Devlin's Luck

Devlin's Luck (Sword of Change, Book 1) Patricia Bray Date: 30 April, 2002   —   $6.29   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Devlin, a downtrodden farmer from the still-rebellious province of Duncaer, applies for the job of the land's hero, the Chosen One, knowing that it not only comes with a large material reward, but with an almost-certain likelihood of death within a few months. Not exactly a happy man is Devlin. However, he survives the ceremony and becomes the hero of his people's enemy— and drops straight into a morass of political maneuvering. Not only is he bound to fulfill tasks given him with a magical geas, but he has to figure out what exactly is going wrong with the kingdom before it falls apart and drags him down with it.

Because he's too honorable to let them fall apart, even if he does hate them...

Finder

Finder : A Novel of the Borderlands Emma Bull   —   $6.29   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Life can be strange in the Borderlands, the shifting intersection of human lands and Never Never, the homelands of the elves. Geography is sometimes arbitrary, and information can be hard to come by. Orient uses his strange finding talent to make a living among the misfits and strange folk of the land.

When police officer Sunny Rico enlists him to find a particular drug source, his first instinct is to deny her. When it becomes evident, however, that the drug is starting to turn humans into elves— and then killing them— he knows that he needs to do everything he can, before racial violence and suspicion tear the Borderlands apart.

Emma Bull's specialty is in urban fantasy, where the fey and inner-city intermix. One gets the sense of a life spent in New York or Chicago (or perhaps Toronto) and the hint that, just around the corner, anything is possible.

Once a Hero

Once a Hero Michael Stackpole Date: 01 April, 1994   —   $27.00   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

This is my husband's favorite book, and it's not hard to see why. When Neal was born with portents forseeing he was to be a great war leader and hero, his tribe shrugged and provided him with the best military education money would buy. (How many fantasies bother to think things through like that?) Neal, with his love for learning and a healthy dose of audacity, manages to more than fulfill those prophecies by doing what he feels necessary, prophecies which lead to his "tragic" life and end, mostly tales for tragedy among humans because Neal, friend to the elves, seems a betrayer of a humanity still scarred by the slaughter of the Eldsaga so long ago.

But that was long ago, and now events are falling out that require the knowledge of Neal's life, knowledge that only the elves truly possess, because with their long lives they are only two generations removed from the time of Neal, five centuries before. Genevera is willing to help, as her great-aunt has told her stories of Neal since she was small— but she will have to deal with a humanity that she knows little of, and with secrets she has never been told. The stories from the past and the present intermesh tightly, leading to a crystal-clear narrative that nevertheless hints at tales and stories that we never learn. It is a pity it is only available in paperback, and that rare; our galley-bound copy is beginning to fall to pieces.

The Sandman Book of Dreams

The Sandman Book of Dreams ed. Neil Gaiman Date: 01 August, 1996   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy/Horror, Short Stories

(For some reason I can't get the paperback version to pop up; this is available for sale new.)

The Sandman series of graphic novels has inspired much in art and comics and writing. This book is a collection or short stories set in the world that Sandman created. Some of the stories are simple tales based on some of the characters, such as one that follows the rise of love as a romantic construct, and others rely upon knowledge of the series, such as one that alludes to events of Preludes and Nocturnes. One writer revives Little Nemo, Windsor McCay's child whose full-page comics dealt with dreams, and another twists a story that was already horrifying into further terror.

The writers involved are well known to the fantasy and horror set, and the stories are neat little bites of Gaiman's universe. It is well worth the while for any fan of Gaiman's work to check it out, because though he does not write the stories within, each writer illuminates another facet of the creation.

The Sandman

Fables and Reflections (Sandman, Book 6) Neil Gaiman (various artists) Date: 04 January, 1994   —   $13.57   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy/Horror, Graphic Novel

The Sandman series is a story about story, centered around Dream, the arbiter of the land of ideas. I had rather review the story as a whole, and so have linked to a collection that provides some of the most powerful single episodes in this entire collection.

The series begins as a typical horror comic but over the course of seven years develops the weight and granduer (not to mention the inevitability) of a grand tragedy. The structure of the comics industry at the time accounts for the style in which the series develops; at the time it began, there was no idea that a thoughtful intelligent comic for adults could be widely sold and appreciated, and the Sandman literally built that audience from nothing. So the first book, Preludes and Nocturnes, seems almost trite in light of what follows it, especially as it threw in all manner of characters from other DC comics. Later books chart their own path, though many of the characters that populate the Dreaming pay homage to earlier DC horror lines.

