The Scottish Play

I've done it again, read the second book in a series before the first. I did it with Christi Phillips mysteries, and in the case of the Sarah Woolson novels I started with the third book in the series. I blame the publishes partly because numbers or an itemized list of titles would be helpful. The library does it on their database, providing a complete list of books in a series, why not publishing companies? This is especially true in series with similar names, the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries which all have 'dead' in the title immediately come to mind. Deanna Raybourn wrote on her blog that after the first three books in her Lady Julia Grey mysteries (Silent in the Grave, Silent in the Snactuary, and Silent on the Moor) her publishers were afraid of just that and switched from the word 'silent' to a new run of three books featuring the word 'dark' (The Dark Road to Darjeeling was released in October and the fifth book The Dark Inquiry will be released in July). Okay tirade over, I've made my point, on to the actual book.

I came for the Macbeth (in case you didn't know its supposed bad luck to say the name in a theater, so its referred to as "the Scottish play"). Its always been a favorite of mine, since I first read it in a Shakespeare for kids picture book, I remember the site of Macbeth's head on a pole at the end made quite an impression on me. I've seen the play performed, on numerous films (including the disturbing Japanese Throne of Blood when I was in high school), and have read some retellings, including Rebecca Reisert's The Third Witch which was one of our summer reading assignments in high school to prepare us for reading the play later that year. There is something primal and satisfying about it as a story, its shocking and bloody, magical and a little disturbing. Carrell's book includes all of these attributes putting her main character right in the thick of things in Scotland, where the events are said to have really happened before the Norman conquest in 1066. The element of magic is there with modern day Druids and magical items. THe blood is there with staged human sacrifices and murders staged to look like tarot cards. 

Not having read the first Kate Stanley mystery, Interred With Their Bones did not leave me confused in the least, the only part I was a little lost on was her now failed relationship with Ben Pearl, which was danced around but not really well explained, it plays a relatively minor part in the story as a whole so don't fret about it. The body count was staggering with something like ten bodies piling up by the end, which puts it a little on the extreme side. Carrell is a Shakespearian scholar and writes like one, if you're not willing to learn the history behind the story don't bother, I slogged through most but confess I eventually stopped reading the historical flashbacks because they only confused me. THey do nothing to further the plot, and believe me you'll understand the story just fine if you don't read them. I think its just Carrell indulging herself in a period piece.

I like it enough to go back and read the first novel, which I'll probably do in the near future. It will be curious to see where the series goes, I mean how far can you take mysteries about Shakespeare in the modern world. THese are not the lightest of reads, aside from just the history you need to have more than a passing knowledge of Shakespeare or you'll be lost, Carrell assumes her readers know their Bard. Two thirds of the jokes and illusions will go over your head unless you dust off that unabridged Shakespeare, or at least re-watch a little Kenneth Branaugh. Yum.

Heroic Efforts

So I had intended to leave off from delving back into the Greek myth that never ends for a while, I've got a backlog of grownup books waiting for me at home. As you remember if you've been listening to my grousing, I like Riordan's work, but I've got to be in the right frame of mind to trip the light fantastic. I was resolved until I happened to be left at work without a book to read and when I wandered to the Reading classroom next door there it was on the end of a shelf. And I thought, why the hell not, its a Friday, the kids are taking a quiz, lets do this.

In retrospect, a very good way to spend a Friday afternoon. When my Reading teacher friend and I had discussed the fact that I was stuck on The Red Pyramid and its dual narrators and more grown up humor she told me I'd like The Lost Hero. Which I did, Riordan entertains many favorite Greek myths that somehow eluded him in the Percy Jackson series, and brings in a few more unexpected ones.

