Fiction Book Reviews

As I may have mentioned, I’m on something of a campaign to find and publicize vampire books that don’t suck (and yes, you can expect to see almost everything on that list coming up for review here–eventually), largely because the Twilight fad is driving me crazy and the few people who actually can write good vampire lit aren’t getting nearly as much attention as they deserve. (And yes, I will have an actual review of Twilight itself up at some point. I did, actually, had something all ready to post, and then it got eaten.) I haven’t actually read all that many yet, as the above-linked list might indicate: most of the books either have vampires as part of the worldbuilding without focusing the story on them, or they’re part of a much longer series, or both…or they don’t get my wholehearted recommendation, for one reason or another. In fact I think there are only four books on that list that I could offer to a Twilight fan and say, without any qualifiers, “You want good vampire lit? Try this.” (Those books, for anyone interested, are Sunshine, Those Who Hunt the Night, Traveling with the Dead, and Backup, and the last one is only partly a standalone.)

That’s just a very long way of saying that I’ve been hunting for more good vampire books, and in fact my list of books to read is considerably longer than that of books I have read; and that in my search, some months ago, I came across Gail Carriger’s yet-to-be-published Soulless. I like steampunk anyway, but the combination of the awesome cover and the plot description made me practically salivate. An alternate-history Victorian-steampunk London where werewolves and vampires are an integrated part of history and society? YES PLEASE. Glancing around Gail Carriger’s website and blog made me even more eager to read her book, just because she seemed like such an awesome person.

Well, Soulless was good and I’m looking forward to Changeless, the next book in the series, in large part because Gail Carriger’s worldbuilding is fantastic, but…well, I’ll just say it didn’t quite live up to my hopes. The worldbuilding definitely goes into the plus column, working supernatural beings into society in a way I’ve never seen an urban fantasy do before, and I’m eager to see a number of the characters again, especially Conall Maccon and Prof. Lyall (both werewolves, incidentally). There’s also a good deal of bickering between Alexia and Maccon that’s fun to read.

I did find the romance-novel content a bit of a surprise–I wouldn’t call it adult content per se, because it never gets quite explicit, but there’s still a lot more of the making out and the removing of clothes and such than I had any indication there would be, to the point that I’d almost be inclined to shelve it under paranormal romance rather than general urban fantasy, so that was a little odd. To a certain extent, the romantic elements almost pushed aside more important things like plot and, you know, imminent peril to life and limb (this actually happened more than once).

Bigger issues, though: Alexia is, I think, a strong enough character to carry this series, but she’s somehow both presented as such and also not allowed to be. We’re told far more than shown what she’s like and how strong-minded, contrary, willful, etc. she is, something that isn’t done anywhere near as much with the other characters–and they manage to stand on their own much better. (It might help, too, if the point-of-view were more consistent and if Alexia were always referred to as such within her own POV; switching between that and “Miss Tarabotti” for no apparent reason was a little weird too.) Much of the dialogue is the same way, in that we’re told that a character was confused or whatever when it’s already obvious from what the character said, or a speech tag is used in something of a self-conscious way that jars you just a bit, reminding you that there’s An Author writing here (”‘Manners!’ Alexia instructed”, said while she’s fending off an attack from a rogue vampire, I might add). Her characterization is a little patchy anyway, given that she’s willing to go against society and its conventions in certain respects (being a spinster, hooking up with another character, going out unchaperoned) but completely tied to said society in others (she’s mortified when her hair or clothes get messed up, despite extenuating circumstances like, I don’t know, fighting for her life, and she doesn’t consider that maybe she’d get on better with less restricting and therefore less fashionable clothes).

Other elements feel a little affected in the same way, trying for biting wit or Victorian sensibilities and not quite getting there (again, is the heroine truly going to be embarrassed by the state of her hair when she’s just narrowly escaped death?), sometimes even interrupted by patches of what really sounds like anachronisms to me. For instance: “Great, Alexia thought, I have gone from soul-sucker to electrical ground. The epithets just get sweeter and sweeter.” She’s been sarcastic before, but not quite like this, and I don’t know that this use of “great” was really in vogue at the time. Sounds a little more like something you’d see in The Dresden Files, actually. Being jerked out of the story by odd things like that was always a disappointment, because I really wanted to like it–I just couldn’t quite get lost in the story, because the writing style wouldn’t let me.

And that’s too bad, because like I said, I love the concept and think Gail Carriger seems like an awesome person. The good thing is, I think these are probably marks of a first novel, because they’re all things that can be improved with a little more security in one’s ability to write well. The characters and story here are quite good, plenty good enough to stand on their own. They just need to be allowed to do so.

(I mean, it’s still better than Twilight, because the female lead isn’t a whiny, self-absorbed brat and the vampires don’t sparkle, but still…)

Barbara Hambly’s Those Who Hunt the Night is an immediate lesson in not judging books by their covers–or flyleaf blurbs, for that matter. The cover is the ultimate in cheesetastic Victorian vampire camp, and the blurb is kind of sensationalistic and stupid–it’s in past tense, first of all, which doesn’t work with blurbs, and it ends with “Whether he succeeded or failed, it seemed that Professor James Asher was doomed!” If not for the fact that I checked it out on a friend’s recommendation, I’d never have picked it up based on the cover and blurb. I mean…really? They had to say it like that? With the exclamation point and everything?

