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This post written by Clint Watership Down
by Richard Adams
[cover name=watershipdown]
Watership Down is a fantasy story about people leaving their old home, traveling across the country to start a new one, and defending it from the forces of evil. What makes this book unusual is that most of the characters in it are rabbits.
Fiver is a young rabbit who has visions of the future. One day he has a horrible vision of his warren (the rabbit version of a city) being destroyed, but the leaders of the warren will not listen to him. Fiver and his brother Hazel, along with a few other rabbits, leave the warren in search of a safe place that Fiver also saw in his vision. They are joined by two warrior rabbits, Bigwig and Silver. This group faces many dangers as they travel across the English countryside, like stray dogs, rabbit snares, and highways. Eventually they make it to Watership Down, the place Fiver recognizes from his vision, and start a new warren.
Now that they have a chance to relax, the rabbits notice that there aren’t any female rabbits. With the help of Kehaar the seagull, they manage to find another warren in the area that might be willing to share some of its people. Unfortunately, this new warren turns out to be a police state run by a crazy killer bunny who calls himself General Woundwort, but Hazel and the others manage to free a few of the rabbits from Woundwort. General Woundwort won’t allow anyone to leave, so he and some of his soldiers attack Watership Down. The Watership Down rabbits aren’t really warriors, but they are smart, experienced, and desperate.
Watership Down is more than just an adventure story. When the rabbits stop for the evening, they tell each other stories from bunny history, myth, and legend. Along the way you learn a little bit of the bunny language, too. Richard Adams did a really good job of making rabbit culture interesting.
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This post written by Clint A Morbid Taste for Bones
by Ellis Peters
[cover name=amorbidtasteforbones]
This is the first in a series of books about Brother Cadfael, an unusual monk who solves mysteries in the twelfth century. Cadfael is Welsh, but he lives in an abbey in Shrewsbury, England. That’s not why he is unusual, though. Cadfael wasn’t born a monk. When he was younger, he took part in the First Crusade. He has seen a lot more of the world than most monks (or most other people in the twelfth century), he knows a lot of unusual things, and he has a knack for noticing little details. He also tends to ignore any rules that get in the way, and he has a very different take on religion and morality than most of his fellow monks.
In A Morbid Taste for Bones, a monk named Columbanus collapses and appears unable to recover his senses. Another monk, Brother Jerome, has a vision: Saint Winifred will cure Brother Columbanus if they take him to where Winifred was killed. This is awfully convenient, since the abbot has been thinking about getting a saint for the abbey. When Saint Winifred actually cures Columbanus, the abbot takes it as a sign from God that Saint Winifred’s remains should be moved from her grave in Wales to the abbey.
A group of monks, including Jerome, Columbanus, and our hero Cadfael, make their way to Wales to pick up Saint Winifred’s remains. This idea isn’t too popular with the local people, who are rather fond of their saint. There is a fierce debate, and before everyone can come to a conclusion, a very important person is murdered. This is about 900 years too early for forensic science, but Cadfael has a few tricks up his sleeve.
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This post written by Clint In the Time of the Butteflies
by Julia Alvarez
[cover name=inthetimeofthebutterflies]
Let’s get one thing out of the way before I actually describe the book. As you read my review, you might think this book sounds “educational” or “good for you” or any other fancy ways of saying boring, unpleasant, and hard to read. Well, it is educational and lots of bad things do happen to the main characters, but it is not boring, unpleasant, or hard to read. This is one of the few books I ever had to read for an English class that I loved. I think the author did a great job describing the characters and the setting. I found it very easy to read, and even though I kept thinking to myself, “This is exactly the kind of book I usually hate,” I couldn’t put it down.
In 1930, Rafael Trujillo became the President and dictator of the Dominican Republic. If you joined his political party (there was only one party, since he outlawed all the others), you were expected to “donate” some of your salary to the government. If you didn’t join his party, you might just end up dead.
Four sisters from the Mirabal family, Patria, Minerva, Dedé, and MarÃa Teresa, slowly realize just how awful Trujillo is, and eventually they join the resistance movement against him. I don’t mean they hold signs or carry letters. I mean they smuggle guns. They’re serious. They and their husbands spend time in prison. The novel isn’t just about four women in the resistance, though. It’s about their lives as human beings, although being in the resistance does become a big part of their lives.