The plot lines are more complex than some of the other stories, but in this case they weave together quite well and nothing seems random or misplaced. The hefty ~500 pages leave plenty of room to ensure everything gets its due. The continuation of the Percy Jackson series isn't overpowering, and we are treated to a whole other side of our old favorites, and Percy's absence does make my heart grow fonder of our old friend. The three way narrative is certainly a departure, and is different from the back and forth bickering tone of The Red Pyramid. The three narrators Jason, Piper, and Leo are very different from one another both in personal history and motivation. They often forge their on paths, making the book sometimes seem like a personal story for each of them. The fact that Jason is wracked with amnesia and both Piper and Leo have memories altered by the mist only adds to the confusion at points. Riordan is certainly more guarded, less inclined to give away major plot points, keeping his secrets until the bitter end.

The question of Greek versus Roman interpretations of polytheism has long been something readers demanded from Riordan, and he finally starts to satisfy in The Lost Hero, in fact the big revel at its end is that there is a Roman Camp Half-Blood out near San Francisco and Jason is its equivalent of Percy Jackson. Not a whole lot is actually said about differences between greek and Roman views of the gods, other than that the Romans saw their gods as more violent and warlike. Riordan does take the chance however to explore some of the less prominent gods and goddesses in this book making Piper a daughter of Aphrodite, who is something more than superficial and Leo a son of Hephestus with brains as well as brawn. All in all this book is just deeper, I think often in the Percy Jackson books he had to hold back on description for the sake of brevity to meet the appropriate length for adolescent readers. Considering the man is pretty much set for life he can write as much as he damn well pleases now, and his writing has improved as a result of it.

Afternoon Delight

Delight may be a slight exaggeration, but I just really wanted to use that title. This last of the Hathaway family romances is a brief one, probably almost a hundred pages under the others in the series. I've read all but the first and I've enjoyed them, and to be honest I'm not surprised Beatrix's story is a bit of a flop. Throughout the antics of her brother and three sisters Beatrix has been a sweet, fun secondary character but she's a little too one dimensional to be a true heroine and far too sweet and naive to be a true vixen. 

In the other siblings stories her animals darted in and out giving comic relief, unfortunately they all must be tired because they're no where in sight. The story, reminiscent of Cyrano de Bergerac with her odd love of animals being the handicap she hides when writing to a hero in the Crimean War is good and interesting, until he comes home. Aside from the expected conflict of revealing herself as the woman he feel in love with via the pen there is an element of post traumatic stress involved (I'm getting flashbacks to Elizabeth Hoyt's Four Soldiers series) which makes our hero unpredictably violent. Then there is the late stage, out-of-nowhere assassination attempt that is both random and unneeded. 

All in all it was okay, it lacked the charm of the usual Kleypas fare and was dry, but it wasn't actually a bad book. If you came for the series stick it out but on its own Love in the Afternoon is forgettable and not exactly a delight by any stretch of the imagination.

Last Straw

When all was said and done I was very favorably impressed with Riordan's grand finale. The anticipated 300+ page battle is actually tempered with a few very interesting side trips along the way. THe characters reach actualization, the problems are plausibly resolved, and unlike Harry Potter you aren't left wonder in WTF...? I thought he died....?

Percy's trip to the Underworld and his following in the footsteps of Achilles was both fascinating and revealing about him as a person and his priorities in life. Nico di Angelo as a character steals a good portion of the story, and though he was a late bloomer in Riordan's saga, he certainly comes into his own, The fact that Riordan doesn't shy away from the dark side is one of the things I like best about his work. In so many books, especially for young adults there is a very clear dichotomy. Good and bad, black and white, right and wrong and never the twain shall meet. In the world of percy Jackson and the Olympians there is a much more balanced (and realistic) view of life. Often you need to acknowledge, accept, and even use some of that bad, dark, black, negativity because its a part of life. Ignoring it will neither work nor help you achieve the end you desire. 

All of Riordan's characters have a role to play, and sacrifice is never undertaken lightly. There is no grand tally at the end where he just lists the fallen, each hero's death is documented and the role they have to play explained. Overall I have always found Riordan to be a champion for those kids who are different, and in the last stand everyone, the creepy son of darkness, the airhead beauty queen, the muscle-head, even the Party Ponies have their moment in the sun.

