Warren Rochelle's Blog, page 12
October 30, 2019
Farewell to Widdershins
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Deosil by Jordan L. Hawk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A fitting end to Widdershins and the Whyborne & Griffin series. Fans won't be disappointed, as Good versus Evil clash in an epic battle. The fate of the world is at stake, and no less at stake are the lives of the characters of the series--Whyborne and Grffin, Christine, Iskander, the maelstrom, Persephone and Miss Pankhurst, the Queen of Shadows, the librarians, and all the rest. The series ends well.
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Deosil by Jordan L. HawkMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A fitting end to Widdershins and the Whyborne & Griffin series. Fans won't be disappointed, as Good versus Evil clash in an epic battle. The fate of the world is at stake, and no less at stake are the lives of the characters of the series--Whyborne and Grffin, Christine, Iskander, the maelstrom, Persephone and Miss Pankhurst, the Queen of Shadows, the librarians, and all the rest. The series ends well.
View all my reviews
September 14, 2019
A Response to The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood
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The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you've read The Handmaid's Tale, what happens to Gilead is revealed in the proceedings of the proceedings of the Twelfth Symposium on Gileadean Studies, the novel's postscript. But not the how or the why. To save the world from the horrors of Gilead is an obvious why. The who, and their personal why, was something of a surprise.
15 years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale, a reckoning has come, and for some, a time to not only be a witness, but an active participant, and for some, they will be called to testify.
Dark, beautiful, intense, "a triumphant blend of riveting wit, and virtuosic world-building, disturbing explorations of faith, of identity, of self.
Recommended.
View all my reviews
The Testaments by Margaret AtwoodMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you've read The Handmaid's Tale, what happens to Gilead is revealed in the proceedings of the proceedings of the Twelfth Symposium on Gileadean Studies, the novel's postscript. But not the how or the why. To save the world from the horrors of Gilead is an obvious why. The who, and their personal why, was something of a surprise.
15 years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale, a reckoning has come, and for some, a time to not only be a witness, but an active participant, and for some, they will be called to testify.
Dark, beautiful, intense, "a triumphant blend of riveting wit, and virtuosic world-building, disturbing explorations of faith, of identity, of self.
Recommended.
View all my reviews
September 7, 2019
The Unkindest Tide, by Seanan McGuire
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The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
McGuire fans will not be disappointed. The Luidaeg tells Toby "the time has come for the Selkies to fulfill their side of a bargain" made centuries ago, and Toby is going to help her--she must be part of the process. "Toby can't refuse. Literally. The Selkies aren't the only ones in debt to the Luidaeg, and Toby has to pay what she owes like anyone else" (front cover). The payment is to be rendered in the Duchy of the Ships, where a convocation of Selkies has been called. With Toby comes Quentin and Tybalt and Dean, Count of the Goldengreen and Marcia, his seneschal, and ..... Complications are inevitable. A murder must be solved, a centuries-old debt must be paid. To pay the price will change everything. Betrayal, love, family ....
I can't wait for #14 in this amazing series.
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The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuireMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
McGuire fans will not be disappointed. The Luidaeg tells Toby "the time has come for the Selkies to fulfill their side of a bargain" made centuries ago, and Toby is going to help her--she must be part of the process. "Toby can't refuse. Literally. The Selkies aren't the only ones in debt to the Luidaeg, and Toby has to pay what she owes like anyone else" (front cover). The payment is to be rendered in the Duchy of the Ships, where a convocation of Selkies has been called. With Toby comes Quentin and Tybalt and Dean, Count of the Goldengreen and Marcia, his seneschal, and ..... Complications are inevitable. A murder must be solved, a centuries-old debt must be paid. To pay the price will change everything. Betrayal, love, family ....
I can't wait for #14 in this amazing series.
View all my reviews
August 25, 2019
Red, White & Royal Blue
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Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Yes, a light-hearted romantic comedy, set in a parallel universe, in which the 2016 US election is won by Ellen Claremont from Texas, and Mary III is the Queen. Alex does not get along with Henry, grandson of the Queen, and third in line for the throne. At the wedding of Henry's brother, there is an altercation and the royal wedding cake is smashed, and "U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse."