Although the story is a work of fiction, the Mirabal sisters are real Рthey actually joined the fight against Trujillo, and three of them were murdered. The story is introduced by Ded̩, the surviving sister, but individual chapters are narrated by different sisters. This gives us a chance to really get to know each of the four women.
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This post written by Clint Bad Monkeys
by Matt Ruff
[cover name=badmonkeys]
Jane Charlotte is arrested for murder, but when she tells the police that she is actually a member of a secret organization dedicated to fighting crime, they put her in the psychological ward. Jane claims to be part of a division nicknamed the Bad Monkeys, who are supposed to track down and kill really evil people who have managed to escape justice. Apparently, this secret organization has access to all kinds of nifty stuff, like the NC gun, which kills its victim through natural causes. If you believe Jane (and the police don’t), this secret group hides tiny security cameras in pictures of eyes on posters, dollar bills, etc., and their operatives communicate through the Daily Jumble (that puzzle in the newspaper where you have to unscramble words).
Bad Monkeys is the story Jane tells a psychologist who is trying to find out if she is crazy or just lying. It is part thriller, part science fiction, and part satire. You don’t know if Jane is crazy, if she’s telling the truth, or if she’s crazy and telling the truth until the very end.
If you want, you can read the first chapter online at the author’s website.
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This post written by Clint Vagabond
by Takehiko Inoue
[cover name=vagabond]
Miyamoto Musashi was one of the most famous swordsmen in Japan. Modern Japan’s idea of the model samurai is based on Musashi. He was a master swordsman who invented a new way of fighting. He was involved in many famous duels, although he did not want to fight. He was also an artist, philosopher, and writer (he wrote The Book of Five Rings).
Vagabond tells a story of Musashi’s life, starting from age 17. At that point in his life, his name was Takezo, not Musashi. The story starts just after the Battle of Sekigahara. Takezo and his friend Matahachi picked the wrong side in that battle and are left for dead, but they are rescued by a young woman and her mother. Soldiers from the winning side of the battle are on the lookout for survivors, so Takezo and Matahachi have to hide. During this time, Takezo discovers that he is pretty good at fighting (something he didn’t realize as he was getting beaten up in his first battle). He seems to think that hitting people in the head with his wooden sword is a good way to solve his problems.
Soon Takezo decides to return home, but Matahachi stays with the mother and daughter. Unfortunately, Takezo is still a wanted man, and the people from his village try to capture him. Eventually a wise old priest and Otsu, Matahachi’s fiancee, manage to lure hm out of hiding and convince him that killing people isn’t the best way to solve his problems. Takezo changes his name to Musashi and sets out to travel Japan and become the best swordsman he can be. He is still looking for fights, but now he wants to learn from them rather than to kill people.
Most of the rest of the series focuses on his quest, where he becomes not only a better swordsman, but a better person. However, several volumes of the series focus on Musashi’s arch-rival, Sasaki Kojiro, and we also see a lot of several other major characters.
Musashi gets into a lot of fights, and a lot of people get maimed or killed. Also, there is some nudity and sex.
How historically accurate is Vagabond? Well, it’s rather loosely based on the novel Musashi, by Eiji Yoshikawa. Musashi is partially based on history, partially basd on the many legends about Miyamoto Musashi and partially made up, so Vagabond is a manga based on a novel based on legends. Still, it”s a good story, and it’s got at least some real history in it.
For those of you who are interested in Japanese history and culture, Vagabond starts at the beginning of the Edo period. The man who won the Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu, soon controls all of Japan. Basically, just as Musashi finds out he’s a really awesome swordsman, over 150 years of war and rebellion end and peace breaks out. People like Musashi aren’t needed anymore, and because of his skills and his reputation, the government sees him as something of a treat.
At one point in the series, Musashi goes to the city of Edo, which doesn’t look that great and is built on a marsh. Edo is just being built, though. The new government, the Tokugawa Shogunate, needs a new capital, and Edo is on its way to becoming a major city. In 1868, Edo is renamed Tokyo.
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[linkplus name=”Vagabond” url=”http://csul.iii.com/search/X?SEARCH=t:(vagabond)+and+a:(Inoue%2C%20Takehiko)&SORT=DX&l=eng” series=true]
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This post written by Clint The Lies of Locke Lamora
by Scott Lynch
[cover name=theliesoflockelamora]
Locke Lamora is the best thief in the city of Camorr, a city that is kind of like a fantasy version of Venice. As a young child, his parents are killed in a plague. When the city guards come to round up survivors, Locke steals one off their purses. From there, he was sold to a man called the Thiefmaker, who trains orphans to be thieves. Locke’s work is just too much for the Thiefmaker to handle, but rather than kill Locke, the Thiefmaker sells him to a priest named Chains.