People think dreams aren't real because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real, but they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes...

It is in the second book, The Doll's House, that the series truly hits its stride. Gaiman dared to make his central character a peripheral one in this storyline, instead focusing on a young woman named Rose, who has been trying to track down her young brother. This quest takes her into serious danger in the manner of old unadulterated fairy tales, and has repercussions throughout the series. (But then, all of Gaiman's storylines do, so just assume this is the case.)

Subsequent books exxamine the nature of reality, and of true freedom. Season of Mists can best be examined from the perspective of Viktor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning. Frankl was an inhabitant of a World War II concentration camp, where the Jewish faith he ignored as a child became real to him. He tells us that we always have choices, no matter how circumscribed our lives, even if our only choices revolve around how we look at certain things. When we say, "I have no choice," it is in reality a far more complex statement, meaning "I have no choice IF I want..." In Season of Mists, Lucifer, Prince of Darkness, yadda yadda, demonstrates that freedom in a surprising manner.

By the time one gets to Fables and Reflections, one is thoroughly entrenched in the mythology that Gaiman has created, where the Endless are anthropomorphic representations of certain qualities of life such as Dream or Death, where Desire is cruel and the twin of Despair, and where the games some of them play have goals that are counter to what one might expect. This collection opens with the tale of Emperor Norton and ends with a tale called Ramadan, the most popular single episode of the series. (It is illustrated by P. Craig Russell, who is best known for adapting myths into lyrical comic form.) On the second or third readthrough of the series, many of these individual episodes take on a weight that foreshadows the events later in the series.

Brief Lives is the beginning of the end. Dream is enlisted by his youngest sister Delirium to search for their brother, who left them centuries ago. The search, which he took on for reasons unconnected to his brother's whereabouts, makes him realize certain changes he must make in his own affairs. This is Hamlet's decision to wait and see how it falls out; one can feel the shape of the tragedy approaching even if one does not know its form. The interruption of Worlds' End merely underscores the tragedy to come; when travelers seek shelter in the Inn At Worlds' End, the price of haven is a tale. The tales verge from horror to heroic, and sometimes even hint at the recursive and the multilayered.

By the time of The Kindly Ones, the ponderous inevitability of the future comes into play. Many of the side stories converge in this one book, to complete a tapestry of story. The follow-up, The Wake, is all about graceful ends. It has been mentioned as a great comfort in times of bereavement, because it helps to bring a sense of completion to life. It also subtly changes many of the patterns in the previous storylines, to show that things have changed drastically. (If you are not much given to analysis, the Sandman Companion mentions what some of them are, or you can search online for annotations that will let you know where the changes lie.) As one of the characters states in Worlds' End, the ceremonies made at the ending of life are not for the dead but for the living. They are there to bring comfort and to bid the dead goodbye.

I regret the conversations we never had, the time we did not spend together. I regret that I never told him that he made me happy, when I was in his company. The world was better for his being in it.

These things alone do I regret: things left unsaid. And he is gone, and I am old.

The final episodes range back in time, underscoring the importance of the events that have happened, and do, indeed, bring the series to a graceful end.

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit.

Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost.

Truckers

The Bromeliad Trilogy: Truckers (The Bromeliad Trilogy) Terry Pratchett   —   $5.39   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy, Juvenile

Nomes are small folk who live on a time scale approximately ten times faster than humans. Their lives are nasty, brutish, and short. So Masklin decides he's going to take the group on a ride in one of the humans' trucks, because wherever they get to has got to be better than trashcan raidings and foxes. And where they get to is the Store.

Thousands of Nomes live in the Store, and barely even speculate about what is Outside, because the Book of Arnold Bros. (est. 1905) has stated, All Things Under One Roof. But they're going to have to learn, because the Thing, a small device Masklin's folk have looked after since before anyone can remember, has woken up. And it tells them the Store is going to be destroyed.

This story is told with Pratchett's typical satiric flare, and illustrates the dangers of getting trapped in a style of thinking. He does this in a form easily understood by children— the Store Nomes know that the Store is everything, and that women can't read because thinking will explode their brains, and the child knows better , and so identifies with Masklin and his companions when they point out the fallacies in that kind of thinking. And of course, the struggles the Nomes go through in their attempts to not only escape the destruction but profit thereby are very entertaining.

