Monday Book Recs--Stroud, Knowles, Stewart

A Shot in the Dark by K.A. Stewart

I probably should not have read this book out of order. I believe it is the second in the series. I enjoyed it. I love how urban fantasy can turn things like a boy's weekend in the wood playing paintball into something malevolent and deeply meaningful. That's the set up. It gets more complicated. I loved the strange character of Alex, the demon. I liked the rules of demons, too, that they always come back. This seems essentially true to me, of real evil. A new form, but the same underneath. And it works for fantasy, of course. Instead of pretending it's a new evil, we can just accept it isn't. Another thing I really liked about this: that the characters have family. Jesse has a wife and a little girl and wants to live a normal life. I've wondered how it would work to have an ass-kicking demon fighter with a kid. That's a tricky vulnerability, and it's also tricky to play as a writer in terms of balance. I liked how this was done. My only complaint, if it is one: not much here for the girls.

Pearl by Jo Knowles

I remember reading a snip of this book years ago, since Jo is a dear writer friend of mine. It was wonderful to see the whole tale transformed into a perfect book. I loved the narrative voice. If you want a quiet sense of peace in narrative, Jo Knowles in the writer to read. She can tell even the most horrendous truths with a beauty and a kindness that will make you not want to blink while the tears are falling. I didn't know how this was going to turn out, and in my mind, there were several other versions of the ending that were competing. I think that's a good thing, a great thing, actually. I so often guess the endings of books, movies, and TV shows, and I was glad that I didn't guess this one. I also liked how the lesbian romance seemed just so natural, to me as a reader, and to the character. So hard to write it so that she is mad at her mom and doesn't love the girlfriend, but that it isn't about being lesbians. It's about people. Right? And I so loved the sweet, barely there romance here. Friendship is what mattered the most to these characters, as it should. Friendship should always be the beginning of romance, in my opinion. Go forth and read!

The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud

I ordered this book when it beat out A Conspiracy of Kings for the big YA showdown of the year. I don't know. I liked the book a lot. But there's no way Bartimaeus is a better hero than Eugenidies. Sorry. Aside from that minor disappointment, this had everything I could want to love in a book. A tricksy, snide narrator who is also the main (or one of the main) characters. It was set in the past with lots of eye candy, lots of history to be played with, and a female hero who can kick with Buffy. Romance, not so much. But not every book has to be about romance. In fact, there is something very satisfying about a female heroine who can do just about anything, but doesn't need a man to help her. A demon, maybe, but not a man.