What I have been reading Wednesday
Aug. 26th, 2015 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scripsiI’ve read so many books this summer that I would probably bore you to death if I list them all in one post. I’ll bore you in several instead. :)
What I have finished reading: Penric’s Demon, a novella by Lois McMaster Bujold. You may have noticed that I’m a fan of Bujold, and apart from her SF-books, she also writes fantasy. The best, IMO, are the books that takes place in the Five Gods-universe. Religion often take a backseat in fantasy novels, but here it is integral to the various plots. This world has, as you may have guessed, five gods, the Father, Mother, Son, Daughter and the Bastard. The first four has a dedicated season; winter, summer, autumn and spring and the Bastard gets the Leap day. Depending on sex and stage in life every person “belongs” to a specific god, with the Bastard gettings the leftovers, ie bastards and other people that society may not see as the norm. He is also the god of the demons, being the son of the Mother and a demon. A person can, however, choose a particular god for various reasons, most commonly because of a specific vocation; healers belong to the Mother, soldiers to the Father and so on. Bujold has made a really complex and interesting pantheon, complete with religious war. Most of this world worship the Bastard as a god, claiming he is the result of a love affair between the Mother and a demon who was her champion, while a fraction claim it was rape and the Bastard is demon through and through. Also, the gods can’t meddle directly with humans, but they can respond to prayers, making saints of people who invite them in and thus being able to act. People can also, by accident or purpose, acquire a demon which they share body with. This may be a catastrophe as the demon can take over and wreck havoc- while not necessarily evil they are definitely chaotic, but they can also be harnessed, making the person into a sorcerer or sorceress.
So far there are three novels in this universe, each focusing on a particular god; The Curse of Chalion, which is the Daughter’s book, The Paladin of Souls which is the Bastard’s and The Hallowed Haunt, which is the Son’s. The first two are connected, the main character in The Paladin's of Souls has a minor role in The Curse of Chalion, but The Hallowed Haunt takes place in another country and a couple of hundred years before. The countries in this world is clearly a version of Renaissance Europe with Chalion being Spain, for example. Leading us to the novella I actually read now, which introduced a new territory, seemingly inspired by the guild system in the Netherlands. Lord Penric is a young man who is on his way to his betrothal when he accidentally acquires a demon. A decidedly female demon. So instead of getting his human bride he is shuttled off to one of the Bastard’s temple, obviously with the demon in tow. The story is quite short and could (and may be) the prologue to a novel, as this basically just tell him Penric and his demon comes to term with their relationship. It was a good story, but it left you hanging- I liked both character and want to know what happens next. Bujold has made no promises, but she had acknowledge that the Father and mother are still missing their books.
The House of Lost Souls by F. G. Cottam, who also wrote The Colony. I thought this book was better with some reservations. The plot was tighter with just three POV, which made it easier to follow. It takes place around 1995 and the main character is a man who, about 12 years earlier, has visited a haunted house when he tries to help his girlfriend with a paper about a (fictitious) photographer active in the 20’s. Since then he has been haunted and nothing goes right for him. Now four students have visited the same house, resulting in a suicide and the rest into mental breakdowns and reluctantly he agrees to help. The other POV’s are the brother of one of the students, and, through a diary, Pandora, the photographer. It was an exciting story but suffers from a common problem with horror stories; a rushed and somewhat odd ending. Suddenly the book was finished and I was saying: “Wait, what?” But until then is was good.
But. Some of the character’s in this book are real people, most notably Aleister Crowley and Dennis Wheatley. I suppose most know who Crowley was, and Wheatley was a writer who wrote both thrillers and occult thrillers. I think he is rather forgotten now but I read a few in my teens and found the rather suspenseful and some were made into Hammer movies featuring Christopher Lee. Most notably, I believe, The Devil Rides Out and To the Devil a Daughter. Normally I don’t mind real persons in fiction, but in this book they are described as participants of a murder, which I felt a was bit iffy. It is, of course, perfectly possible that the autour cleared this with any eventual family members, but I don’t know if I would enjoy having my great-grandfather being described as a murderer, however fictitious. So I feel a bit ambivalent about this.