There was a British television adaption some years back that caught the spirit of the book very well. Alas, it is not available in the US, but the book is, and is suitable for interested eight-year-olds... and any adult who likes Pratchett.

The Ordinary Princess

The Ordinary Princess M.M. Kaye Date: 01 March, 2002   —   $5.39   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy, Children's

As any reader of fairytales can tell you, fairytale princesses are beautiful, tall, blonde, blue-eyed, and graceful, and the youngest daughter is always the most beautiful of all. Especially when the daughter is the seventh daughter in a land where only princesses are born.

Except for Amy.

Amethyst's christening ended with an old fairy using her magic to make her Ordinary. Since that fairy was the strongest in the land, it overwhelmed all the other gifts for beauty and charm to make a child that was not fairy-tale royal but one who liked to run and play and trip over long skirts... and generally, be all that an ordinary child should be. The trouble starts when all of her sisters are married off and prospective suitors are frightened off by the fact that Amy isn't tall, blonde, and gorgeous, but rather a bit skinny, freckled, and with mousy brown hair. Her parents start looking into renting a dragon to terrorize the countryside (and to entrap a wary suitor), but when Amy gets wind of it, she does what any ordinary person would do— she runs away.

And it soon becomes quite evident that the fairy's gift was a gift indeed, because it's through her very ordinariness that Amy (never Amethyst) finds true happiness.

This is perfect for the inquisitive child who has managed to work out that Snow White is the only brunette to be a fairytale heroine, or for those adults who have a love for childhood fairytales. (I first encountered it in college on the shelves of a friend.) And, of course, it's a happy little tale for those of us who are Ordinary.

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens Date: 1843   —   $3.95   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction

What better book to read for Christmas Eve than the classic? Everyone knows the story, even if they have not read the book: Ebenezer Scrooge, the old miser, is given a chance to redeem himself one Christmas through the visits of three Spirits (and one ghost.) The Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet To Come are a part of the popular culture, and have been referred to in countless productions, drectly or indirectly. Stage versions, musical versions, animated versions, retellings and hints abound in modern times.

But there's nothing quite like the original. It is one of Dickens' most enduring novels, and unlike certain other creators of popular Christmas works, it seems he did not dislike or resent the popularity of his creation. In fact, biographies of Dickens point out his impoverished childhood (fodder for such novels as Oliver Twist) and the fact that he loved Christmas dearly as he grew older. There are also some interesting observations that are sometimes dropped from adaptations, such as the fact that Christmas Present has two meager children under his robe, Ignorance and Want, whom he warns Scrooge about. The asides are nearly as fun. There's one snide comment about the U.S. treasury notes and their lack of value that sent me scrambling to find an encyclopædia— yes, indeed, this was written a few years after President Andrew Jackson broke the national bank. Strange that he's on the $20 bill now.

Go ahead and read this classic ghost story. It shouldn't take you very long.

The Gammage Cup

The Gammage Cup Carol Kendall Date: 1959   —   $5.40   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy, Juvenile

This is a tale of individuality, of keeping true to yourself in the face of provocation, of stultifying regulations and enforced conformity, and of misfits who save the community.

It's also a children's book.

The Gammage Cup tells the story of five Minnipins who rebel in the face of not-so-subtle pressure to be like everyone else in their village of Slipper-On-the-Water, especially since the village thinks that conformity is the key to winning the prize of the Cup of Wisdom, property of the great leader Gammage. When the five are thrown out, they go up to the mountains and discover that the whole valley is in danger from an outside force, which they have to prevent in the face of disbelief and fear of being different.

It's interesting how many subtle messages Kendall managed to work into the text. When the issue of color comes up— "true" Minnipins dress in brown with green cloaks— one character makes the statement that brown fits him, but he has to stand with the misfits because he'd hate it if someone wanted to force him to wear yellow. Walter the Earl— not a title but a name— makes comments regarding slavish devotion to a popularly accepted view of history, and points out that fighting against facts is not a good idea.

This book is, indeed, a product of its time, as several writers in the late fifties and early sixties worried about enforced conformity. (A Wrinkle in Time, for example, was published in 1962.) The message of "Be true to yourself" would, of course, be taken to the other extreme in a decade or so (at least on the surface.)

