The Wizard's Promise

From Amazon:
Hanna has spent her life hearing about the adventures of her namesake Ananna, the lady pirate, and assassin Naji. She dreams of the same adventures, but little does she know she is about to tumble into one of her own. Hanna is apprenticed to a taciturn fisherman called Kolur, and, during a day of storms and darkness, are swept wildly off course.
In this strange new land, Kolur hires a stranger to join the crew and, rather than heading home, sets a course for the dangerous island of Jadanvar. As Hanna meets a secretive merboy, and learns that Kolur has a deadly past, she soon realises that wishing for adventures is a dangerous game - because those wishes might come true.

My Thoughts:
First of all-I love this cover so so much.

I also really enjoyed Clarke's other series? duology? starting with The Assassin's Curse (read 2012, sequel read in 2013). This takes place in the same universe and stars the daughter of someone who knew the protagonist in that series.

Anyways. The Wizard's Promise is about a young potential Wind Witch who is also a fisherman's apprentice who is whisked away on an adventure when her master finds it necessary to storm an old lover's wedding and stop her from marrying a villain. Of course, in this book, they haven't yet made it that far. In fact this book mostly focuses on the trials of sailing so far north, and the falling out between Kolur and Hanna before she ultimately decides to help him in his quest in addition to a powerful witch and the North Wind. Needless to say, I am eagerly anticipating the follow up.

Rating: ***1/2

The Adjacent

From Amazon: 
In the near future, Tibor Tarent, a freelance photographer, is recalled from Anatolia to Britain when his wife, an aid worker, is killed—annihilated by a terrifying weapon that reduces its target to a triangular patch of scorched earth.

A century earlier, Tommy Trent, a stage magician, is sent to the Western Front on a secret mission to render British reconnaissance aircraft invisible to the enemy.

Present day. A theoretical physicist develops a new method of diverting matter, a discovery with devastating consequences that will resonate through time.

My Thoughts:
To be honest, I have no idea what happened in this book. I mean. I can give you details and what superficially happened. But I don't know what's going on. Are all the storylines echos of a single event? Multiverses? Retellings of the same event? With that said, while frustrating, I really enjoyed The Adjacent. Don't know what's happening-but it was an enjoyable and puzzling experience. There are also more storylines than the summary indicates...and the Tommy Trent one is a rather small part though magic is a common thread-as is flying-as is photography.

Rating: ****

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

Author: Catherynne M. Valente
Title: Deathless
Themes: love, power, humanity, war, death

Plot: From Amazon

Twentieth-century Russian history provides a background for Valente's lush reimagining of folkloric villain Koschei the Deathless and his dalliance with Marya Morevna, a clever but troubled young woman. After Koschei sweeps Marya away from her family's home in St. Petersburg-Petrograd-Leningrad, Baba Yaga assigns her three tasks that will make her worthy of marrying Koschei. As she spends more time in Koschei's Country of Life, Marya starts to become too much like her unearthly lover, until naïve Ivan Nikolayevich helps her regain her humanity (as well as the sympathy of the reader). Valente's lush language and imagery add to the magic and fundamentally Russian nature of the story, drawing pointed parallels between the Soviet Union's turmoil and the endless war between Koschei and his brother, Viy. Readers used to the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault will find this tale peculiar but enchanting.

My Thoughts: Reading Deathless was a revelation for me. It was my first Valente (certainly not my last) and it shocked me. I devoured this disturbing, sensual, and beautiful re-imagined folktale. I can't say that there is a single likable character in the whole novel...with a cast ranging from humans, spirits, demi-gods (??), and seasons. But they are compelling. The imagery alone is fantastic-Marya lives in a human world full of twelve mothers, red scarves, and house spirits. Then she is transported (it's a long trip including trials and feasts which is an unnerving and delightful sequence in itself) to the land of Life which is populated by spirits, living architecture, and the unending struggle against Death and his kingdom.

In addition to the bold and bizarre world-building, Marya enters into marriage with Life, who puts on skin to please her. The exploration of an open marriage and bdsm is intriguing though certainly not the main focus of the novel. This melding of Russian folklore is truly about war and loss and that all things End. I'm still not sure if I want to read all the fantastic elements of the story as an escapist fantasy from the realities of starving during a crumbling regime in mid-century Russia or as a wonderful surrealist dark fiction.

Rating: ****1/2
The only reason this doesn't have five stars is because I know this dark magical realism thing doesn't appeal to everyone. 