In the Rukh, a short story by Rudyard Kipling. I loved The Jungle Book as a child and still remember my excitement when my father read Rikki.Tikki-Tavi. I didn’t knew until recently that Mowgli featured in another short story, so when I learned that I had to read it. I’m not sure I actually think it was good, it wasn’t as exciting as the stories in The Jungle Book, but it was interesting. Mowgli, all grown up, befriends an Englishman who is pretty awed by him. He also seduces the Muslim cook’s daughter, making her shed both shyness and veil. They get married and a year later the Englishman meets them in the jungle as their baby plays with the wolfs.
A Haunted Ground by Erin Hart. A mystery novel set in Ireland. A young woman’s head is found in a bog and though it is quite clear it is an old body, there are also a suspicion that it could be a woman who disappeared a few years earlier with her small son. Two archaeologists stay in the village and the story is sort of a parallel story where they dig in on what happened to the woman in the bog and the woman who has gone missing. It was quite exciting and hard to put down book, though I had somehow got into my head that it was a supernatural story, so I kept waiting for the ghosts.
The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones. She is one of my all time favourite authors and this is her last book, which was completed by her sister after her death. Her books are always quirky and you can bet there will be someone with a mistaken identity or a person with a magical talent s/he think is practically non-existent when in reality it is enormous. Oh, and there will be a cat somewhere. Thi book isn’t her best, which is hardly odd, but even mediocre Wynne Jones is a good read. And I couldn’t tell where her sister took over the writing. The world in the book is four islands, loosely based on Scotland, Ireland, Wales and, I believe, southern Europe. The main character is a pre-teen magical woman who, with her aunt and an assortment of odd characters, are set out to reunite the islands. Very enjoyable if not her greatest and I’m very sad that there won’t be any more books.
Stoker’s Manuscript by Royce Prouty. Very mediocre book which, I think, tried to ride on the success of Kostova’s The Historian. A young man is employed to buy and bring the original manuscript fro Stroker’s Dracula to an unknown buyer in Romania. He is, of course, a vampire. They young man finds he has a connection to the vampires and gets involved in fighting them. I’m a big fan of vampires, but found this book just going on and on and there was a few plot holes that irked me.
What I have finished reading: Penric’s Demon, a novella by Lois McMaster Bujold. You may have noticed that I’m a fan of Bujold, and apart from her SF-books, she also writes fantasy. The best, IMO, are the books that takes place in the Five Gods-universe. Religion often take a backseat in fantasy novels, but here it is integral to the various plots. This world has, as you may have guessed, five gods, the Father, Mother, Son, Daughter and the Bastard. The first four has a dedicated season; winter, summer, autumn and spring and the Bastard gets the Leap day. Depending on sex and stage in life every person “belongs” to a specific god, with the Bastard gettings the leftovers, ie bastards and other people that society may not see as the norm. He is also the god of the demons, being the son of the Mother and a demon. A person can, however, choose a particular god for various reasons, most commonly because of a specific vocation; healers belong to the Mother, soldiers to the Father and so on. Bujold has made a really complex and interesting pantheon, complete with religious war. Most of this world worship the Bastard as a god, claiming he is the result of a love affair between the Mother and a demon who was her champion, while a fraction claim it was rape and the Bastard is demon through and through. Also, the gods can’t meddle directly with humans, but they can respond to prayers, making saints of people who invite them in and thus being able to act. People can also, by accident or purpose, acquire a demon which they share body with. This may be a catastrophe as the demon can take over and wreck havoc- while not necessarily evil they are definitely chaotic, but they can also be harnessed, making the person into a sorcerer or sorceress.
So far there are three novels in this universe, each focusing on a particular god; The Curse of Chalion, which is the Daughter’s book, The Paladin of Souls which is the Bastard’s and The Hallowed Haunt, which is the Son’s. The first two are connected, the main character in The Paladin's of Souls has a minor role in The Curse of Chalion, but The Hallowed Haunt takes place in another country and a couple of hundred years before. The countries in this world is clearly a version of Renaissance Europe with Chalion being Spain, for example. Leading us to the novella I actually read now, which introduced a new territory, seemingly inspired by the guild system in the Netherlands. Lord Penric is a young man who is on his way to his betrothal when he accidentally acquires a demon. A decidedly female demon. So instead of getting his human bride he is shuttled off to one of the Bastard’s temple, obviously with the demon in tow. The story is quite short and could (and may be) the prologue to a novel, as this basically just tell him Penric and his demon comes to term with their relationship. It was a good story, but it left you hanging- I liked both character and want to know what happens next. Bujold has made no promises, but she had acknowledge that the Father and mother are still missing their books.
