Megan Chance's Blog, page 27

Book Review: Mortal Fire

Mortal Fire by Elizabeth Knox

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


First off, let me say that I love Elizabeth Knox's work. She is one of my favorite authors. "The Vintners Luck" is my favorite book of all time, and I love "Billie's Kiss" as well. She is always challenging philosophically, and the places she goes always surprise. "Mortal Fire" is no different. This is a young-adult novel set in the same world (peripherally) as Knox's YA Dreamhunter duet. So ... a slightly mythical land wholly based in reality. It's set in 1959, when polio was still a big threat (the heroine's best friend is in an iron lung), in a place called Southland. The protagonist, Canny, is a descendent of the native people, and her mother is a local hero. Canny has an uncanny ability for math and can see symbols in the world that are invisible to others--"the extra," as she calls it. When she, her stepbrother, and his girlfriend embark on a trip to interview the survivors of a coal mining disaster in another town, Canny stumbles onto a magical valley, discovers an immortal boy in a house warded by spells to keep him prisoner and others out, and her life is irrevocably changed.

Like most of Knox's books, this story is complex, demanding, beautifully written and very poignant. It requires something from the reader--this is not a "finish it in an hour" kind of read. But the end result of such effort is so rewarding and beautiful and DIFFERENT, that this is a book I highly recommend.



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Book Review: Sweet Tooth

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Having read several other books by Ian McEwan, and intrigued by the summary of this one (a woman recruited by MI5 during the Cold War years, and her betrayal), I eagerly picked up this one. It starts very slowly, going pretty far back in time to her upbringing, and the whole book is a lot of "telling" without much action. Serene Frome is given a special assignment by MI5, which requires that she get it close to an up and coming writer. What happens next is pretty standard--they fall in love, she questions her loyalty, etc. etc. But the story feels done before, and it doesn't have the punch that the back cover copy leads you to believe it will have--neither emotionally, psychologically, or actively. It was pretty slow throughout, and not completely engaging, BUT ... it has a twist of an ending that just completely redeems it and forces you to question everything you've read before, as well as adding some really interesting layers--the betrayal you've been waiting for is not quite what you expected. I wish the rest of the book matched that spectacular ending. It doesn't, which is why I've given it a three. It is worth reading for that ending, however, and the way it flips the book on its head.



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Special Deal

Amazon.uk is offering Bone River at a special price of 1 pound (wow, I have NO idea how to make that special symbol on this keyboard) for a limited time (through August 15). The link is here.

Pacific NW Writers Conference

As always, I had a great time at the Pacific NW Writers Conference yesterday. Talked with some intelligent and passionate writers at the historical fiction panel, reconnected with some old friends and met some new ones. It's an excellent conference--well organized, and with something for everyone, no matter what genre you write. I highly recommend it!

Here I am with fellow author and friend Pat White at the autographing last night:

Speaking Engagement

I suppose now might be a good time to let everyone know that I'm speaking at Pacific Northwest Writers Conference this Friday, on a historical panel with Gina Panettieri and Shana Drehs, in which I will no doubt be the least informed there--though I will endeavor to be entertaining. :) We'll be speaking at 4 p.m., and here are all the details. Following is an autographing from 8:30 to 10:00, at the SeaTac Hilton, and I will be there too.

Hope to see some of you there!

Book Review: Troubles

Troubles by J.G. Farrell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I did not actually mean to read this book--at least not just now. I'd downloaded it awhile ago, and was just glancing at the first pages to see what it was like, and suddenly I was a quarter of the way through it. Set in a crumbling hotel in rural Ireland during "The Troubles" in the 1920s (Catholic/Protestant, British/Irish conflicts), the story is about a British major who comes home from the war and goes to this hotel to reunite with a fiancee he's not exactly wild about, and though he doesn't end up marrying her, he ends up just ... staying. The book is full of dry humor, stinging absurdity, and happenings and characters that verge on ridiculous and yet somehow never fall over the edge into banal nonsense. Great writing, excellent atmosphere, interesting characters, along with this continuing sense that everything is slightly surreal and yet also ... very ordinary. "Troubles" is the perfect title. Hard to characterize, but I really liked it.



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New at Author's Blog: on Serendipity

I've got a new blog up today at Author' Magazine Online's Author's Blog. This one's on Serendipity, and how often I've stumbled into just the right thing exactly when I needed it.

To read it, go http://authormagazineonline.wordpress.com/

Great Kitsap Sun Review of Bone River

Woke this morning to a VERY nice review of Bone River in the Kitsap Sun, recommending it as a summer beach read. The reviewer says: "(Bone River is) a lyrical and atmospheric novel ... I loved this book. The author's writing is magical and so evocative of the Pacific Northwest Coast."

The link is here.

Book Review: Asylum

The Asylum by John Harwood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I think Harwood deserves a bigger readership among historical fiction devotees than he has. This is the second of his novels I've read (also The Seance), and I admire how deeply Harwood gets into the feel of the period. The female narrator awakes one morning in an asylum with no idea how she got there, and no memory of the days before. What memories she DOES have, however, seem to belong to a woman the doctor of the asylum claims she cannot be: Georgina Ferrars--a woman who is safely at home, and who claims that the woman in the asylum is an imposter.

How the narrator discovers the secrets surrounding her, and her real identity, make for a compelling read. Harwood captures very well the helpless frustration of the heroine, and raises questions in the readers' mind as to the veracity of her memories. The book was very hard to put down, and I had many guesses as the truth, and was only partly right.

The biggest flaw is the ending, which felt a bit over-the-top to me, but the story is a good one, and Harwood tackles it with aplomb.



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Book Review: The Sweet Life in Paris

The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City by David Lebovitz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Very engaging, easy to read. Haven't tried the recipes yet, but I've bookmarked about 20 of them to try. I enjoyed very much Lebovitz's perceptions as an American living in Paris.



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