And hey! There's a sequel? I'm going to have to track that down...

Christmas Ghosts

Christmas Ghosts (DAW book collectors) ed. Mike Resnick Date: 01 November, 1993   —   used only   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy/Science Fiction

The assignment was simple: write about Christmas Ghosts. Of course, as Mike Resnick states in the prologue, asking science fiction authors to do anything simple usually ends up being complex. So you have stories on the Ghost of Christmas Sideways, and the Ghost of Hannukah, and even the ghosts of elephants. You have unrepentant Scrooges and repentant Cratchit analogues; sick and twisted elves and little bears that come to life; families split and families together and even vengeful Victorian wives.

All of the stories are original to this volume, and so hit the theme pretty much dead on. I highly recommend this collection if you can track it down, because ghost stories are a traditional Christmas pasttime— as Dickens proved so long ago.

The Death of Chaos

The Death of Chaos (Saga of Recluce) L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Date: 15 June, 1996   —   $7.19   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Nothing is ever simple in Modesitt's books. Lerris' problems in The Magic of Recluce only get worse here, leading up to a spectacular confrontation at the end of the saga. (Modesitt is still playing around in preceding centuries, however.)

Lerris is working in Kyphros as a master woodworker, which is pretty impressive given his age as just a few years past twenty. His consort, Krystal, is sub-commander of the autarch's armies, and he has a shop of his own. Life would be good, were it not for the signs that all hell is about to break loose.

Central to this novel is an element that has been peripheral in all of the previous books: the empire of Hamor, which has decided to take over Candar. And Hamor is big enough to do it easily, especially as chaos is building up because of Hamor's mechanical order (steamships, mechanical looms, and the like.) Hamor is set to crush anyone who stands in its way— and that includes the leadership of Kyphros, and Lerris.

Where the previous novel was a quest novel, this one is a coming of age tale. Lerris has a lot of maturing to do, and he's set to lose everything if he doesn't. Or possibly even if he does. And one thing is very clear: no matter what his choice is, the price is going to be very high.

Miracle and Other Christmas Stories

Miracle and Other Christmas Stories Connie Willis Date: 31 October, 2000   —   $6.75   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

Commie Willis is not, alas, prolific; she has come out with merely a handful of books in her decades-long career and two or three compilations of short stories. However, a high percentage of her works have been good enough to win various awards such as the fan-based Hugo Award and the writer-based Nebula Award. This collection of stories shows the reasons why; in just a few pages, she can create something magical.

"Inn", for example, shows the real meaning of "Christian charity" during a choir rehearsal. The story shows a number of Connie Willis trademarks, including the obnoxious authority figure and the almost farcical comings and goings to startle and delay the protagonist. (Think of "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" and you'll understand the diversionary tactics.) "The Pony" is a short few pages that makes a child's malapropism all too true. "The Newsletter" is a fascinating little joke of a story that brings a new meaning to Pod People.

A few of these stories are reprints but some have never before been collected into book form. You might as well pick it up; the only shame is that your Connie Willis addiction can only be filled so far.

The Magic of Recluce

The Magic of Recluce (Recluce series, Book 1) L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Date: 15 May, 1992   —   $7.19   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Despite the star rating above, I do like this book; it merely is less impressive than many of the other books in the series, and the protagonist, Lerris, has way too many "But Uncle Owen...!" moments.*

Lerris is a young man who finds the order of Recluce boring, to the point where he is shipped off to dangergeld training for a controlled exile. Of course, he doesn't have a clue what's going on, which makes it a little hard to read, and unlike the rest of the series, it is written in the first person, which means that what Lerris doesn't know, we don't know.

This is the foundation for a series that is growing by leaps and bounds, but there are several elements here that don't appear in other novels. The chaos masters of this time are body snatchers; they can create physical constructs with magic; and the final confrontation has remarkably few repercussions. Modesitt was still working out his world in this novel.

This is the classic quest cycle, beginning with the Call ("You're going to dangergeld") and including such elements as the Mentor and the Task. One could almost check off each part in your copy of Joseph Campbell. None of the other Recluce books follow the pattern so obviously.

*Star Wars geek reference, if you missed it; this is the whiny farmboy bit.

