Recent Reads

Here, There Be Dragons (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica) by James A. Owens

Man, did I ever enjoy this one. It's very clever...I laughed at and/or read passages to the husband all the time. The Imaginarium Geographica is an atlas of all of the fantastical worlds ever invented (Narnia, Prydain, etc.). The Winter King is in a bid to take over Arthur Pendragon's throne, and if he does, the boundaries between real lands and imaginary lands will disintegrate, and his forces of evil will conquer all lands. As it is, every land that the Winter King has already contacted becomes shadowed in the Geographica as though it never existed.

John finds out that he has become a caretaker  of the Geographica when he comes to London only to find his teacher/mentor has been murdered. Two other men who are swept into the investigation, Jack and Charles, join John on his quest to restore a rightful king to the throne, save the Geographica, and keep the border between fantasy and reality intact.

The first review on Amazon reveals one of the ending twists. I was fortunate enough to read the book without seeing that review. I probably should have/could have guessed, but the characters of John, Charles, and Jack are quite interesting overall.

Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler

So much better than Twilight though I guess it's for a slightly older audience. Jane is 23 or or so, and out of college, unlike the high school set of that other tome.

Jane has always been an outsider to her hometown of Rockabill, ME. Her mother appeared during a tremendous storm, completely naked. Her parents married, but when Jane was just a young girl, her mother disappeared, leaving husband and daughter to continue. In such a small town, only one of these scandals would have been enough to earn Jane a place on the outcast list. Add to that the accidental drowning years later of her boyfriend, something Jane thinks she could have prevented "if only..." and you've got a situation that no one in her right mind could bear. The only thing keeping her in Rockabill is her father, who suffers some sort of illness, and who refuses to leave on the off-chance that his wife might return.

One night, though, as she is taking her nightly swim, Jane discovers the body of someone who had been murdered, and she learns more about herself than she could have ever imagined. The next day, she is swept up in the world of a handsome young (old?) investigator in a porsche and her life changes in [supernatural] ways that she would never have expected.

Honestly, the sex scenes didn't do much for me, but other than that, I'd give this to anyone who thinks Twilight is a good thing with the hope that they would come to change their minds (or at least appreciate supernatural beings that don't sparkle). Jane was a lit major in college, and there are some fun references to other fictional works (for instance, all Jane knows about a barghest comes from Roald Dahl's The Witches). My biggest complaint with this novel is one I have with all stories it seems: the heroine is always pretty. There is no way I would be able to fit into, let alone look good in, the outfits that Jane gets to where, and the handsome investigator really wouldn't fall for me. But, ah, well, I guess part of the reason we read is to live vicariously.

The Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine

I'm on book 5 or 6 now. These are very fast-paced, fun reads. Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden, a person who has the ability to control wind and weather (there are also Fire and Earth wardens). For every hurricane that destroys something, one or more weather wardens weren't able to completely hold it off. There is an aspect of balance, too, so not every storm is prevented. But the ones that are capable of destroying life as we know it are the ones the wardens really want to prevent.

Joanne ends up having many adventures with wardens and djinn and being on the run from regular and magical humans. She gets herself into many complex situations; while the writing isn't that complex, the novels can be a lot of fun to zip through in a few hours.

Petty Treason and Point of Honour by Madeline Robins

Sarah Tolerance is a "fallen woman" because she ran off with her lover and failed to get married to him before he died. She returns to England during the Napoleonic Wars, and rather than take up her aunt's occupation of running a brothel (one of the only options for fallen women), she becomes an "agent of inquiry." One Amazon review calls her a "liberated Elizabeth Bennett."

While the crimes in these books are actually of some importance (one involves which son will become George III's heir) Sarah's daily interactions with London are quite interesting. These novels are also fairly quick reads, but there is a charming element of historical fiction from the woman's point of view that we don't often get. Especially the pont of view of a woman capable of defending herself, both with fists and swords.

Dog On It by Spencer Quinn

A mystery told from the point of view of the dog. Literally. I loved this read. One of the beautiful things about it is that we only ever know what Chet thinks. Quinn doesn't ever take us on any "in the meantime" journies; if it isn't something Chet experiences, we don't know about it until he does.

And Chet is a pretty nifty pup. He failed out of cop school (though he has a good reason for it) and now helps Bernie get by. But Chet is, after all is said and done, a dog. A rival or a cat or a new scent can distract him like most dogs, so readers never get the sense that he is just too good to be true.