The Engine’s Child
January 5, 2009 by Jasmine Greene
Filed under Books
Enter a land rife with mysteries and of a class division so obvious that it becomes second-nature to most of the people living on this small piece of land. Holly Phillips paints a picture of a world where the almost the entire world is covered with water and a battle between two very different political sides is ready to erupt. One side, the Society of the Door, believes in a more mythical approach and has found a way to open a door to the Rasnan (a mythical perfect world of mythology). Another faction, headed by the Lady Vashmarna, wants to solve this overpopulation of the small piece of land by creating a ship and engine that harnesses the essence of the world. In between all of this is Moth, a young woman who has broken her priestly vows and has become pregnant with her lover’s child. Tensions between the lower class and upper class are becoming heated as a plague also washes over the entire land.
While the story remains interesting throughout the book, it becomes a bit too difficult to follow at times and it seems like there is way too much going on. This book probably could’ve been spread over two books or could even have been extended a little longer to explain why the events transpired as they did. We know that from the beginning there is tension between the upper and lower class (typical stuff really), but the beginning of the civil war at the end really had be confused as to why it happened at all. Was it the plague, was it the fact that Lady Vashmarna was imprisoned, or just the fact that aras Baradam set his troops loose on the crowd and they turned against it. Also, how the heck do the priests and most of these “tidal” people have weapons enough to fight against an armed and well trained army? I think if there had been more unrest towards the beginning of the book (rather than just concentrating on the construction of the ship and mythology of manifestations, shadow gods, and Rasnan) then the fighting could have been more believable. Instead, the war seems like something that just occurred and somehow everyone was armed.
One of the things I disliked most were the main characters. Maybe the author knew that she was making Moth extremely unagreeable or maybe she was attempting to make Moth a strong individual, either way the main character came off extremely unlikeable. Throughout the entire story all you see her do is lie to the people that are trying to help her build the engine and then become upset at her when they call her bluff. She admits no wrong-doing and is disgusted at Lady Vashmarna’s actions and secrecy when she is doing exactly the same thing. Her double standard, while very human, is extremely frustrating since you cannot connect to her at all, not to mention the fact that she’s a complete liar. She feigns ignorance until after people are hurt and then explains that she knew everything all along. Even her interaction with Aramis, her lover, is extremely disappointing. Not only does she answer all of his questions flippantly she also becomes very angry when he calls her out on one of her lies. In the end, Aramis is the one who confesses all his wrongdoings while Moth (who gets extreme satisfaction out of this) never has to answer for her actions. Even Aramis, the good one, is very frustrating because he rarely stands up to Moth. Surely he can defend himself better than just agreeing with Moth’s assessment. All the other characters don’t really have any depth to them and none of them change at all throughout the story. They’re all extremely static and I eventually lost any interest or connection with how they interacted with one another.
Though the general idea is interesting, the execution and narrative are very frustrating. I did not like one character in the story and I had no interest in their relationship with one another. The story itself, while told fairly well, had unnecessary events and towards the end became a bit too complex to really follow. Still, it was entertaining enough if you just want something to read quickly.
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Bloody Murder
December 21, 2008 by Melissa Bradley
Filed under Books
Event planner, Tali Cates, is up to her neck in murder and the paranormal once more in this latest from Carol Shenold. This time Tali is running a local beauty pageant. Amidst cat fighting contestants and their overbearing mothers, two people are found dead. Both victims are completely drained of fluids and Tali suspects a supernatural killer, but Sheriff J.T. is highly skeptical as usual. He does his utmost to convince Tali to stay out of his way and while she would love to do nothing more, her visions keep forcing her to stick with the investigation.
As if murder weren’t enough, her daughter Cass may be dating a werewolf and her son is convinced that Tali’s new boyfriend, Aiden is a vampire. Logically, she knows he couldn’t be, but then again, this is Love, Texas, a town on the crossroads of good and evil.
This story manages to balance the elements of a supernatural tale, a mystery and a small town drama. While there are certain places where it strays into the realm of cliché, overall it is a witty, engaging read. The characters are warm, eccentric and hugely entertaining. The mystery is intriguing and keeps the reader guessing as it unfolds. I enjoyed this story very much as well as its predecessor, PRIVY TO MURDER. Ms. Shenold is a fresh, unique voice and I look forward to more from her.
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Black Lagoon: Volume 3
December 18, 2008 by Kelly Baron
Filed under Books
Vocabulary lesson time. Word of the day: McGuffin. Definition: An Alfred Hitchcock film technique; the initial driving element of the plot that turns out to mean nothing in the overall scheme of the story. Example: In Notorious, do you actually remember why Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman are spies? Of course not. It’s all about their love story. We never worry about whether or not the “mission” will be completed. Instead, we worry about whether or not Cary Grant will confess his love to Ingrid Bergman (or vice versa) in time for their relationship to have a fighting chance. We remember the moments when they kiss, the moments when individual insecurities are revealed, etc. But not the McGuffin. Never the McGuffin!
