I have been meaning to read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon for many years, but it is daunting to start such a long series and I kept putting it off. My mother has read the whole thing (more than once) and I think she’s going to disown me if I don’t read it, so that was the final impetus for starting it. The first book is simply titled Outlander (paid links). I listened to the audiobook edition, narrated by Davina Porter.
The series has also inspired a show, and I’ve actually watched part of the first season. So going into this first book, I already had an idea of how the opening would go. Read on to see what I thought of the whole book.
I listened to the audiobook edition.
Here is the blurb:
The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord…1743.
Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
I was surprised at how closely the beginning of the book followed what I already knew from the show. Of course, there are more details in the book, and this is certainly not a short novel. My own knowledge of English and Scottish history isn’t great at all, but I felt like I could follow along with the politics and intrigues. The author gives just enough historical knowledge to provide context for the story without becoming overwhelming.
The interplay between Jaime and Claire was interesting–the cultural differences between their two times cause a good amount of conflict. Claire is opinionated and headstrong while Jaime is a product of his time and tries to treat Claire accordingly. Their romance was well done though, moving from an arranged marriage to a place of mutual respect and then love. I’m curious to see how the author will keep their relationship fresh with at least nine more books left to go.
The narrator for the audiobook does a great job–both with the accents and with giving each character a distinctive voice.
My only criticism is that I felt that the ending of their time in Scotland was unsatisfying. Without giving too many specifics away, I wish that the final events of Jaime’s escape didn’t happen off-screen, only to have Claire hear about what happened later, particularly because I thought that it was weird for cows to be used in such a way.
I’m going to continue on with the series and am hoping to get through one book per month. Look for my review of book 2, Dragonfly in Amber, in March (paid link)!
Are you a fan of the Outlander books or the show? How far along in the books should I be before I start the show again? Let me know in the comments (above).
I’m going to spend at least one of my posts each week catching up on my backlog of book reviews for things I read last year. This is one of those posts.
Medusa’s Web is the first book by Tim Powers that I’ve read. I came across this author when I heard him speak as a guest-of-honor at a local science fiction convention several years ago (paid links). This was also a selection for one of my book clubs. I listened to the audiobook edition of this, narrated by Chris Sorenson. Read on below to see what I thought.
I listened to the audiobook edition of this book.
Here is the blurb:
In the wake of their Aunt Amity’s suicide, Scott and Madeline Madden are summoned to Caveat, the eerie, decaying mansion in the Hollywood hills in which they were raised. But their decadent and reclusive cousins, the malicious wheelchair-bound Claimayne and his sister, Ariel, do not welcome Scott and Madeline’s return to the childhood home they once shared.
While Scott desperately wants to go back to their shabby South-of-Sunset lives, he cannot pry his sister away from this haunted “House of Usher in the Hollywood Hills” that is a conduit for the supernatural. Decorated by bits salvaged from old hotels and movie sets, Caveat hides a dark family secret that stretches back to the golden days of Rudolph Valentino and the silent film stars.
A collection of hypnotic eight-limbed abstract images inked on paper allows the Maddens to briefly fragment and flatten time—to transport themselves into the past and future in visions that are both puzzling and terrifying. Though their cousins know little about these ancient “spiders” which provoke unpredictable temporal dislocations, Ariel and Claimayne have been using for years—an addiction that has brought Claimayne to the brink of selfish destruction.
As Madeline falls more completely under Caveat’s spell, Scott discovers that to protect her, he must use the perilous spiders himself. But will he unravel the mystery of the Madden family’s past and finally free them. . . or be pulled deeper into their deadly web?
This is a novel that I would categorize as horror or gothic fiction, and this isn’t a genre I typically enjoy. However, being part of a book club pushes me out of my comfort zone and gets me to read novels that I wouldn’t otherwise consider. However, this book ended up being a disappointment to me.
I didn’t like any of the characters in this story. Scott and his sister didn’t do anything terrible, but I never cared about what happened to them. The “spider” images functioned like a hallucinogenic drug but also let the user’s awareness travel into someone else’s body, I think. This was confusing and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who and when everything occurred.