The House of Lost Souls by F. G. Cottam, who also wrote The Colony. I thought this book was better with some reservations. The plot was tighter with just three POV, which made it easier to follow. It takes place around 1995 and the main character is a man who, about 12 years earlier, has visited a haunted house when he tries to help his girlfriend with a paper about a (fictitious) photographer active in the 20’s. Since then he has been haunted and nothing goes right for him. Now four students have visited the same house, resulting in a suicide and the rest into mental breakdowns and reluctantly he agrees to help. The other POV’s are the brother of one of the students, and, through a diary, Pandora, the photographer. It was an exciting story but suffers from a common problem with horror stories; a rushed and somewhat odd ending. Suddenly the book was finished and I was saying: “Wait, what?” But until then is was good.
But. Some of the character’s in this book are real people, most notably Aleister Crowley and Dennis Wheatley. I suppose most know who Crowley was, and Wheatley was a writer who wrote both thrillers and occult thrillers. I think he is rather forgotten now but I read a few in my teens and found the rather suspenseful and some were made into Hammer movies featuring Christopher Lee. Most notably, I believe, The Devil Rides Out and To the Devil a Daughter. Normally I don’t mind real persons in fiction, but in this book they are described as participants of a murder, which I felt a was bit iffy. It is, of course, perfectly possible that the autour cleared this with any eventual family members, but I don’t know if I would enjoy having my great-grandfather being described as a murderer, however fictitious. So I feel a bit ambivalent about this.
In the Rukh, a short story by Rudyard Kipling. I loved The Jungle Book as a child and still remember my excitement when my father read Rikki.Tikki-Tavi. I didn’t knew until recently that Mowgli featured in another short story, so when I learned that I had to read it. I’m not sure I actually think it was good, it wasn’t as exciting as the stories in The Jungle Book, but it was interesting. Mowgli, all grown up, befriends an Englishman who is pretty awed by him. He also seduces the Muslim cook’s daughter, making her shed both shyness and veil. They get married and a year later the Englishman meets them in the jungle as their baby plays with the wolfs.
A Haunted Ground by Erin Hart. A mystery novel set in Ireland. A young woman’s head is found in a bog and though it is quite clear it is an old body, there are also a suspicion that it could be a woman who disappeared a few years earlier with her small son. Two archaeologists stay in the village and the story is sort of a parallel story where they dig in on what happened to the woman in the bog and the woman who has gone missing. It was quite exciting and hard to put down book, though I had somehow got into my head that it was a supernatural story, so I kept waiting for the ghosts.
The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones. She is one of my all time favourite authors and this is her last book, which was completed by her sister after her death. Her books are always quirky and you can bet there will be someone with a mistaken identity or a person with a magical talent s/he think is practically non-existent when in reality it is enormous. Oh, and there will be a cat somewhere. Thi book isn’t her best, which is hardly odd, but even mediocre Wynne Jones is a good read. And I couldn’t tell where her sister took over the writing. The world in the book is four islands, loosely based on Scotland, Ireland, Wales and, I believe, southern Europe. The main character is a pre-teen magical woman who, with her aunt and an assortment of odd characters, are set out to reunite the islands. Very enjoyable if not her greatest and I’m very sad that there won’t be any more books.
Stoker’s Manuscript by Royce Prouty. Very mediocre book which, I think, tried to ride on the success of Kostova’s The Historian. A young man is employed to buy and bring the original manuscript fro Stroker’s Dracula to an unknown buyer in Romania. He is, of course, a vampire. They young man finds he has a connection to the vampires and gets involved in fighting them. I’m a big fan of vampires, but found this book just going on and on and there was a few plot holes that irked me.
