02 July 2010

What I am reading: June 2010

  1. Soulless
  2. Changeless by Gail Carriger: These are the first two of the new series "The Parasol Protectorate", with Blameless  coming out in late summer. I liked them very much and far from finding them tediously derivative of Amelia Peabody, as one review accused, I found them well in the line of an homage to Austen, ut with steampunk, Heyer, an interesting paranormal concept embodied. I liked them and I will buy the next.
  3. The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson: Advance, uncorrected proof. Charming YA (and by that I mean young, as in appropriate for 9+ in my view) story of the familiars to magic users. Interesting POV from the animal protagonists, rather than the (not quite teen) magicians. I liked it and will look forward to the sequel.
  4. The Dragon Variations: by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, comprising:Local Custom—Master Trader Er Thom yos'Galan knows that Liaden custom is to be matched with a proper bride and provide his clan, Korval, with an heir. Yet his heart is immersed in another universe, influenced by another culture, and lost to a woman not of his world. And to take a Terran wife such as scholar Anne Davis is to risk both his honor and reputation—not to mention the lives of loved ones.
  5. Scout's Progress—Aelliana Caylon is a brilliant mathematician, revered by pilots for the life-saving revisions she brought to the ven'Tura Piloting Tables. Despite this, her home life is terrifying, as the target of her elder brother's spite and her mother's indifference. Convinced that she has no recourse, Aelliana endures, until, on a dare, she plays a game of chance and wins a spaceship. Suddenly she has a way to escape her drab life ? if she can qualify as a pilot, and survive her brother's abuse. 
  6. Conflict of Honors—Declared legally dead by a High Priestess of the Goddess and abandoned by her mother, Priscilla Delacroix has roamed the galaxy for ten years, surviving and becoming a woman of extraordinary skills. Now, she's been betrayed and abandoned once again, left on a distant planet by the Liaden starship on which she had been an important officer. But she's not alone: starship captain Shan yos'Galan has his own score to settle with the same enemy and is about to offer her an alliance. 
  7. Mouse and Dragon: Aelliana Caylon has endured much, and finally, she appears to have won all: a spaceship, comrades, friends -- and the love of a pilot she adores.            Even better that her lover—the man who was destined for her, a man as much a loner as she—is also the Delm of Korval, arguably the most powerful person on all of Liad. He has the power to remove her and protect her from the toxic environment of her home Clan. Best of all, he agrees to sit as her co-pilot and her partner in a courier business.
                Even happy endings sometimes show a few flaws. Such as Aelliana's home clan being not as agreeable to letting her go as it had first seemed. And the fact that someone is stealing pilots in the Low Port, which falls within the Delm of Korval's honor. Oh, and the revelation that the man she loves—the man who is destined for her—isn't entirely the man she thought he was. And finally, she discovers that even the lift from Liad she'd so fervently desired, is part of a larger plan, a plan requiring her to be someone she never thought she was, or could be.
      
  8. Conflict of Honors: In the third novel of the Liaden Universe, Priscilla Delacroix is betrayed and abandoned by her shipmates. But confronting the crew will be far easier-and safer-than confronting the demons of her past.                                                                                                           I read the 4,5 and 6 several years again and wanted to go back to them after reading 7. I read 7 after reading sample chapters on the authors' web site and deciding that I had to read it right away—being able to download books instantly is almost a form of drug addiction, I think.  The above plot summaries are from Amazon. Let me say that these are great books: science fiction with romance, swash and soap. The female characters are strong and intelligent and don't take a back seat to anyone, while the men are also strong and intelligent. These are some of the first Austen/Heyer pastiche science fiction novels I had read, although the Heyer dominance shows more in the earlier books. Chronology is a little off, with internal and date in print not coinciding, but the wiki article gives a good (although dated and not including the latest books in the series) understanding of what order the books should be read in and the complications of the publishing (omnibuses from different publishers including different books in different order!).                                                                                                                                                                        

    1 comment:

    Berlinbound said...

    Thank you for stopping by and for your comment. On our way back to NYC in a few days ...