This book does use a time travel aspect and that was interesting to me. However, it touched on film history and Hollywood references that I didn’t understand, so I suspect that I missed some of the author’s intent. In the end, I probably wasn’t the right audience for this book, but I’d consider reading something else (non-horror) by this author.
Have you read anything by Tim Powers? What other books by him would you recommend? Let me know in the comments (above).
This book was a step outside my typical genre reads, but I had heard so much about Yellowface by R.F. Kuang that I needed to pick it up. I loved the author’s recent alternate history fantasy novel, Babel, and you can read my review of that here (paid links).
I read a physical copy of this book.
Here is the blurb:
Athena Liu is a literary darling and June Hayward is literally nobody.
White lies When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song.
Dark humour But as evidence threatens June’s stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.
Deadly consequences… What happens next is entirely everyone else’s fault.
With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.
This blurb only explains the set up of this novel. It is about the publishing industry, life as a struggling author, racism, cancel culture, and whose voices should tell which stories. This book was like watching a train wreck. I couldn’t pull myself away and I read it in three days.
June Hayward is a terrible person, but she is eminently sympathetic in this book. She steals the first draft manuscript of her dead friend, revises it, and brings it to her publisher as her own work. Her bad decisions all spiral out of this initial mistake. Yet this book makes you deeply understand why June made those choices.
This book also provides a look at the whims of the publishing industry and the process of writing, revising, marketing, and releasing a book from the author’s perspective. What makes a bestseller and why do some authors get more attention than others, and how do the race and background of the author play into this? Like this author’s earlier book, Babel, this novel is giving me a lot to think about, even after reading it. This is one of those books you should rush to read right now.
Oddly, I find myself more engaged with my owner writing as a side effect of reading this book and I’m not really sure why. In any case, I’m already certain this will be one of the best books I read in 2024. It may also be that rare book that I re-read.
Have you read Yellowface or any of R.F. Kuang’s other work? Let me know in the comments (above).
Titan by John Varley is a book that I read for a recent book club meeting. I had never read anything by this author until now. This is the first book in the Gaea trilogy. Read on to see what I thought (paid links).
I read an e-book edition of this.
I had a hard time finding a blurb for this one, but eventually located two short versions:
The first one: When Cirrocco Jones, captain of the spaceship Ringmaster, and her crew are captured by Gaea, a planet-sized creature that orbits around Saturn, they find themselves inside a bizarre world inhabited by centaurs, harpies, and constantly shifting environments.
And a second one: It begins with humankind’s exploration of a massive satellite orbiting Saturn. It culminates in a shocking discovery: the satellite is a giant alien being. Her name is Gaea. Her awesome interior is mind-boggling—because it is a mind. A mind that calls out to explorers, transforming all who enter.
Those blurbs don’t really explain much of what this book is about. In many ways, it reminded me of Ringworld by Larry Niven (which I didn’t like) (paid links). Like that book, the story in Titan follows a group of explorers as they travel across a toroid-shaped artificial world. In Titan, this party is all human, but they are scattered when they enter Gaea and have to search for each other while exploring the place.
I did like the characters in this book (definitely better than the ones in Ringworld) and was pleasantly surprised to find that the protagonist was a (mostly) well-drawn female character written by a male author in the 1970s. Not that there weren’t some missteps, but overall Cirrocco Jones was a daring, gutsy, and believable heroine.
The opening chapter with the emphasis on relating how all of the astronauts on the Ringmaster had all had sex with each other over the course of their journey to Saturn was a strange way to start the story, and I think this could have been worked in better in another way. The relationships were important to the story, but I didn’t need it spelled out up front.
This is the first book in a series, but did reach a satisfying conclusion and could be read as a stand-alone tale. The other books finish out a trilogy and are Wizard and Demon (paid links). I’m undecided about whether I’ll read them.
Have you read Titan or any other novels by John Varley? Which would you recommend? Let me know in the comments (above).
All These Bodies by Kendare Blake is a stand-alone novel that I read in 2023 (paid links). This is the first novel that I’ve read by this author. I listened to the audiobook edition, narrated by Matt Godfrey. Read on below to see what I thought.