Perhaps my favorite thing about the book and maybe even the series was the idea behind the title. In my post on The Titan's Curse I bitched about the title being hard to pick out in the story. In The Last Olympian the moral of the story is linked body and soul to the idea of the last Olympian, the forgotten goddess. Hestia, the goddess of the home and hearth was my goddess in high school Latin (called Vesta, think vestal virgins) so I have an old soft spot for her. Beyond that however I have to applaud Riordan's brave stance that he articulates through her, that sometimes the best thing we can do, the most powerful, and often the hardest thing  to do, is nothing. It is very tempting to charge cannons and slay the enemy, but its not always what is right or necessary. This little gem does a lot for Percy, indeed it may be the making of him. 

The battles themselves are lengthy and numerous, too many for me to talk about. Of course the fact that Riordan has started to publish a new series (The Heros of Olympus) including some of the same characters tells us that all of our favorites survive. They mostly get what they want, Percy gets Annabeth, Annabeth gets to redesign Olympus (and Percy), Rachel gets to be the Oracle (not sure if that was such a great deal), Chiron gets to rebuild Cap Half-Blood bigger and better with more ugly cabins to fill, and Grover gets to be the new Lord of the Wild running the Council of Cloven Elders. Is it just me or did the funny little goat man seem to get the best deal?

Riordan's writing is sort of like teaching, the first class of the day is always a little shaky, but as you go through the day it only improves. You get your rhythm, you cut out the unnecessary stuff and hone in on what is vital interesting. Having started with The Red Pyramid I think his narrative is certainly more sophisticated, his characters better developed and his humor more elevated. Not that Percy Jackson wasn't good, the extras just make for a meatier, more satisfying read. We'll see how The Lost Hero fares sometime in the future, because you know we haven't heard the last of this crew.

You'll Need a Whiskey Straight Up....

The quote " Ireland is a good place to get lucky" is so woefully misplaced on the cover of this novel that I don't even know where to start. A) if you are going to make your hero be on the run from the mob, you must insert some form of danger (we've all read romances, the mob kidnaps his lady and he has to rescue her...not in this book). B) Sheep farming is never sexy. C) subplots pertaining to real estate are never pertinent or welcome. D) marriage before the end of the book, with no appreciable conflicts just isn't kosher, if you're going to get a happily ever after you're going to have to work for it dammit!

Now part of my discomfort with this story is the fact that I waited so damn long to get this book, something ridiculous like nine months, long enough that the library system wouldn't let me cancel my hold. They figure if you've waited that long you have to ready it, no bones about it. Seeing as I could have had a baby in that time,  if I wait that long it better be a quality item. I know what you're all saying, its a romance what do you expect? Don't make me sic Candy and Sarah from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books on you. Many romances are original, putting their own unique twist on a classic genre. Many but not all. 

Not to put too fine a point on it but the plot here just wasn't reasonably considered, the characters were inconsistent and not all that interesting, and I kept waiting for the shoot-em-up theatrics to come (like you wouldn't be). Instead of Sopranos I got soma, I needed a drink just to plow my way through the rest of it. And yes despite the Jameson I am bitter.

Oh and E) the sex scenes in this book are so few and far between that "getting lucky" isn't even an option for the most part.

Battle Stations

The Greek myths are getting hardcore now. I admit, I've been severely sucked in, now I have to find out hat happens. Too much, it turns out, at least in terms of book 4 in the series. The pace is a little hectic, actually a lot like Forrest Gump, running one minute and well...slow the next. If you can make it through those slow patches however I think you'll find it satisfying overall.

 A good question to start off with is why no one noticed the entrance to the famed labyrinth before now (then again why did no once pick up on Luke's sociopathic tendencies before he stole Zeus's Master Bolt in the first book is another good question). The concept of the labyrinth is a good one, it seems to give the plot a crux which Riordan sometimes seems to loose as he attempts to touch on every Greek myth out there but it does fall apart at times. His red herrings are exceptional, which personally masks the meandering, I love me a good red herring.