Damage control: "Stage a truce between the two rivals," and "What at first begins as a fake, Instagrammable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous." They fall in love and complications ensue, complications that "could derail the presidential campaign and upend two nations" (back cover).
Can love conquer all? Can centuries of tradition be set aside? Is the world really ready for the President of the United States to have an openly gay son in love with an English prince? Will the bad guys (and seriously bad) win?
Funny, sweet, a good read.
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Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuistonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Yes, a light-hearted romantic comedy, set in a parallel universe, in which the 2016 US election is won by Ellen Claremont from Texas, and Mary III is the Queen. Alex does not get along with Henry, grandson of the Queen, and third in line for the throne. At the wedding of Henry's brother, there is an altercation and the royal wedding cake is smashed, and "U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse."
Damage control: "Stage a truce between the two rivals," and "What at first begins as a fake, Instagrammable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous." They fall in love and complications ensue, complications that "could derail the presidential campaign and upend two nations" (back cover).
Can love conquer all? Can centuries of tradition be set aside? Is the world really ready for the President of the United States to have an openly gay son in love with an English prince? Will the bad guys (and seriously bad) win?
Funny, sweet, a good read.
View all my reviews
August 5, 2019
Thoughts on The Outsider, by Stephen King
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The Outsider by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Flint City, Oklahoma, Detective Ralph Anderson is sure he has the man who has committed "an unspeakable crime that [rocked] local enforcement to its core ..." The prime suspect is Terry Maitland, a good guy, "Little League coach, English teacher, and devoted husband father." Eyewitnesses, "irrefutable evidence .... [the case is] ... ironclad" (back cover).
Or is it? As the investigation continues, things are revealed that are even worse and things that can't be explained--things that are impossible. After all, "There is no end to the universe" (multiple times, including 556).
A murder mystery, a horrific crime, questions about what is real and what is not, including an ancient nightmarish legend, and very human characters.
King fans, I think, will like this. A page turner that seems shorter than its 560 pages. A good read indeed.
View all my reviews
The Outsider by Stephen KingMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Flint City, Oklahoma, Detective Ralph Anderson is sure he has the man who has committed "an unspeakable crime that [rocked] local enforcement to its core ..." The prime suspect is Terry Maitland, a good guy, "Little League coach, English teacher, and devoted husband father." Eyewitnesses, "irrefutable evidence .... [the case is] ... ironclad" (back cover).
Or is it? As the investigation continues, things are revealed that are even worse and things that can't be explained--things that are impossible. After all, "There is no end to the universe" (multiple times, including 556).
A murder mystery, a horrific crime, questions about what is real and what is not, including an ancient nightmarish legend, and very human characters.
King fans, I think, will like this. A page turner that seems shorter than its 560 pages. A good read indeed.
View all my reviews
August 3, 2019
Musings on Ancestors and Others, by Fred Chappell
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Ancestors and Others: New and Selected Stories by Fred Chappell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In the interest of full disclosure, Fred Chappell was one of my professors when I was a student in the MFA Creative Writing Program at UNC Greensboro. He chaired my thesis committee and was my mentor.
Musings:
As I was reading the stories in this collection, I could hear Fred's voice: Southern, Appalachian, western North Carolina, and echoes of my own North Carolina accents. I heard the voice of a storyteller in stories that range from fables and parables, to the mythic, and stories of family, of love and loss and grief. I found these stories existing in the borderlands between the deeply intellectual and the fantastic, the sad and the funny, the magical and the mundane. "A boy discovers a secret buried n a locked room ... The botanist Carl Linneaus finds hidden worlds within the plants he so carefully cultivates and classifies ... a sheriff arrives to find a dream blocking Highway 51 ..." (front jacket).
I found myself wandering in the sometimes dark, sometimes light, often satiric, and cerebral garden of this writer's mind, a writer is good-hearted and good-humored.
Recommended.
View all my reviews
Ancestors and Others: New and Selected Stories by Fred ChappellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
In the interest of full disclosure, Fred Chappell was one of my professors when I was a student in the MFA Creative Writing Program at UNC Greensboro. He chaired my thesis committee and was my mentor.
