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52 in 2011
Jan. 8th, 2011 10:56 am1. House Name by Michelle West
This book is part of Michelle West's continuing series "House War," a fantasy series, focusing on the characters of the street urchin Jewel and her "den" of urchins, who eventually rise to be part of one of the Great Houses of the Empire. The main problem for me is that this book goes back over the events of West's previous and far superior book, Hunter's Death. If she were consistently telling the story from a different character's perspective, I wouldn't mind. But it's often a direct (and badly edited) cut and paste from Hunter's Death.
I started reading the "House War" series because West devoted a huge amount of time in her "Sun Sword" series (set in the same world) to Jewel, her den, and the political machinations of House Terafin. Then, abruptly, she dropped that entire plot thread in the last book of the Sun Sword series. I invested an awful lot of time in slogging through a plot that did not much amuse me. Now the anal-retentive completist in me wants to know what the hell happened.
Jewel is one of those characters that is loved by the author, but not so much loved by me. I no longer actively dislike her, but she doesn't hold my interest much. Don't get me wrong: she's not a "Mary Sue"-type perfect character. She has her flaws, most notably a stubborn inability to listen or learn from her experiences. Perhaps it's West's insistency on shoving her into every event of significance. Perhaps it's simply that Jewel is not nearly as compelling as other characters West has created. On the other hand, her den used to annoy me highly, but they are growing on me as they become characters rather than props for Jewel's story.
I love West as a writer, and I like this world she's built over many many long volumes (2 Hunter books, 6 Sun Sword books, and now 3 House War books and she isn't done yet). But I am very disappointed in the House War series generally and this book in particular. My suggestion: read Hunter's Death. Wait for paperback on this doorstopper unless you adore Jewel as much as the author. It is my great hope that, in the next book, West finally gives us some closure on the plot thread she left hanging in the Sun Sword series and we can move on to bigger things.
2. Daughter of Empire by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts
3. Servant of Empire by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts
4. Mistress of Empire by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts
I never read Feist's Riftwar books. I think I started Magician in my teens and found it uninteresting. I picked up this series because I was bored, it seemed interesting enough, and it was on sale used. I'm still working on finishing Mistress of Empire, but on the whole, these books are a good enough read to keep me out of trouble.
It's the story of Mara, Ruling Lady of the Acoma family, as she navigates and masters the complex politics of a fictional fantasy Kingdom that throws together elements of Japanese, Aztec and Chinese culture into one big weird stew. In one of my highly idiosyncratic pet peeves, the naming conventions are all over the map. One family is the Xacatecas, another family is the Minwanabi. Mara is a cold, ruthless bitch, and these are her good qualities. I wish the authors had given us an inkling of how she'd developed these traits rather than have her emerge in full Magnificent Bitchery from a supposed vocation to a convent at the start of the first book.
In Servant, the authors try to humanize Mara a little by having her fall in love with a "barbarian" slave from across the Rift in Feist's pseudo-European land of Midkemia. I found her love interest to be annoying and not nearly the paragon of good qualities the other characters made him out to be. His willingness to be Mara's de facto concubine while his friends and countrymen continued to labor in Mara's fields as slaves (and his continually discouraging them to plot an escape) just bugged me. There is occasional passing reference to his attempts to get better treatment for his countrymen, but I never bought the assertion that his love for Mara could be so overwhelming that it blinded him to his (and his friends') slavery.
Servant concludes with a little too much deus ex machina for my taste, but I won't give away the ending except to say that Mara wins (which one naturally assumes, there being a third book).
So far I am liking Mistress better than Servant, since it opens with Mara's making two spectacular miscalculations. She's currently in quite a mess of her own making and that's always more interesting to read about than how perfect and awesome a character is.
If you like political intrigue, these books are worth the read. Feist and Wurts have built an complex and flawed culture that is just alien enough.
This book is part of Michelle West's continuing series "House War," a fantasy series, focusing on the characters of the street urchin Jewel and her "den" of urchins, who eventually rise to be part of one of the Great Houses of the Empire. The main problem for me is that this book goes back over the events of West's previous and far superior book, Hunter's Death. If she were consistently telling the story from a different character's perspective, I wouldn't mind. But it's often a direct (and badly edited) cut and paste from Hunter's Death.
I started reading the "House War" series because West devoted a huge amount of time in her "Sun Sword" series (set in the same world) to Jewel, her den, and the political machinations of House Terafin. Then, abruptly, she dropped that entire plot thread in the last book of the Sun Sword series. I invested an awful lot of time in slogging through a plot that did not much amuse me. Now the anal-retentive completist in me wants to know what the hell happened.
Jewel is one of those characters that is loved by the author, but not so much loved by me. I no longer actively dislike her, but she doesn't hold my interest much. Don't get me wrong: she's not a "Mary Sue"-type perfect character. She has her flaws, most notably a stubborn inability to listen or learn from her experiences. Perhaps it's West's insistency on shoving her into every event of significance. Perhaps it's simply that Jewel is not nearly as compelling as other characters West has created. On the other hand, her den used to annoy me highly, but they are growing on me as they become characters rather than props for Jewel's story.
I love West as a writer, and I like this world she's built over many many long volumes (2 Hunter books, 6 Sun Sword books, and now 3 House War books and she isn't done yet). But I am very disappointed in the House War series generally and this book in particular. My suggestion: read Hunter's Death. Wait for paperback on this doorstopper unless you adore Jewel as much as the author. It is my great hope that, in the next book, West finally gives us some closure on the plot thread she left hanging in the Sun Sword series and we can move on to bigger things.
2. Daughter of Empire by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts
3. Servant of Empire by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts
4. Mistress of Empire by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts
I never read Feist's Riftwar books. I think I started Magician in my teens and found it uninteresting. I picked up this series because I was bored, it seemed interesting enough, and it was on sale used. I'm still working on finishing Mistress of Empire, but on the whole, these books are a good enough read to keep me out of trouble.
It's the story of Mara, Ruling Lady of the Acoma family, as she navigates and masters the complex politics of a fictional fantasy Kingdom that throws together elements of Japanese, Aztec and Chinese culture into one big weird stew. In one of my highly idiosyncratic pet peeves, the naming conventions are all over the map. One family is the Xacatecas, another family is the Minwanabi. Mara is a cold, ruthless bitch, and these are her good qualities. I wish the authors had given us an inkling of how she'd developed these traits rather than have her emerge in full Magnificent Bitchery from a supposed vocation to a convent at the start of the first book.
In Servant, the authors try to humanize Mara a little by having her fall in love with a "barbarian" slave from across the Rift in Feist's pseudo-European land of Midkemia. I found her love interest to be annoying and not nearly the paragon of good qualities the other characters made him out to be. His willingness to be Mara's de facto concubine while his friends and countrymen continued to labor in Mara's fields as slaves (and his continually discouraging them to plot an escape) just bugged me. There is occasional passing reference to his attempts to get better treatment for his countrymen, but I never bought the assertion that his love for Mara could be so overwhelming that it blinded him to his (and his friends') slavery.
Servant concludes with a little too much deus ex machina for my taste, but I won't give away the ending except to say that Mara wins (which one naturally assumes, there being a third book).
So far I am liking Mistress better than Servant, since it opens with Mara's making two spectacular miscalculations. She's currently in quite a mess of her own making and that's always more interesting to read about than how perfect and awesome a character is.
If you like political intrigue, these books are worth the read. Feist and Wurts have built an complex and flawed culture that is just alien enough.