A number of things we've been waiting for finally happen in this book, Grover's achievement of his lifelong dream, Nico's peace with his sister's death, Percy and Annabeth macking it, teenagers flying without the use of narcotics of excessive speed, a good old fashioned catfight, and someone tearing apart the ugly cabins at Camp half-Blood. the whole book is like a drawn bowstring, you keep waiting for the shot, for the other shoe to drop but you don't really get quite that far yet.

In Harry Potter (call me an ass but clearly in terms of plot it is no longer even worth ignoring the parallels) the sixth book was about the preparation for and eventual occurrence of Dumbledore's death. In Percy's case however his battle at camp doesn't have those kind of catastrophic consequences, instead we see him learning to lean more on others, versus good old Harry's solitude solution to problems. I'm still drawn in enough to want to finish the series, though I'm fairly certain that The Last Olympian will just be several hundred pages of battle sequences, but it is undeniable that to see how Riordan plays it will be intriguing.

If I had to pick the most encouraging things that book 4 threw at us readers it came down to Calypso and Luke being possessed. The story of Calypso is of course an oldie but a goodie from Greek mythology but the angst the Percy undergoes as a result of it, the temptation to just take the very easy road is an interesting one. Percy grows up immeasurably in this book, and he is progressively becoming an extremely interesting character with more layers than an onion. That and hen he kisses the ladies he can make volcanos explode, don't even try to deny that you were impressed by that. Then there's Luke, handsome, once lovable Luke that we can't seem to get rid of, regardless how hard we try. Oh wait, I almost forgot...we finally did he is now just a husk being inhabited by the evil Titan lord Kronos. Possession is always cool, an even though you may feel a twinge of regret that this jaded, angry boy has been taken advantage of, face it him being possessed is still extremely cool, I dare say way cooler than the sixteen-year-old-Voldemort-hiding-in-a-diary plot any day. 

Do Not Disturb

As far as rooms go, this one should have a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. If you take a gander at the cover it promises that "the heirs of Sherlock Holmes solve the world's most perplexing cold cases". False advertising. Now I love Sherlock Holmes, I've read through the cannon multiple times, I see every television version out there, I even started dating a guy who shared a mutual love of the consulting detective at 221 B Baker STreet. I will admit that I am often disappointed at the fanfiction recreations of Holmes or his methods. I thought The Shadow of Reichenbach Falls was cracked out, please the evil spirit of Moriarty jumping from body to body? Then again I have always given the Mary Russell novels, which I was very dubious about a fair chance (for what its worth I think they're very well written and have kept my interest through something like nine or ten novels now). Some more modern versions, notably The Baker Street Letters I'm more mixed about ( though I do have the second book in the series The Brothers of Baker Street, coming out on March 1, reserved at the library). However The Murder Room just had way too much going on.

In the first forty pages the perspective jumped about six times, the anecdotes which were supposed to set the scene just confused me, and worst of all I was bored out of my mind. The antics of the so-called Vidocq society (after the first professional detective) were just plain dull. The 100% cerebral reasoning of cases was flat and the childish bickering between the three keynote members was just plain stupid. I'm all for witty banter, if its actually witty. Once the concept  was established I confess I zipped in and out, picking and choosing the chapters I thought would be interesting. It may be cheating to say that I never read the whole book cover to cover, but their you have it . Mea culpa, I assure you my life in no way feels bereft.

Part of me selfishly wonders if the writing is too highbrow for me, perhaps I'm more comfortable with a lower element in writing. After all the young adult fiction may be stunting my reading abilities. In my defense however when I read, no matter what I read, its the good story, the satisfying story that I'm looking for in the end. The Murder Room wasn't going to meet that bottom line from the first five pages, I stuck with it hoping that the human element would kick in, but it never did. What makes Sherlock Holes endearing, even fascinating is his Boswell, without his human half displayed as Watson (or in Laurie R. King's books as his wife Mary) your left reading a police file folder about a crime, or a tedious explanation of how to put together the solution to a murder the same way you would explain how to put together a bookshelf from Ikea. I've never read true crime, and this book is a little to true crime to be my kind of novel.