52+ in 2009

[lumineaux]

Can't sleep due to coughing and sniffling, so another update

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

What a quirky, fun book!  I can't even begin to recap it properly: there's this alternate Earth where literature is taken very very seriously and there's a whole unit of police dealing with crimes against it and a bad guy named Acheron Hades and a detective named Thursday Next and time travel and . . .  But that description doesn't begin to do the story justice.  The humor is very British and requires a rough working knowledge of the classics of British literature (such as, oh, Jane Eyre).  I think the Pratchett and Adams fans would highly appreciate this one.  There are sequels, apparently.  I plan to seek them out.
 

Archangel by Sharon Shinn

A re-read, and another difficult story to recap/review in only a paragraph or so.  Science fiction, romance and a heavy dose of music.  In the world of Samaria, angels are living creatures who use music to pray to Jovah, their god, for intervention in human affairs.  There's about to be a change-over in power from the Archangel Raphael to a new leader, Gabriel.  Gabriel also has to find and find a way to get along with his chosen bride.  This all sounds far more dull than it actually is.  And the book has the best opening sentence not written by Barbara Hambly.
I have read the two immediate sequels to Archangel, but I don't enjoy them enough to go back and re-read them.
 

Angelica by Sharon Shinn

 A story of Samaria's past, expanding on two items mentioned only brief in Archangel.  This was another re-read for me.  I found the story to be far more plodding than I'd remembered it.  It was an adequate read for a fan of the world, but not a book I'd recommend independently.
 

The Witches of Wenshar by Barbara Hambly

Comfort food reading for me, while I'm sick.  Strongly drawn characters, a fully developed culture, and a mystery at the heart of the plot -- in short, a classic Hambly fantasy novel. 
My paperback edition does have some of the worst cover art ever to grace a mid-80s fantasy novel, done by the same guy currently doing all of the Robert Jordan covers.   How does this guy keep finding work when he clearly lacks an understanding of basic anatomy?  The cover here is a perfect example of how legs don't work.  Although he and Jordan do deserve each other. 

 

Comments

[janeelliot.livejournal.com]

I'm re-reading The Eyre Affair right now. I have the first two sequels, but I don't have all 5. My favorite part is the clever use of language, and alternate history.

Alexandre recommended them to me after finding out I was a big fan of Jane Eyre (hence the LJ name, Jane Elliot).

[lanome.livejournal.com]

The Eyre Affair

I'll have to give that one a try; it sounds like it'd be right up my alley.

[lissa510.livejournal.com]

Ohh, both the Eyre Affair and Sharron Shin's books are quite good. Happy reading!

[delabarre.livejournal.com]

I long ago resigned myself to the sad fact that Darrell K. Sweet's atrocious fantasy art was going to plague the covers of my books all my life.

[alethea-eastrid.livejournal.com]

I am deeply fond of the Eyre Affair, although I'm less sold on the trail of sequels...It's a combination of funny-once and the fact that Fforde can't structure a plot to save his soul...