I listened to the audiobook edition.
Here is the blurb:
Sixteen bloodless bodies. Two teenagers. One impossible explanation.
Summer 1958—a string of murders plagues the Midwest. The victims are found in their cars and in their homes—even in their beds—their bodies drained, but with no blood anywhere.
September 19- the Carlson family is slaughtered in their Minnesota farmhouse, and the case gets its first lead: 15-year-old Marie Catherine Hale is found at the scene. She is covered in blood from head to toe, and at first she’s mistaken for a survivor. But not a drop of the blood is hers.
Michael Jensen, son of the local sheriff, yearns to become a journalist and escape his small-town. He never imagined that the biggest story in the country would fall into his lap, or that he would be pulled into the investigation, when Marie decides that he is the only one she will confess to.
As Marie recounts her version of the story, it falls to Michael to find the truth: What really happened the night that the Carlsons were killed? And how did one girl wind up in the middle of all these bodies?
This isn’t the type of book I’d normally pick up, since I don’t read much horror, but it was a selection for one of my book clubs. I’m always willing to give something new a chance and found All These Bodies to be a captivating story that fit somewhere between a psychological thriller and vampire story.
One of the most compelling aspects of this book was the voice of the narrator, Michael. As a teenager and aspiring journalist, he brought the perfect mixture of innocence and passion to his investigation of the case.
This book also straddled the boundary between the speculative and the mundane. While the murder scene is strange, nothing about it requires a fantastical explanation at the outset of the story. Yet the narrative hints at a sinister presence that might be a vampire. I would have like to find more of a resolution to the story in that respect, but this was the story of Marie Catherine Hale and not what else might have occurred.
Despite this being a little off genre for my usual taste, I did enjoy the book. I’d consider picking up one of this author’s other books.
Have you read anything by Kendare Blake? Which book is your favorite? Let me know in the comments (above).
I picked up the latest novel by John Scalzi for an upcoming book club discussion. Starter Villain is a stand-alone novel, and honestly, I was sold on this one by the cat on the cover (paid link). Read on to see what I thought of the story.
I read a physical copy of this book.
Here is the blurb:
Inheriting your uncle’s supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who’s running the place.
Charlie’s life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.
Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.
But becoming a supervillain isn’t all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they’re coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.
It’s up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.
In a dog-eat-dog world…be a cat.
I have only read a couple of other books by John Scalzi prior to this (Old Man’s War and Redshirts, neither of which I reviewed here), and I have followed his blog. His writing style is generally light and humorous in the works I’ve read, and this novel follows that pattern.
Starter Villain was a lot of fun and was a quick and easy novel to read. The story is exactly as described in the blurb above and follows Charlie as he fumbles his way through his newfound responsibilities. The only disagreement that I had with the description in the blurb was that his henchperson didn’t terrify me at all, but she was a terribly competent woman which might be frightening to some people.
The intelligent spy cats were great and they gave plenty of opportunities for the author to insert some humor. Given the dangerous business that Charlie has entered, the humor throughout the story is essential to making this book enjoyable.
When I first read the blurb I had wondered how innocent Charlie was going to manage this transition into evil. However, the villainy that ensues pits him against the competing supervillains rather than against civilians. Much of their activity involves making threats and using their power to keep the others from calling their bluff. This keeps Charlie from doing anything truly evil in the book, which helped to keep him a likeable character.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and will continue to pick up John Scalzi’s novels when I have a chance. Have you read any of this other books? Which one is your favorite? Let me know in the comments (above).
Ever the Night Road by Michael Breen is an indie fantasy novel that was given to me as a gift by a friend of the author who thought I might like it. This is the first book in a duology (paid links).
I read this in a paperback edition.
Here is the blurb:
This is a fantasy.
Of a City of water and glass. Of drowned things and lost memories lying just below its surface. Of concrete slums, and a decaying Oracle Tower. And a deep underground.
It is also a fantasy of orphan children. Like Dagny Losh. She is an escape artist. Not a chosen profession but a survival tactic, thrust upon her at a young age to break free from poverty and violence, fever and flood. While others perished, Dagny emerged into a privileged world of polished brass gates and opportunity. But she is an imposter, a misfit in fine clothes. Perfumed with dirty fingernails.