Rather than trying to turn Locke into a decent citizen, Chains teaches Locke to be an even better thief. Eventually, Chains assembles a team of outstanding pickpockets, burglars, and con artists. Locke and his friends Jean, Bug, Caldo, and Galdo, are masters of disguise and deception. They can convincingly impersonate nearly anyone, from a priest of the god of death to a nobleman.
Thieves in Camorr must follow a few simple rules set by Capa Barsavi, the crime boss of the city. Among other things, they must give him their allegiance, pay him a portion of their earnings, not draw too much attention (Locke is really bad at this part), and leave the nobility alone (Lock is really, really bad at this one). In return, the city guard pretty much leaves the thieves alone. This is called the Secret Peace,and it works pretty well for the nobility and the thieves, but not for anybody else.
Locke and his friends ignore the secret peace. After all, stealing from the nobility has three huge advantages over stealing from anyone else.
- They’ve got the money.
- They’d never expect it.
- Many of them deserve it.
However, Locke and his pals aren’t the only people breaking the Secret Peace. Thieves are being murdered, but nobody has the faintest idea who is doing it. This throws the criminal underground into chaos just as Locke, Jean, Caldo, Galdo, and Bug are in the middle of the con of a lifetime.
The scams Locke and his friends use in this book are just amazing. They are works of art. This is like Ocean’s Eleven, except much more clever. However, the story is also a lot grittier and more violent. There’s a lot of swearing, and a fair amount of bloodshed. Locke isn’t much of a fighter, but Jean is a big guy who fights with a pair of axes, and he gets to use them on more than one occasion.
The setting for The Lies of Locke Lamora is really elaborate and creative. Scott Lynch has put a lot of detail into the city and the many different cultures of the world. This is a fantasy novel, and while there aren’t a lot of people who can cast spells, there are still plenty of fantastic elements. Another race of creatures ruled the world before recorded human history, and they left amazing artifacts behind. Much of the city is made out of a special material known as Elderglass, which is indestructible and glows just after the sun sets. The towers on the cover shown above are the five main Elderglass towers of Camorr, where the rich and powerful live. Of course, since nobody alive can really work with Elderglass, and since whatever ancient devices once moved people from one floor to another have long since broken down, the nobles of Camorr get around these giant towers in crude wooden elevators slapped onto the sides of the towers.
Alchemy, a fantasy version of science (plus a little magic) is also an important part of the world. Alchemists make poisons and potions, but they also make lights, cooking stones that heat up when you pour water on them, and many more nifty things. Alchemists also help develop new kinds of plants – alchemically enhanced fruit and wine are popular treats among the extremely wealthy.
I haven’t really mentioned the characters yet, but they are really well done. Pretty much everybody is interesting and has a twist and a surprise or two hiding inside. Locke, of course, always has a trick up his sleeve. Jean is a big, chunky, axe-wielding accountant with a soft spot for romance novels. Capa Barsavi was a famous scholar before he took control of Camorr’s underworld. There are too many twists and surprises for me to spoil, but I’ll leave the rest for you.
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This post written by Clint The Night Birds
by Thomas Maltman
[cover name=thenightbirds]
The year is 1876, and Asa Senger lives on his family’s farm in Minnesota. Asa’s parents generally avoid talking about family history, but Asa learns far more than he expected when Aunt Hazel comes home from an asylum where she was held for many years.
The Sengers are unwilling to talk about the past because their family has been right in the middle of some really ugly events. They had to flee Missouri because of an argument about the abolition of slavery. Life in Minnesota was very challenging: nature was not nice to settlers, but then, settlers weren’t really nice to nature, either. The Senger family, especially Hazel, made connections with the local Dakota Sioux tribe, and they were involved with the Dakota uprising of 1862. All of this is news to poor Asa, who has never thought about his family like this before.
The story bounces back and forth between Hazel’s past and Asa and Hazel’s present. Part of it is family history, part is Asa’s life in 1876, and part is Asa’s coming to terms with his family’s turbulent past.