And therein lies the problem with Black Lagoon. The only story is the McGuffin. And the McGuffin absolutely has its place in storytelling, but when you try to construct a story solely around a plotline that should obviously only act as an unimportant one, then you run into a brand of boredom so intense that your mind will never forgive itself for getting involved in the story in the first place. I wish I could begin to tell you what Black Lagoon was about, but—no surprise here—I DON’T KNOW. I didn’t even understand that the book was divided into two different plotlines until I almost finished it. That’s a problem, Rei Hiroe. That is a problem.
The first section of the book is the better one. It revolves around two twin pre-teen assassins who are ruthlessly violent, eerily serene and incestuously erotic. Eeeek, I shudder just remembering them. Their faces are so sweet and beautiful, even when they’re unloading a machine gun into your chest. They become a bit too much of a hassle for the Black Lagoon crew and the Thai branch of the Russian mafia (Yeah, I don’t get it either) to deal with. And the rest is raw fighting. Revy is hands-down the coolest fighter. I do kind of wish there weren’t so many shots of her spreading her legs while sitting down, though. Call me old-fashioned.
That’s another element of the book that really does not work for me—the fighting scenes. They come off as the manga attempt at conveying stylized violence, but it fails in my opinion. It’s a lot like watching The Blair Witch Project. There are CLOSE-UPS immediately followed by LONG SHOTS immediately followed by EXTREME CLOSE-UPS immediately followed by MORE EXTREME CLOSE-UPS and I just got a bit overwhelmed by the end of each fight. It’s so “intense” that it got to the point where I honestly did not know what was happening in the fight until a character verbally summed it up for me after it was over. Or if I saw which character was alive, that was also a good heads-up as to who won. If anybody won, that is.
The second part of the book is basically one big fight scene. I’m still extremely confused about the plotline of this one. As far as I can understand, there are some documents that the CIA is after that the Black Lagoon is carrying. But this bad guy named Takenaka is after them as well, and he has a posse of bad guys on his side. We later run into inexplicit problems with boats and explosives, a random getaway team consisting of a cokehead and a Chinese mercenary girl, and something about a nude beach at the very end.
Intrigued? Well, if you decide to pick up this manga, please let me know if the plot becomes clearer to you and enlighten me as to what it’s actually about. Maybe I’m just more of a romantic, but the jumpy fight scenes and way-too-complicated background to the story became too frustrating for me to enjoy. A romantic subplot would have helped. Give a girl a break, would you, Rei?
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Psychic Passions
December 15, 2008 by Melissa Bradley
Filed under Books
Caprice Hutchins has come through a nasty divorce and trying to put her life back together. For an empath diagnosed as bipolar, this is especially difficult. She finds solace in a communal art studio where she is drawn to the work of Cassidy Cornwall. An artist with a reputation for being arrogant, Cassidy is actually an empath who has been diagnosed as schizophrenic. He has been working to get back on his feet after years of drug abuse.
An unlikely couple, Caprice and Cassidy form a strong, tight bond that will be sorely tested. They must work not only to overcome their disorders, but a tragic accident as well as a vindictive man bent on threatening everything Cassidy holds dear.
This was a most unusual story. The first part reads almost like Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar as the reader spends an inordinate amount of time inside Caprice’s head with her frantic and troubled thoughts. It was often difficult to read, yet there was something quite hypnotic as I tried to understand Caprice’s frenetic state of mind through her highs and lows. It was, however, much too long in my opinion. The second part is a romantic suspense with a pair of villains that are particularly cruel and nasty. I was quite chilled at some of the things that happened. One thing of note, with both characters being empaths, there were times that the transitions between points of view were a bit unclear.
Overall, this story was not really to my taste, but it is a unique tale that should garner attention. I applaud Ms. Robertson for tackling the issue of mental illness and the effects on sufferers and those around them. It was extremely insightful and I learned a lot, which is always a very big plus. I give her huge kudos. Caprice and Cassidy are a very strong couple and Ms. Robertson has a distinctive voice that will lend a singular flair to this genre.
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Angel Gets Her Wings
December 15, 2008 by Melissa Bradley
Filed under Books
It’s Christmas Eve and cherub-in-waiting, or rather seraphim wannabe, Angel Martinez O’Reilly, has her work cut out for her. She’s got to get through the remainder of her “Nice” list in order to be promoted and the pressure is mounting. Her final case is computer geek virgin, Eugene Freeman, who needs to get laid so he’ll gain the inner confidence to propose to his sweetie. A plane doesn’t exactly have a lot of options. Enter Stewardess Jeanie, top resident on Angel’s “Naughty” list.
Seizing an opportunity to take care of two things at once, Angel arranges for Eugene to join the Mile High Club with Jeanie then have the geek leave the stewardess hanging. A great comeuppance for Jeanie’s constant mistreatment of men. Quite unexpectedly, Angel encounters the captain of the plane, Sean Conlon, who just happens to be Jeanie’s latest train wreck and about to spend Christmas Eve all alone. Not if Angel can help it. In spite of the risk to her heavenly career, Angel adds Sean to her list and proceeds to give him a magical Christmas Eve that helps set him on the course for a very bright future.
This was a sweet and sassy tale that is just perfect for the holiday season. It was wickedly hilarious, at times poignant, but always right on. It never grew maudlin or overly sappy which is what many holiday stories tend to do. Ms. Duarte has a unique and clever style readers will love.