catchup recap
I fell way behind on writing about the books I read. Since I’m working hard at not holding myself responsible for tasks I could never be exected to complete, I’m writing off the past six months or so, and planning to start afresh in 2007.
That said, I discovered some authors in 2006 that are worth mentioning, at least in passing, if not in full.
Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series may sound cliched — the Napoleonic wars, but with dragons! — but it’s truly one of the best meldings of genres I’ve read in maybe ever. Master and Commander meets sentient dragons, complete with faithful use of style, tone, language, and character to bring the era and the story to life. Shortly after reading books one and two, I regaled Drew endlessly with little scenes from the book, trying not to spoil the narrative but wanting to share the feel of the story. It’s fantastic.
Charles Stross’s Family Trade is the first book in a series that I hope lives up to the promise of the first novel. It’s the story of Miriam, the lost infant heiress (now an adult) of an aristocratic family of world-walking gangsters, who, now that she’s been found, are trying to use her as the latest pawn in their endless game of power and intrigue. ‘Cept she’s not feeling like being anyone’s pawn. The story’s twisty and turny and exciting, and little details of the worldbuilding are stuck in my head. Good sign, that.
Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files are my new genre-bending heroin reading. I’m inhaling them one after the other, forcing myself to slow down between books so I don’t run out and find myself left jonesing for more. Harry Dresden is a wizard. He’s also a guy, a guy-kind-of-guy, full of machismo and protective, white-knight instincts. He’s also a softie for the downtrodden, and has a sense of honor and responsibility that will, inevitably, get him killed someday. Like your murder mysteries — the kind with the outsider detective, the grimly suspicious but heart-of-gold cop, and lots of meddling bureaucrats who won’t let our good guys run rampant through the story — with a lot of vampires, werewolves, ghosts, talking skulls, and magic thrown in? Dresden’s your man.
Y: The Last Man, by Pia Guerra and Brian K. Vaugan, falls neatly into my long history of loving the story that tells us what happens after the world ends. (see: my affection for Alas, Babylon, The Stand, Freedom’s Landing, Dragonsdawn, A Canticle for Liebovitz, etc.) What happens when all the men die? Specifically, what happens to the government, the military, and all the industries where women are highly underrepresented? And what happens to the one last man myteriously walking the earth? Lots of stuff, is what.
That’s just a few of the 50 books I didn’t review. They’re good ones, though.
