Book Twenty-three -- Empress (Godspeaker, Book One) by Karen Miller

Empress (Godspeaker, Book One)
by Karen Miller
fantasy
717 pages

Have you ever read a book only to find that you don't like the majority of the characters, you find the writing to be mediocre at best, you think the world-building only succeeds some of the time and yet...you find yourself wanting to read the next page (and the next book in the series) because you really have to know what happens next? Or maybe it's just me?

Empress is the story of Hekat, a girl born into horrible, back-breaking poverty in a part of the world that sees women as useful only for bearing sons. At 12, as soon as she has her first period, her father sells her to slavers. One of the slavers thinks she's something special and treats her better than the rest of his stock and certainly better than she was treated at home.

She learns a great deal from the slavers as they traveling from The Savage North (no really, that's what it's called, right there on the map) to their home city of Et-Raklion, way down in the south. We learn along with her and here's where the shaky world-building comes in. We do learn that it's only in the north that women are totally disenfranchised and that, further south, they can serve as warriors and priests (godspeakers) of the nameless, monolithic God, and yet we see them still being treated poorly elsewhere. While yes, that happens even in our own society, the way it's handled here feels like Miller didn't really think everything through.

We also learn that this is an almost insanely religious society; the godspeakers are everywhere, sacrificing live animals at the drop of a hat, doing magic, enforcing curfews, advising the warlords who are the head of the secular side of the government and generally interfering with people's lives. Although the whole setting has Middle Eastern overtones, the one good thing I can say is that this doesn't really read like a fantasy version of Islam.

Once Hekat and the slavers reach Et-Raklion and she learns that, while she's "beautiful and precious" (a phrase she and other people use about her all the goddamn time), she's still a slave and not as important to the slavers as she thought. She runs away and that's essentially where her story really begins.

There's nothing really new about her journey (it's a pretty typical "rise to the top while not caring about who you step on to get there" trope) and the fact is, she's a rather unpleasant character--manipulative, lacking in any real empathy, and incredibly selfish. It makes sense given her background, but it also makes it kind of hard to care about what happens to her. The people around her, with the exception of Vortka, a young man taken from the same slave train as Hekat and made a godspeaker, are mostly annoying as well. The high godspeaker of Et-Raklion, Nagarak, is scheming and ambitions; the warlord, Raklion, is a good soldier, but easily manipulated, and so on.

On top of it all, if it weren't for the adult nature of the sex scenes and the sacrificial scenes (seriously, avoid this book like the plague if you hate animal death or ifscorpions freak you out), I'd think it was a YA novel. Miller's writing is incredibly simplistic and repetitive; off the top of my head, I could easily name twenty fan fiction writers in my current fandom who are much much better writers.

And yet, as I said up there at the beginning of the review, I blew through this book and will undoubtedly be grabbing the next one. I don't know what it is, but sometimes a story will manage to break through all of the obstacles the author throws in its way and demand that you finish it. So I ask again: that ever happen to any of you?

Or is it just me?

Book Fifteen -- Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Tigana
by Guy Gavriel Kay
fantasy
673 pages

After reading Tigana, or any book by Kay, you aren't surprised to discover that he's an accomplished poet as well. In fact, when Christopher Tolkien took on the job of publishing The Silmarillion from his father's notes, Kay was one of the people who worked with him. Trust me, Kay's better when he's writing his own stories.

Fortunately for me, Tigana was the first book by Kay that I read. His earlier trilogy, The Fionavar Tapestry, suffers from such a bad case of "everything and the kitchen sink" fantasy that you end ip thinking that Kay never met a fantasy trope he didn't like. Thankfully, he got that out of his system and sat down to create Tigana.

Roughly half a generation before the events of the book, the lands of the Palm--a peninsula divided into nine tiny duchies and principalities with vaguely Italian names and language--was conquered by two different sorcerers. One, Alberico, is a pretty straightforward villain, but the other, Brandin is a much more complex character. Unfortunately for the Principlaity of Tigana, Brandin's beloved son died at the hand of Tigana's prince. In revenge, Brandin performed a mighty act of sorcery that prevents anyone not from Tigana from hearing or remembering the name of the principality. As a result, when the last person alive at the time Tigana was conquered dies, the name of the country will be lost forever.

And so the stage is set for a band of rebels, including Alessen, the youngest son of Tigana's last prince, to try to win back their freedom and the freedom of the rest of the Palm's provinces, because along the way, Alessan has realized that the only way the divided provinces can prevail is through unification.