Musings:
As I was reading the stories in this collection, I could hear Fred's voice: Southern, Appalachian, western North Carolina, and echoes of my own North Carolina accents. I heard the voice of a storyteller in stories that range from fables and parables, to the mythic, and stories of family, of love and loss and grief. I found these stories existing in the borderlands between the deeply intellectual and the fantastic, the sad and the funny, the magical and the mundane. "A boy discovers a secret buried n a locked room ... The botanist Carl Linneaus finds hidden worlds within the plants he so carefully cultivates and classifies ... a sheriff arrives to find a dream blocking Highway 51 ..." (front jacket).
I found myself wandering in the sometimes dark, sometimes light, often satiric, and cerebral garden of this writer's mind, a writer is good-hearted and good-humored.
Recommended.
View all my reviews
July 26, 2019
The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah
The Nightingale by Kristin HannahMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Some thoughts, some quotes, on a remarkable novel:
"With courage, grace, and powerful insight, best-selling author, Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women's war ... a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women" (backcover).
Yes.
This novel, while the main characters, the two sisters, Isabelle and Vianne, are fictional, what happened to them, and others in occupied France in World War II, is all too true. The brutality of the Nazis and of those in France (and elsewhere) who collaborated, is a punch in the gut, and an indictment of human cruelty. But, both sisters, in different ways, resisted; they fought back. Their actions, and other French women, will restore one's faith in humanity: there is hope for us.
And yes, this story made me cry.
Highly recommended.
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July 18, 2019
The Wild Girls, by Ursula K. Le Guin
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The Wild Girls by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
From PM Press Outspoken Authors Series.
The Wild Girls, a novella (or would it be a long short story?) appearing in book for the first time.
Her "scorching Harper's essay, "Staying Awake While We Read," "also collected here for the first time."
Poetry.
An essay, "The Conversation of the Modest."
And
"A Lovely Art," a funny and pithy interview.
Le Guin fans,, recommended. Others interested in science fiction and fantasy, yes, and yes, for those who want to learn about one of America's great writers.
View all my reviews
The Wild Girls by Ursula K. Le GuinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
From PM Press Outspoken Authors Series.
The Wild Girls, a novella (or would it be a long short story?) appearing in book for the first time.
Her "scorching Harper's essay, "Staying Awake While We Read," "also collected here for the first time."
Poetry.
An essay, "The Conversation of the Modest."
And
"A Lovely Art," a funny and pithy interview.
Le Guin fans,, recommended. Others interested in science fiction and fantasy, yes, and yes, for those who want to learn about one of America's great writers.
View all my reviews
July 11, 2019
Thoughts on The Gargoyle, by Andrew Davidson
The Gargoyle by Andrew DavidsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Yes, i agree with the blurbs on the back cover:
"Engrossing. A spectacularly imaginative journey." Washington Post Book World
"Mixing romance, classic allusion and reality. Davidson's debut is a bravura performance." Marie Claire.
The protagonist, who is not a nice person when the novel begins, a porno star/film maker, has an accident and is horribly burned and disfigured. His old life is literally and metaphorically burned away. His recovery is extremely painful, as it is for most, if not all, severely burned patients. Enter Marianne Engel, a sculptor, another patient, in the hospital for mental illness, and she recognizes him: they were lovers in another life, in the 1300s. Madness, dreams, another reality ... This love story, this adventure story, this study of illness and recovery, this story of the connections between creativity and mental illness, will keep the reader reading, turning the pages.
The author has done his homework: the details of life in a medieval German monastery and town, medieval mysticism, schizophrenia, recovery for the severely burned, gargoyles, Japanese and Icelandic culture--are impressive, no, amazing. Yes, all those seemingly disparate element work.
Recommended.
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July 5, 2019
Thoughts on Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch
Dark Matter by Blake CrouchMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
To quote a review on the back cover: "Relatable and unnerving ... makes its characters--and readers--wonder what life would have been like had they made different decisions" (USA Today). Jason Dessen: one set of choices, a "celebrated genius" in quantum physics, "who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible" (back cover). Another set of choices: a family, wife, son, a professor. Both have merit, value, worth. But for Jason, not both--but maybe not. If we could undo our choices--but at what cost?
Each choice is a different universe, a different self.
A page turner. I gulped it down.
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