It’s a good thing I ignored those two major points against it, because two pages in and I was thoroughly hooked. I was also afraid it would start slow, but instead it plunges directly into the action at the first point where things start happening: within the first two sentences Asher is aware his house is completely empty, within the first two paragraphs we find out he’s more dangerous and interesting than he might appear, and within one more page we’re getting to know his wife without actually having met her yet (and I mean actually getting to know her, not just finding out that he has a wife and she’s pretty).

That’s good writing. It doesn’t stop there, either; Asher and Lydia are wonderful protagonists, both smart and compelling in their own ways and very good together. Her medical expertise, hard-won in an era where women doctors were a rarity, colors everything she does, while he sees everything through a filter of his studies in language. I mean, would you really expect that an author could ramp up the tension in a scene and yank the character way out of his normal world just through identifying the odd patterns in an accent? Well, she does. Ysidro, the vampire who coerces Asher into helping him discover who is murdering other members of London’s undead population, is thoroughly–and properly–alien and fascinating in his own right, and yet, despite the inescapable fact that he must kill humans to survive, he retains enough humanity of his own to earn the reader’s sympathy.

Hambly’s vampires don’t sparkle. They aren’t necessarily even sexy, although some of them are. These are genuine creatures of the night, and if they’re stalking you, it’s not romantic. This is what vampire lit should be like. And I can’t help finding it terribly sad that this book is 20 years old, out of print (well, Amazon’s not selling it except used, at any rate), and mostly forgotten, while the current vampire fad is filling the shelves with dreck.

I suppose it’s always possible someone will decide to take advantage on the craze and reprint Those Who Hunt the Night. One can always hope. Maybe it would even get a good cover.

I’ve mentioned before that I like Neil Gaiman, which is true. I still haven’t really read Sandman, though, the series of graphic novels for which he really first became famous. The biggest problem there is that there are so many volumes collected so many different ways, and my library site…is really messed up and confusing about what’s what. The only volume I’ve read so far turned out to be number 6 of 10 collected volumes, and it’s basically a series of one-shots that insert members of the Endless into real-world history. I’d really thought it was the first volume when I checked it out.

So that’s my disclaimer: these are, essentially, my first impressions on Sandman from having read one volume out of order. Go me.

Anyway, while I did quite like it–I adore Death, Dream is kind of fascinating, and the way it weaves itself into the stories of all these historical figures is really pretty awesome–it’s reconfirming for me the fact that I just don’t like American-style comics, or possibly comics in general, and why. I do seem to remember the Firefly comics (Those Left Behind and Better Days) being drawn in a style I liked and that actually looked like the actors in question, while I don’t particularly care for the style in the Buffy Season 8 comics (I’ve only looked at a couple of each–I don’t want to buy them because they’ll take me about 20 minutes to read, but Barnes & Noble doesn’t have all of them, either), but Sandman’s just reminding me–well, it’s not like I even have that much experience with comics, but something in every style used in Sandman (and there are several different ones, but all at one level or another of photorealism) is very familiar, maybe because of my dad’s old comics (all of which are adaptations of classic novels. What, you thought I was the first geek in my family?), and it’s not a good kind of familiar. Maybe it’s the uncanny valley effect–it’s comic photorealism in the wrong way and that’s why I find most of the characters off-putting (but less so people like Dream, who aren’t entirely realistic to begin with).

And the thing is, I’m not an anti-comics person by any means. (more…)

Still busy with school, natch; not doing quite as much pleasure-reading (for instance, I read the first couple chapters of Catch-22 the other day because I’ll be presenting on it for a class, and so far I haven’t been able to force myself to read more because I hate Yossarian so much). I’m still working on some reviews. I’m also coming across far too many giveaways that I’m sure I won’t win, but you never know so why not, which is why I’m sharing them: because anybody can win and others might be interested, and…okay, it means more entries for me, whatever. (At least I’m honest.)

• Steam Powered Rings - I’m not sure how much I’ve mentioned this here, but I really like steampunk. I think the only book I’ve read that I could definitively say was steampunk would be Perdido Street Station, which is unfortunate because I’d love to hunt down some more (and could do with a bit less of the “punk” elements, more of the steam-driven, Victorian-inspired, clocks-and-gears bits). But steampunk isn’t just a genre; it’s a style, too, which means you can find things like steampunk computers, clothes, and music all over the internet, assuming you can pay for them. You can also find steampunk jewelry, and Steam Powered Rings is full of truly gorgeous pieces like this and this and this, which all adds up to a big WANT for me and then I cry because I don’t have a lot of money. But: if you’re long on EntreCard credits and short on real money, you can get a ring for 6,000 EC in the EC Market (I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t kind of working toward this and adding up how long it would take if I made lots and lots of drops), and there’s also a giveaway during February, March, and April for a ring.
• Lil Wayne John, a web-developer and blogger, is giving away 10,000 EC credits . To enter, you have to submit your blog to the directory Link Listings, which could be useful in pulling a bit of traffic anyway.
• Christian Carders - You might have noticed that a few of the books I’ve reviewed–Soon and Firebird, for instance–are Christian fiction, so it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that I’m a Christian too. Admittedly, I find a lot of Christian fiction to be poorly written, which is kind of sad, and I don’t read as much of it anymore; but I’m pretty likely to talk about it when I find one, and my worldview will still probably leak in through my reviews a bit. Anyway, there’s a community for Christian bloggers with EntreCard, and if that definition fits you and you’d like to join, visit Christian Carders.
• Bloggers Give - Momstart is hosting an EC credit giveaway to benefit Bloggers Give, a site where bloggers make a difference by giving their time and resources to help those in need.

Right. Now to start that paper that’s due tomorrow. And this was supposed to be quick…