All that sounds pretty normal; talk about your common fantasy tropes. But where Kay excels is in...well, honestly, pretty much everything. His heroes and heroines are flawed, complicated people and Brandin is an excellent example of how to do a villain right. In fact, while I do love the rebels, particularly Devin, a young singer who falls almost accidentally into the conspiracy, it is the story of Dianora, a native of Tigana who is taken captive and put into Brandin's harem only to struggle against her love for him versus her desire for revenge that makes me love this book.

Well, that and the sheer beauty of Kay's prose. He's a simply stunning writer who uses language and imagery perfectly, and who knows the power that words have. If you like truly sparse prose, then no, his books aren't for you. However, you never feel that he's throwing words at the page in order to bring up his page count; each word seems placed just so, much like the mosaics created by another one of his characters from another book. The result is a picture of love and loss and honor and responsibility that will stay with you for a long time.

If someone came up to me and said, "I don't normally read fantasy, but can you recommend a good starting place?" I'd hand them Tigana and tell them to sit down and savor it from cover to cover. While there is magic in the book, it never takes over the book the way it so often can in fantasy.

Book Fourteen -- Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn

Across the Nightingale Floor
by Lian Hearn
fantasy
287 pages

Taking place in the Three Countries, a place much like feudal Japan, Across the Nightingale Floor is the first book of the Tales of the Otori. It tells the story of Otori Takeo and Shirakawa Kaede, two young adults caught up in the intrigues of their time.

Takeo is a young man raised in an isolated village by his mother, a member of a forbidden religious sect. The local lord, Iida--an ambitious villain with no real redeeming features--with his men, destroys the village. Takeo is saved by a mysterious stranger by the name of Lord Otori, who takes Takeo to his lands and adopts him.

Meanwhile, the beautiful Kaede is a hostage, held by one of Iida's vassals to compel her father's loyalty. When a man attempting to rape her is killed and the man she is betrothed to dies, she becomes the object of superstition, although that doesn't stop her captor from setting up yet another betrothal--to Lord Otori--for her

Takeo learns that he is the son of a member of The Tribe, an ancient group of ninjas. He has an almost magic ability of super hearing, which serves him well when Lord Otori summons an old Tribe friend to train Takeo. Their ultimate goal is to assassinate Iida, who is so paranoid that he has a "nightingale floor"--a floor designed to make chirping noises when someone steps on it--surrounding his chambers.

The book rushes on with an almost breakneck speed and yet there are moments where Hearn pauses to describe a landscape or a room with an appreciation that adds a Japanese touch to the novel. It's not written in the style classical Japanese literature, which, as someone who gave up on The Tale of Genji, I appreciate, however, you never forget that you are in a world of samurai and ninjas.

There was a moment when I was sure she was leading up to a pretty common trope, but then, when I was wrong, I realized that I was thinking of Western tropes and Hearn was using a common Eastern trope. While she doesn't actually bring anything new to the table, she tells her tale well and gives us likable characters and deeds of ninja derring-do in enjoyable settings.

I call Across the Nightingale Floor fantasy because that's what it's categorized as, but, aside from Takeo's super-hearing and his family ability to hypnotise people, there's no magic; this could be read as a straight-forward action novel with a nice touch of romance in the background. I most certainly recommend it; I sat and read it in one go tonight and I'll be getting my hands on the other books in the series; there are three more that deal with Takeo and Kaede and then a prequel about Lord Otori.

Book Eleven -- Keeping It Real by Justina Robson

Keeping it Real
by Joanna Robson
SF/Fantasy
333 pages

Okay, to be honest, I was a little iffy about this one. It's a cross between urban fantasy and cyberpunk with a cyborg heroine whose job is to protect a hot elf rock star. Within the first five pages Lila, our heroine, actually looks at herself in the mirror in order for the author to have a chance to describe her--pretty much classic Mary Sue stuff, particularly as, in spite of all the metal attached to her body, she still comes across as pretty hot.

There were other tells that made me wonder if Robson started out as a fan fiction writer*; most glaringly, the little bit of Common Knowledge at the beginning of the book reads like the kind of thing you wouldn't have to explain if you were writing about a universe everyone already knew. It's almost like she didn't know how to present the information any other way, except for that part where she does a halfway decent job of exposition early on.

But you know? I'm kind of glad that I was reading it for Cannonball, because I stuck with it and it was actually a lot of fun.

The basic premise is that there was some sort of awful explosion, called the Quantum Bomb, involving a super collider. The resulting rip in the space time continuum leads to six different worlds existing in parallel to one another: there's our own world (called Otopia for some unknown reason); Zoomenon, the world of the Elementals, Alfheim, where the high/Tolkien style elves live; Demonia, where the Demons hang out; Thanotopia, the land of the dead from which necromancers gain their power; and Faery, and yeah that's pretty obvious.

