sun – Lyndon Sisters #2
14) James S.A. Corey: Leviathan Wakes – The Expanse #1
15) Ben Aaronovitch: Takes from the Folly – Rivers of London
16) Elizabeth Chadwick: The Wild Hunt – Wild Hunt #1
17) Elizabeth Chadwick: The Leopard Unleashed – Wild Hunt #3
18) A.J. Lancaster: The Lord of Stariel – Stariel #1
19) N.M. Browne: Bad Water
20) Ian Mortimer: The Time Traveller's Guide to Regency Britain
21) Jodi Taylor: Another Time, Another Place – Chronicles of St Mary's #12
22) Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, Connie Brockway: The Lady Most Likely – Lady Most #1
23) M. Verant: Miss Bennet's Dragon (Jane Austen Fantasy #1)
24) K.M.Peyton: The Right Hand Man
25) John Scalzi: The Ghost Brigades – Old Man's War 2
26) John Scalzi: The End of All Things – Old Man's War 6
27) John Scalzi: The Last Colony – Old Man's War 3
28) John Scalzi: Zoe's Tale – Old Man's War 4
29) Agatha Christie: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
30) Lois McMaster Bujold: The Assassins of Thasalon
31) John Scalzi: The Human Division – Old Man's War 6
32) Michelle Magorian: Goodnight Mister Tom
33) Fran Bushe: My Broken Vagina: One Woman's Quest to Fix Her Sex Life, and Yours
34) Darcy Burke: A Rogue to Ruin – The Pretenders #3
35) K.J. Charles: Slippery Creatures – Will Darling #1
36) K.J. Charles: The Sugared Game – Will Darling #2
37) K.J Charles: Subtle Blood – Will Darling #3
38) Jacey Bedford: Crossways – Psi-Tech #2
39) Jacey Bedford: Nimbus – Psi-Tech #3
40) Becky Chambers: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet – Wayfarers #1
41) T. Kingfisher: Nine Goblins
42) Stephen Aryan: The Coward.
43) Catherynne M Valente: The Past is Red
44) Ursula Vernon: Black Dogs Part One: The House of Diamond
45) Ursula Vernon: Black Dogs Part Two: The Mountain of Iron
46) Stephanie Garber: Once Upon a Broken Heart
47) Jodi Taylor: Long Shadows – Elizabeth Cage #3
48) Sebastien de Castell: Way of the Argosi – Spellslinger #0.5
49) Burgis, Stephanie: The Raven Heir – Raven Crown #1
50) R.W.W. Greene: Twenty Five to Life
51) Juliet E McKenna: The Green Man's Challenge – Green Man #4
52) Sabaa Tahir: An Ember in the Ashes – An Ember in the Ashes #1
53) Katherine Buel: Heart of Snow
54) Genevieve Cogman: The Secret Chapter – The Invisible Library #6
55) Sherwood Smith: The Phoenix Feather – Fledglings #1
56) Kari Sperring: The Rose Knot
57) Andre Norton & Sherwood Smith: Derelict for Trade – Solar Queen #6
58) Stephanie Burgess: Scales and Sensibility – Regency Dragons #1
59) Martha Wells: All Systems Red – Murderbot Diaries #1
60) Jodi Taylor: Saving Time – The Time Police #3
61) T Kingfisher: Paladin's Hope – Saint of Steel #3
62) Lois McMaster Bujold: Knot of Shadows – Penric and Desdemona #11
63) Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman: Good Omens
64) Gaie Sebold: Bad Gods – Babylon Steel #1
65) Mary Jo Putney: Once a Laird – Rogues Redeemed
66) R J Palacio: Pony
67) Benedict Jacka: Risen – Alex Verus #12
68) T. Kingfisher: The Raven and the Reindeer.
69) Georgette Heyer: Sylvester
70) Naomi Novik: A Deadly Education
71) Leigh Bardugo: Rule of Wolves – King of Scars #2
72) Benedict Jacka: Favours – Alex Verus novella
73) Jodi Taylor: The Toast of Time