Now, at seventeen, Dagny remains rudderless and lonely. Longing for a connection to a changing world. What she finds is a fragment of her old life, before the river washed everything away. A fragment once thought forever lost. And it will take all she has to protect it.
Ever the Night Road is a coming-of-age adventure story. Dagny and an array of companions undertake a high-stakes quest guided by the stars and ancient myth, encountering danger from both criminal and supernatural forces. Along the way, Dagny will discover the bonds of true friendship and the depths of her own bravery in a brutal and enchanting world.
This was a wonderfully inventive story set in a strange and fanciful world. I love when the current setting is built upon the remains of ancient structures and the mystery of those lost ages permeates the story. Dagny inhabits this world, and our first introduction of it follows her on a quest to rescue a lost boy from a spooky tower. She succeeds in this mission, echoing her dead brother’s life as an adventurer before a fever took him.
The plot wanders and I was never quite sure what the main story was supposed to be. However, Dagny is quickly swept up in the lives of a group of new friends and finds her place among them. She encounters new intrigues and eventually falls into a quest that takes her once again into those ruins of a forgotten time.
There is a powerful sense of magic in Ever the Night Road, yet the characters don’t name it as such or make active use of it. A boy has an unusual knack for a board game. Dagny escaped her home just before a devastating flood. Children are sinister specters and fireflies lead the way toward… something.
The only thing that kept this book from being a 5-star read for me was that I felt that the ending was weak. I didn’t realize this was the first book of two, so I think I had expected a more definitive conclusion. However, it looks like Jud, the second book in the series, was just released (paid link). I’m picking that up to read in the next few months.
Have you read any books where the current world exists on the remains of something ancient? Let me know in the comments (above).
Not Like Us is a stand-alond science fiction novel by Doc Honour, an author who I know through an online critique group (paid link). While I wasn’t one of the participants who reviewed an earlier version of this book, we have given mutual feedback on each other’s shorter works. It is the first book in the Empathic Humanity series, but this first book wraps up a single story.
I read this as an e-book.
Here is the blurb:
How do you escape from total socialism? Jake Palatin is forced to develop an antimatter bomb on the planet Verdant, where global war using his technology is terrifyingly close. Zofia, a woman with a secret, tempts him to resist. She also has a solution, a new technology to save humanity.
Fleeing in desperation, they confront a powerful foe who holds everything in totalitarian control. They must learn to trust each other while facing oppressive police, devious leaders, and a war that could break out at any instant. Danger looms at every step, while love threatens to derail all their plans.
Success is crucial. One mistake, and Verdant will go the way of a dozen other worlds, including old dead to everything.
Humanity destroys every world it touches, because those other people are “Not Like Us.” Jake and Zofia discover the key.
It took me a little while to get into this book, but that was mostly because I tend to read too many books at once. After I finished some of my other commitments, I was able to dedicate more attention to this novel. The story is mainly told through Jake’s point-of-view, but we do get to see the world through the perspective of a few other characters.
The set up is compelling–Jake’s attraction to Zofia gives her an opportunity to get him to question why the society established in Solity functions as it does. Once he discovers these problems with the current system, his thoughts spiral into rebellion and soon he is all in, leading to a thrilling sequence of events.
This book kept me engaged and I particularly liked how Jake’s recent work project becomes a direct conflict to his new goals. As an engineer, he had never given serious thought to the goals of the Solity government, but simply does his job. When tasked with the creation of an anti-matter bomb and then taught to think about the consequences of his government’s project, he realizes that he cannot follow through with this work.
While the ending doesn’t resolve the larger conflict between the nations of the planet Verdant, it does wrap up the immediate conflict and the story for these characters, making this a reasonable read as a stand-alone novel. I believe that Doc Honour is at work on the next book, and I’m planning to read that when it is done.
Have you read any books with a similar theme? Let me know in the comments (above).