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This post written by Clint The Spellman Files
by Lisa Lutz
[cover name=thespellmanfiles]
Isabel “izzy” Spellman works for her family’s business. This might seem okay, but her parents run a detective agency out of their house. Working for her parents isn’t that bad. The real problem is living with detectives. Her parents run credit checks on her older sister’s boyfriends, and they bug all their kid’s rooms. Her younger sister does “recreational surveillance,” which is a nice way of saying she spies on random people for fun. Her uncle Ray works for the business, but he has a nasty habit of taking extra-long weekends and forcing the rest of the family to track him down.
Izzy has lousy taste in boyfriends. She dated one guy primarily because he owned every episode of her favorite TV show on DVD. Then she meets a normal guy, Daniel. He’s a dentist, and he doesn’t have to worry about his family members picking the locks on his room and either planting hidden cameras or cutting his hair while he sleeps. Spending time with him makes her reconsider her lifestyle – she likes the detective business, but she realizes she doesn’t like being a detective. She eventually tells her parents she wants out, but they will only agree if she takes one last case…
As you might guess, this is a mix of comedy and mystery. It’s certainly funny, and it does contain a mystery, but the first part of the book is all background. The background is amusing, but the real mystery starts later. Also, her family is a bit over the top, so if you don’t like that kind of humor, you probably won’t enjoy a lot of the book.
If you want, you can read some of the book online at Google Books.
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This post written by Clint The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
[cover name=thenameofthewind]
Kote is a simple innkeeper. Unfortunately, the roads are not safe these days, so business isn’t doing so well. Part of the problem is that a bunch of giant spider-like creatures are living near his village, so Kote decides to wipe them out. Because simple innkeepers always kill packs of monsters in their spare time.
One man is sure that Kote is more than he seems. He calls himself Chronicler, and he is sure that Kote is the legendary hero or villain (depending on which legend you listen to) Kvothe. After hounding Kote for a while, Chronicler finally gets him to confess to being Kvothe. Chronicler really wants to know the truth behind all of the stories about Kvothe, but Kvothe will only talk if Chronicler promises to write exactly what Kvothe says.
Much of The Name of the Wind is Kvothe telling us about his life. He’s done some pretty impressive things. He was born into a group of traveling performers, so he learned to act, sing, and ply instruments. An wizard/scholar named Abenthy travels with his family for a while, and he teaches Kvothe the basics of magic/science. However, Abenthy never teaches him the really powerful magic, where if you can name something, you can control it. Kvothe decides he wantes to learn the name of the wind, which is something that Abenthy knows. Abenthy encourages him to attend the University, where he can learn that kind of magic, but before that can happen, Kvothe’s family is killed.
Kvohte survives as an orphan for a while, but he eventually gets into the University, where can study naming magic, and maybe even find out more about who killed his family. We learn a lot about Kvothe’s life at the University – how he fell in love, how he was banned from ever setting foot in the library again after an incident involving a candle, and how he manages to become a student of the Master Namer.
This book is big, but it is only part on of three. We get a lot of hints about the things he has done, but we don’t know, for example, why he eventually gets expelled from the University, how he gets the nickname of Kvoth Kingkiller, or why he decides to pretend to be an inkeeper.. However, this book isn’t all about the past. Parts of it are set int he present, where dark forces appear to be at work. Kvothe may have very good reasons for hiding out.
You can read an excerpt from the book online at the author’s website.
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This post written by Clint The God of Animals
by Aryn Kyle
[cover name=thegodofanimals]
Alice Winston is twelve years old, and she has a rough life. Well, most of the bad things actually happen to people around her, but she has to deal with them all and there is nobody around to help her. Her mother is depressed and spends most of her time in bed. Her father is too busy trying to keep his ranch from going bankrupt to really pay any attention to her. Her sister ran away with a cowboy from the rodeo, so nobody even notices when she outgrows her current clothes.
As if family drama isn’t enough, Alice has to take over her older sister’s chores, including teaching some wealthy but untalented woman, Sheila, how to ride a horse. When one of her friends dies, Alice ends up talking with her English teacher. When he leaves, Alice still needs someone to talk to. She ends up telling Sheila things about her family that cause a lot of trouble, and her family sort of falls apart. Although Alice survives, and might even have an okay future, this story doesn’t really have a happy ending.
You can read some of it online at Google Books.
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