Crime For Christmas

Crime for Christmas Ed. Richard Dalby Date: 1991   —   used only   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Mystery, Short Stories

This is a collection of classically styled mysteries, ranging from the Sherlock Holmes blue carbuncle story that seems to show up in every Christmas mystery collection to the mystery which you can solve yourself through extensive knowledge (in this case, of chess.) If the classical style is to your taste, you can track this one down, but I am personally more interested in the lunacy that has marked certain authors over the last few decades.

The Order War

The Order War (Recluce series, Book 4) L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Date: 15 February, 1996   —   $7.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Justen is a black (order) engineer on the island of Recluce, though he often stands in the shadow of his elder brother Gunnar. When a call goes out for volunteers to help Sarronyn, he goes to war in a disaster for the Sarronese. After the battle, he is forced to flee south, a path that will take him to the forest of Naclos, home of the druids and a place where he learns about the necessity of Balance.

Justen is one of the few characters that seems to be reasonably self-aware in the Recluce series. He goes about his tasks because they are necessary, but doesn't whine about their being his only choice, and he understands that his place in history is likely to be vilified or glossed over, and accepts it. Because of this, he's much easier to deal with than some of Modesitt's protagonists.* And if you're reading them in published order, you already know a few things about Justen that are not in this book.

*Modesitt's protagonists are all male, and most of them complain about not understanding women. I suspect the author feels he is incapable of rendering a female protagonist believably, though he does well enough in cut-away scenes.

The Towers of the Sunset

The Towers of the Sunset (Recluce series, Book 2) L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Date: 15 August, 1993   —   $7.19   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Creslin is the eldest son of the Marshal of Westwind, the guard keep at the Roof of the World. However, in Westwind, as in all of the west of Candar, the Legend is believed to the point where men are decidedly second-class, and Creslin is to be betrothed as a consort while his younger sister will inherit his mother's title. However, his mother— despite the common wisdom that men are emotionally weak and need to be sheltered— has trained him well in the manner of the Westwind guard, so well that he escapes from his guard group and runs from his betrothal.

What makes this more interesting is that Creslin is apparently the result of a long-term plot to bring order and chaos back into balance, and like all such adjustments, he is going to change the world and bring death to thousands. He's been made part of a life-link to a white mage to help keep her in check— a tie he knows nothing about— and he can control the winds of the world. And he doesn't know how powerful he is, which gets him into trouble rather quickly, as the Guild of Fairhaven moves to destroy him.

This is the story of the founding of Recluce, the Black Isle, and it sets the stage for quite a number of the problems encountered in later books. And for the reputation of people who change the world and bring death and destruction in their wake.

The Chaos Balance

The Chaos Balance (Saga of Recluce) L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Date: 15 June, 1998   —   $7.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Nylan is a loyal sort, and one who wants to help the whole crew survive. Unfortunately, he is also male, and in the culture that Ryba, the ship's commander is setting up, there is no place for him. The fact that she sees visions of the future doesn't help the fact that she has become colder and more ruthless since arriving on Candar; the fact that she sees dire consequences for being lenient is of little comfort. Finally, Nylan has to come to terms with the fact that he has to leave.

He journeys with Ayrlyn, the former ship's communications officer, down to the lowlands, where, as is common in Modesitt's world, a simple quest for survival turns into a changed world. In Nylan's case, he ends up doing enough all by his lonesome to ensure that his name will be curse by followers of chaos for centuries to come. Along the way, he has a few bouts of "why?" but they're mostly endurable, as he is an honorable man.

Incidentally, one commenter on Amazon mentioned that Nylan is one of Modesitt's few "middle-aged" characters. Despite the cover art, which indeed shows him as a stocky forty or thereabouts, he is described as a wiry thirty-one or thirty-two who looks a decade younger than that. (And who can be mistaken for a woman in a culture where beards are the norm.) However, I do agree that his deliberations do carry the weight of maturity.

The Magic Engineer

The Magic Engineer (Recluce series, Book 3) L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Date: 15 July, 1995   —   $7.19   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Dorrin is obsessed. He wants to build machines, and machines are a disruption that Recluce will not tolerate, since machines use chaos. Dorrin is stubborn enough to insist on the use of order in machines, and eventually, he is sent off to train for exile. His exile will take him to Candar, where his charge is to not return to Recluce until he knows who he is— something that he can't lie about, seeing as he is a focus for order.