I want to take a break from my reviews of Leigh Bardugo’s books to highlight a few recent stand-alone reads that I just finished. The first one is That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming (paid link). I first heard of this author when she was a guest at an online event for writers sponsored by Orbit Books, but I hadn’t read anything of hers prior to this. This book is the first in a series called Mead Mishaps, but it looks like each is a separate story (paid link). I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I read the e-book edition of this.
Here is the blurb:
All I wanted to do was live my life in peace. Maybe get a cat, expand my spice farm. Really anything that doesn’t involve going on a quest where an orc might rip my face off. But they say the Goddess has favourites. If so, I’m clearly not one of them.
After saving the demon Fallon in a wine-drunk stupor, all he wanted to do was kill an evil witch enslaving his people.
I mean, I get it, don’t get me wrong. But he’s dragging me along for the ride, and I’m kind of peeved about it. On the bright side, he keeps burning off his shirt.
This was a light and fun novel that I read over just a couple of days. Cinnamon encounters a demon and accidentally discovers that the product of her spice farm (cinnamon, heh) frees him from a curse. Her world is turned upside down when the demon, Fallon, reveals that the Goddess worshipped by the humans of this land is actually a lich who has tricked everyone into serving her.
The story is all told through Cinnamon’s point-of-view. Her voice is energetic and opinionated, and her reactions to her situation were entertaining. Fallon is the dangerous bad-boy demon, but despite being a monster, he keeps his word about things. There weren’t many other characters of note in the story, although we do see a brief picture of Cinnamon’s family which helps to flesh out her motivations more fully.
While this is an obvious romance book, the non-romance part of the plot follows a classic quest format and creates a vehicle for the characters to interact. Cinnamon refuses to acknowledge her attraction for Fallon for a while, but when she gives in to it, the sex scenes are creative and explicit. The author does a good job of building the tension of the plot at the same time that the romance escalates, so that the ending of the book was satisfying in both respects.
I might read more of this series as it was a quick and easy book to get through — perfect to read on a cold and quiet weekend.
Have you read anything by Kimberly Lemming? Let me know in the comments (above).
Rule of Wolves is the second book in the King of Scars duology by Leigh Bardugo, and is currently the last book in her Grishaverse series (paid links). While it leaves the potential for additional stories, it also wraps up all of the vital plot threads and character arcs. You can read my reviews of her other books in this world below:
The Demon King. As Fjerda’s massive army prepares to invade, Nikolai Lantsov will summon every bit of his ingenuity and charm—and even the monster within—to win this fight. But a dark threat looms that cannot be defeated by a young king’s gift for the impossible.
The Stormwitch. Zoya Nazyalensky has lost too much to war. She saw her mentor die and her worst enemy resurrected, and she refuses to bury another friend. Now duty demands she embrace her powers to become the weapon her country needs. No matter the cost.
The Queen of Mourning. Deep undercover, Nina Zenik risks discovery and death as she wages war on Fjerda from inside its capital. But her desire for revenge may cost her country its chance at freedom and Nina the chance to heal her grieving heart.
King. General. Spy. Together they must find a way to forge a future in the darkness. Or watch a nation fall.
That blurb is a great summary of the set up and stakes in this final book. While Nikolai and Zoya’s story has been woven together for most of this series, this book brings Nina’s story into focus with theirs as Fjerda lays siege to Ravka.
The short version of my review is that I loved this book and could not listen to it fast enough! My initial hesitation to embrace Zoya as a likeable character has been obliterated as she becomes the hero of Ravka. Her relationship with Nikolai keeps slowly burning along as they both try to deny it. And Nina, oh Nina! After all the heartache she has suffered, it was wonderfully hard to read her final chapters.
The narrator of the audiobook, Lauren Fortgang, does an amazing job and brings each character to life with her voice. For its full impact, this isn’t a book you can read without starting with the earlier ones in the series. I think that it could work as the final book in the Grishaverse, but Rule of Wolves does leave some political rivalries unresolved and places an antagonist in a magical limbo where he may still be able to influence future story lines. Overall, this was one of my favorite books that I read in 2023.
Have you read any of Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse books? Let me know in the comments (above).
Selection Error – a flash fiction story podcast by Utopia Science Fiction Magazine in December 2022