1. Red Hood’s Revenge, by Jim C. Hines
2. The Snow Queen’s Shadow, by Jim C. Hines
4. Practicing Disaster by Jessie Carty
5. Wormwood by G.P. Taylor
6. Boxers by Gene Luen Yang
7. Saints by Gene Luen Yang
8. Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks
Still in progress at the end of the month: The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2.
REVIEWS (behind the cut):
1. Red Hood’s Revenge, by Jim C. Hines
The third book of Jim Hines’ Princess series introduces the Lady of the Red Hood (aka Red Riding Hood) as a deadly assassin. When she draws Talia (Sleeping Beauty) out through trickery, she attacks viciously, but her failed assassination attempt leads the three princesses — Talia, Danielle (Cinderella), and Snow White — into a deeper and more deadly plot.
This was just as about as fun as the first two books, with clever, skillful, and kick ass female characters. It’s nice to learn more about Talia, her origins and culture this go around. I also like that Hines continues to bring more women into the stories with each book and the interesting ways he reinterprets and weaves the fairy tale storylines together, which just adds to my glee. Great, fun, easy read.
2. The Snow Queen’s Shadow, by Jim C. Hines
I have to say, I have a soft soft spot for stories that include Rose Red, the often forgotten sister to Snow White in one of the original fairy tales. This book was a satisfying conclusion to the series, hitting me right in the feels. I’m rather sad to have to say goodbye to these clever, charming, silly, awesome ladies.
3. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (audio book), by Siddhartha Mukherjee
This is a hefty book, both in terms of length and content. Mukherjee supplied a detailed history of the knowledge and developments in treatment of cancer, along with his personal experiences with cancer patients that he’s treated. The resulting book is fascinating, presenting the fluctuating perception of fatalism and optimism in regard to this disease.
Parts of this were horrifying, most particularly Halsted and his development radical mastectomy as a treatment for breast cancer, which involved removing not just the breast, but the underlying muscles and sometimes parts of the sternum, lymph nodes, and rib bones, horribly deforming women in the name of treatment. Equally horrifying is that even as new studies showed that these radical surgeries did not actually prevent relapse or extend life any more than less invasive surgery, the surgeons clung to the process with passion. It made me very grateful to live in the time period I do with the advances is medical science that have already been made underwriting current technology and understanding.
Other parts of this book made me almost cry, as patients clung to life and continued to persevere through the ongoing war of dealing with cancer.
Cancer looms large in public mind and takes on a kind of dark presence, almost like a super villain, with all the shadowy mystery that implies. I learned so much from this book, enough to caste away some of the obscurity. While it’s a heavy read (and probably should be avoided by hypochondriacs), I would recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about the history of scientific and treatment developments for cancer.
4. Practicing Disaster by Jessie Carty
Discussed elsewhere.
5. Wormwood by G.P. Taylor
I’ve had Wormwood sitting on my bookshelf for years. I’m not entirely sure when or why I originally grabbed it, except that it implied magic. There was magic, as well as comets and demons and angels. The book had some potential. The writing wasn’t bad and there were some interesting idea, but it ultimately fell flat for me.
The details to the world building seemed a little off. It didn’t quite seem like 1756 London. Parts of it felt too modern, like some of the dialog. Other parts made it feel like and alternate version of London, rather than historical.
I also couldn’t get a handle on the characters, on why they did what they did. Their motivations weren’t clear and I didn’t really like any of them. Agetta was the only one I could almost sympathize with, but even with her, I was confused to the point of not knowing how old she really was. Sometimes I though she was around 18, other times she seemed around 12. And her personality seemed to flip flop quite a bit, so her growth seems convenient to the story rather than natural.
Ultimately, not for me.
6. Boxers by Gene Luen Yang
7. Saints by Gene Luen Yang
Boxers & Saints is a set of graphic companion novels. The story centers on the Boxer Rebellion in China, and anti-foreigner and anti-Christian movement from 1898 and 1900. Both books feature the same fantastic art by Yang, backed up with interesting characters and strong storylines. I liked, too, how the author indicated the white foreigner’s language in Chinese characters (or what appear to be Chinese characters), so that as English language readers we can share the sense of incomprehension when the foreigners speak.
In Boxers, Little Bao learns martial arts and calls upon the spirits of ancient Chinese gods to give him strength in order to rise up with an army of Boxers to fight off and free China from the foreign devils that oppress the country. As the violence begins to grow and Little Bao is forced to break the moral edicts he vowed to follow, he begins to question whether he is truely following the right path.
In Saints, the main character is a fourth and unwanted child, who does not even have a name. Called Fourth-Child by her family, she eventually finds a name, Vibiana, and a place for herself among the Christian community. As the Boxer rebellion grows, she has to decide whether to hold onto the community that has accepted her or join her countrymen in defending China.
Both storylines present a moral ambiguity to the events, the subtle questioning of what is really the right path and whether China can really be made whole through battle. Both also contain supernatural elements, with the Chinese gods appearing to Little Bao and the spirit of not-yet-sainted Joan of Arc appearing to Vibiana. Both work fairly well as stand alone stories, but reading them together is a much more complete and enjoyable experience.
8. Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks
Discussed elsewhere.
Side Read: “Rats!” a short story by Brett James
I picked this mini-chapbook up from the freebie table at FOGcon 2014. The short story centers on Jama’al, an exterminator in a world faced with a dire rat problem. A very entertaining and action packed story. I’d be interested in trying Brett James’ novel, Drift Wars. “Rats!” is available to read for free online.