Dorrin's obsession gets a little tiresome, honestly, and his inability to see the obvious is a Modesitt trait. (One suspects that Modesitt himself has had someone point out "the obvious" to him more than once.) Some of the other characters are more appealing, and his plight is true enough, but his tunnel-vision is a bit much to take.

Fall of Angels

Fall of Angels (Saga of Recluce) L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Date: 15 July, 1997   —   $7.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Throughout the Recluce novels, references are made to the Legend, a myth in which angels fell to the Roof of the World, where they ruled with the lances of winter. This novel starts to explain the truth of that myth, following the crew of a ship as it is twisted out of one universe into the one of Recluce. The ship is of the United Faith Forces, which is apparently a theocracy of some sort, and the leaders, from the cold world of Sybra, refer to themselves— only half-jokingly— as "angels." They fell in the midst of a battle against the Rationalists, sometimes referred to as "demons," who use mirror towers to disrupt and destroy the flux that the angel ships use for transport.

As near as I can figure, this is a trade war, but you don't get very much information before a node in the flux dumps them above a habitable planet in a world where the power sources aren't working quite right. The shift worked a few odd changes as well— several of the ship commanders, and a few of the marines, experience changes in hair color (including to wrought silver and firey red), and, as it turns out, new abilities.

They abandon ship and set down in the one place cold enough for them to survive and work on getting together a habitation, but it doesn't take long before the locals come to attack the "demon women" on the heights. Pretty soon it becomes apparent that there are traces of a Rationalist colony as well as an extreme patriarchal system in place, something that doesn't sit well with the largely female crew. And as they try to survive one challenge after another, with the extraordinarily competent help of Nylan, the ship's engineer, they begin to set up a female-oriented warrior culture that will survive well into the time when the fall of angels is a myth.

Colors of Chaos

Colors of Chaos L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Date: 01 January, 1999   —   used only   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Cerryl is now a full mage, but his problems are getting bigger along with his duties. He's managed to hide how powerful he is (and the fact that his technique uses order, a big no-no in the halls of chaos), but he doesn't know what his goal as a mage should be. He's fallen in love with a healer, who uses order— a relationship that is dangerous for both of them. And the problems in Fairhaven and Candar are getting worse, and the war into northern Candar is bringing some surprising losses, mostly due to some exiles from Recluce with surprising skills.

This book dovetails with The Magic Engineer, but was written somewhat later. Honestly, I find Cerryl a more appealing character than Dorrin, though I can understand the reasoning of both. However, Cerryl does have a certain blind spot due to his acceptance of the clean and orderly nature of Fairhaven: he thinks that because Fairhaven is a better place to live than the semifilth of most cities, that people are dumb for not accepting its rules and laws. He's not exactly one for the abstractions.

He does do one thing that sets him apart from most of Modesitt's protagonists. When the mental question "What choice do I have?" comes up, he recognizes its falsity. He understands that he always has a choice, but that certain choices— such as a nicer standard of living— bring certain sacrifices, and have a tendency to dictate other actions. Far too many of Modesitt's underaged protagonists don't have the wisdom to realize that, and sometimes the distress of being trapped becomes a little over the top.

The progression in this novel is fairly typical of Modesitt, as Cerryl ends up in a position of power, and a lot of people die. But Cerryl, while understanding the tenuous nature of his position, looks to get what happiness he can, and in that he is clearer than most.

The White Order

The White Order (Saga of Recluce) L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Date: 15 April, 1999   —   $7.19   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Modesitt's Saga of Recluce is interesting in that there are several ways to read it. You can read it in the order it was written; you can read it in the chronological order of the books. Or you can start from the middle and work out. This is not a bad starting book, though it differs from most of the books in significant ways.

The Recluce books are all about the shifting of order (symbolized by black) and chaos (symbolized by white.) Both forces can be brought to bear by mage practicioners, and both are theoretically valueless, though practitioners of order soon find it difficult to be dishonest (including humble exaggerations) and wielders of chaos will often become more paranoid and dangerous with more use. Unlike most of the other books in the saga, The White Order (and its sequel The Colors of Chaos) follow a practitioner of chaos rather than of order.

Cerryl is a poor boy, adopted by his aunt and uncle in the west of Candar. His aunt keeps him away from mirrors, but he grows up otherwise normally, though he knows caution from the start, because his father wanted to be a mage, and the Guild of Fairhaven killed him.