The Elves are all about Culture and so the fact that Zal the High Elf is a rock star in Otopia is cause for death threats against him. So, enter Lila Black, half-machine, half-human agent. She's brought in as his bodyguard, but also ends up playing a "Game" with him. Games are complex interactions that end with the loser paying a forfeit; in this case, it's pretty easy to guess what the game is, and in fact, the book itself follows the whole "hot bodyguard/sexy rock star" formula, only the peril is a lot more interesting than usual.

I'd recommend this one if you're halfway decent at suspending your disbelief and are looking for a fun, only slightly trashy, romp. It sounds like I'm damning it with faint praise, but the fact is, I enjoyed it for what it was and have every intention of picking of the next in the series.


*Not that there's anything wrong with that; I can easily name a handful of SF/Fantasy writers who started out writing fan fiction. In fact....

Okay, this is where I suddenly lose a lot of cred and probably some respect from some of you people, but...I'm a fan fiction writer and have been for the last 14 years. I've also published one short story that's been reprinted a couple of times, most recently in Best Lesbian Bondage Erotica. But mostly? I write (mostly) gay porn about TV shows and movies and even actors.

Book Ten -- Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
by Gregory Maguire
fantasy
368 pages

Having enjoyed Maguire's look at Oz and since my spouse-person happened to have this book on hand as well, I figured I might as well see if it was any good. The Cinderella myth is not one of my favorites, but then I'm not that fond of fairy tales in general. This version, however, really did pull me in.

Maguire made the decision to set the story in Holland in the 1630s, setting the familiar characters firmly in the emerging middle class. The narrator, Iris--the younger of the two step-sisters--her older but simple sister Ruth and her mother Margarathe arrive in Haarlem from England after Margarathe's husband died. Margarathe finds employment as a housekeeper, first with a painter and secondly with a wealthy merchant who's made a lot money speculating on tulips.

When the merchant's wife dies, Margarathe slides into her place and the familiar story begins to take shape. But of course, this isn't the story of Cinderella (who starts off as Clara); it's the story of Iris, a plain girl who happens to have some artistic talent. It's fascinating to watch Iris struggle to deal with her mother's ambition, her own infatuation with the painter's apprentice, her desire to paint, and, of course, Clara's beauty.

There is no actual magic in the book, although there are a few things that strain the reader's willing suspension of disbelief. I really liked the psychological explanation for Clara allowing herself to be banished to the kitchen, and loved the little details about painting and the lifestyles of the Dutch Bourgeoisie. My main issue with the book is a silly personal one; the other step-sister, the one who is slow and big and clumsy? Couldn't Maguire picked a name other than Ruth?

Oh hey, I'm one tenth of the way there! I'd buy more books to celebrate, but it's the end of the month. Huh...I wonder if my fees are paid off at the library.

Book Nine -- Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
by Gregory Maguire
fantasy
406 pages

Okay, so I lied about what my next book would be; in case it isn't clear, my book selections for this are pretty random and are aimed at me having not having to spend too much of my fixed income on books. I happened to be cruising our bookshelves and found this and, since it was recently reviewed, both on Pajiba and by one of my fellow cannonballers, I figured why not?

It's been a while since I read an Oz book, but back in the day, I read all 14 of L. Frank. Baum's Oz books and possibly some of Ruth Plumly Thompson's books as well. And here's where I pause and suggest that you get your hands on some of the follow-ups to Wizard of Oz and just look at them. John R Neill took over the illustration job with the second book and his work is just gorgeous.

So yeah, as a former Oz fan, I was looking forward to revisiting the world as an adult though an adult book but also kind of dreading it because, well, what if it sucked? Fortunately, it didn't suck; in fact, it's pretty damn good.

Basically the book follows Elphaba, later known as the Wicked Witch of the West, from her birth to her death at Dorothy's hands. It concentrates on five different periods of her life: her childhood in Munchkinland; her years at university where she meets, among others, Glinda the Good; her time in the Emerald City as a rebel against the Wizard; her time in the Winkie country, where she prefected her witchiness; and finally, the short aftermath of the death-by-house of her sister.

Maguire's Oz is Baum's Oz "through a glass darkly;" it's recognizable but full of things like specism (the talking Animals are treated as second class citizens), religious schism, class warfare and so on. It's an echo of the ills the Industrial Revolution brought along with it and caught up in all this is Elphaba, whose earnest desire to do good gets twisted until she's the Wicked Witch we all recognize.

It's not a perfect novel, but it's a fun one, even if the only background you have is the original Wizard of Oz movie.

Next up--probably--Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Maguire's take on Cinderella.