When Cerryl gets older, he is apprenticed to a millworker, and he maneuvers the millworker's daughter into teaching him to read (and, incidentally, more polished grammar.) After his aunt and uncle are killed, Cerryl gets a chance to move up in the world by going to Fairhaven, a move that eventually wins him a place in the Wizards' Guild. Where somebody— or possibly several somebodies— wants to see him killed.

Cerryl knows the danger is there, but he has to learn. In common with many of Modesitt's protagonists, what starts as a simple attempt to survive leads into increasing danger and power; most of the actions seem logical at the time, but the cumulative effect is astonishing. At the end of the novel, Cerryl survives by the skin of his teeth, but you know that the worst is yet to come.

Murder In Mesopotamia

Murder in Mesopotamia (Hercule Poirot Mysteries (Paperback)) Agatha Christie Date: 1935   —   $5.39   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Mystery

This novel, told through the eyes of a nurse, is a good introduction to the style of mystery popular in the 1930s. The reader is given hints and facts and can possibly figure out the murder before the characters in the novel do. In this case, the beloved wife of an archæologist is murdered, and Hercule Poirot attempts to discover who could have entered the enclosed courtyard in the time the murder was committed without being seen by the numerous witnesses. Complicating the matter is the fact that her first husband, a German spy, might not have died in a train wreck after all; she has been receiving threatening letters— or did she forge them herself?

The nurse, far from being impartial, injects her thoughts and feelings into the mix, and it is evidect that she is missing some essential part of the lady's personality. Because, as Poirot states, the victim is the key to solving this murder.

The Eye of Night

The Eye of Night Pauline J. Alama Date: 25 June, 2002   —   $5.39   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

I received this as a promo at the 2002 San Jose WorldCon, and was pleasantly surprised by its quality. (The prior free book I received from a WorldCon was very blah, despite its well-known authors.) Alama has created a world that is completely new, and a quest that is utterly fascinating (yet low-profile.)

Jereth is an ex-priest whose lack of direction in life is challenged by the appearance of a hideously scarred and deformed woman, with her charge of a beautiful idiot. Jereth's former order endowed him with the power of recognizing true names, and in this world where names are important (though not often hidden), he is able to see more— in this case, that he will follow this woman Hwyn and she will bring meaning to his life.

Her quest is to set free the Eye of Night, the egg of the Sky-Raven. Hwyn does not know what it will hatch— it could hatch the end of the world— and yet she knows what she must do. Jereth assists her in her trek to the north, where it must be born, through the lands of the Troubles, where the signs of impending doom are high. Along the way they encounter ghosts, false piety, summerlands in the midst of winter, and good people at the end of the journey, but the primary story is that of finding something worthwhile in the dross of a life, and of faith in other people.

As far as I know, this is the only book by this author. I look forward to a second.

Crystal Line

Crystal Line Anne McCaffrey Date: 22 March, 1993   —   $6.29   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

The hazard of crystal singing is that youur memory deteriorates over time. Killashandra is well into that segment of her life and the result is a fairly disjointed story that doesn't flow right. McCaffrey gives us a few events and they're supposed to have taken ten years? It doesn't quite match up, especially since she doesn't gloss over it in such a way that we could accept time passing (with a damaged memory.) Instead, we get "this happened, then this, then ten years had passed."

Of course, McCaffrey has always needed a better copy editor. Often she will transpose names or change spellings inadvertently (Trundimoux to Trundomoux, or Carigana to Carrigana), and in this case, she does some math so badly that no matter how I work it, I just can't get it to match the information in the previous novels. And yes, picky though it is, it does affect my enjoyment of the work.

This is the last of the three, and a decent recounting of certain events, but since we are seeing it through the perspective of a damaged memory, it feels very disjointed.

Killashandra

Killashandra Anne McCaffrey Date: 12 November, 1986   —   $6.75   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

This is by far my favorite of the three Crystal Singer novels. Killashandra is sent to the planet of Optheria, ostensibly to repair a fractured crystal organ, but with a secondary mission of finding out if the restriction of Optherians to their planet of origin is a popularly accepted measure. Once she is there, she is assaulted, kidnapped, and left on a tropical island. She manages to make her way to a populated island, where she manages to snag her attacker, who doesn't even recognize her.

With a typical skewing over into romance, McCaffrey spins a tale that would do any spy thriller proud. Moreover, Killa is thoroughly likeable in this book, more so than in the first where she is definitely abrasive.