Similar Books: Amazon recommends Gregory Maguire and Neil Gaiman and similar authors...but I am forced to disagree. Neither gets as grimy, dirty, dark, and transcendent as Valente does in Deathless. With that said, I really can't think of any similar reads off the top of my head. Oops.

2014-3 Froi of the Exiles

Author: Melina Marchetta
Title: Froi of the Exiles (Lumatere Chronicles 2)
Themes: heredity, madness, duty, love

Plot: From Amazon "From master storyteller Melina Marchetta comes an exhilarating new fantasy springing from her celebrated epic, Finnikin of the Rock. Three years after the curse on Lumatere was lifted, Froi has found his home . . . or so he believes. Fiercely loyal to the Queen and Finnikin, Froi has been taken roughly and lovingly in hand by the Guard sworn to protect the royal family, and has learned to control his quick temper with a warrior's discipline. But when he is sent on a secretive mission to the kingdom of Charyn, nothing could have prepared him for what he finds in its surreal royal court. Soon he must unravel both the dark bonds of kinship and the mysteries of a half-mad princess in this barren and mysterious place. It is in Charyn that he will discover there is a song sleeping in his blood . . . and though Froi would rather not, the time has come to listen."

My Thoughts: Froi of the Exiles follows Finnikin of the Rock in the Lumatere Chronicles, but it feels like a whole new series? trilogy? Finnikin of the Rock felt like a YA fantasy romance, Froi feels like the start of an epic YA fantasy. Froi is sent to Charyn to assassinate it's king, but along the way stumbles into discovering his parentage, falls in love with the mad princess, and breaks his bonds to Queen Isaboe to protect this new family.

I was sucked into this book. I was in anguish at the end (it is a cliffhanger, just so you know) because I can't afford to buy the next book! With that said, there were a few quibbles. First, I really did not like how everytime Froi had a violent impulse or did something wrong he blamed his blood. Really? Only one kingdom in your world has violent people? only one kingdom rapes? Let's blame your Serker ancestry for your decision to do bad things! Like every other flipping page! On another note, I felt like Quintana...who has been systematically raped for the past who-knows-how-many years could suddenly enjoy sex with our main character? I don't know. I also feel like that wasn't addressed properly in the book. I do appreciate how she is called a "whore" because that is how she would be addressed in such a society....but as a reader I felt that the violence done to her wasn't addressed as straightforwardly as I would have liked.

Rating:  **1/2

2014-2 Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Author: Laini Taylor
Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Themes: family, belonging, love

Plot: From Amazon "Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?"

My Thoughts: First of all. I found Karou obnoxiously perfect....almost manic pixie dream girl status with the incredible artistic talent, blue hair, beauty, etc. But at the same time rather flat as a character. There were a few times I liked her and wanted something good to happen...but most of the time I was wondering when we would get to the cliched love triangle or love at first sight or whatever.

Taylor did a great job building the elseworld with chimera and seraphim duking it out through eternity. I felt like the little details built into that story were rather fascinating, and I adored the chimera characters who raised Karou-they were absolutely fantastic.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The love angle with Akiva was also a little flat. Taylor tried to make it less "omg love at first sight" by building into the reincarnation thing...but it just seemed a little...silly. I doubt I'll continue the trilogy (?) but this was a fast, light read.

Rating: **

Reading Through 2012-6

Completed This Week:

American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work by Susan Cheever
***
If you managed to finish reading the subtitle I'm sure you have some idea of what Cheever's nonfiction multi-biography is all about. In truth, this has been on my TBR pile for a while but reading March inspired me to actually pick it up! I'm glad I did.
American Bloomsbury is a bit scattered, very superficial (it's only 200 pages, I know that's not a lot of room to get in-depth!), but very entertaining and interesting. Towards the end Cheever does insert herself into the story, which did turn me off a bit, since I'm sure you can fill 200 pages about these legendary writers and Transcendentalists without describing the author's "research" trips with her kids and dogs. Not that I wouldn't enjoy those stories, I just found that they didn't really fit into the overall telling of Cheever's story.
Cheever focuses quite a bit on Thoreau and his infatuation with Fuller, as well as Emerson's infatuation with her. Unfortunately Fuller's significance to history is never quite explored; but Emerson's, Alcott's, and Thoreau's certainly is. If you want a quick glimpse into a grouping of 19th century authors and their world, I would recommend it. You might also want to check out this quick review.

East by Edith Pattou
****
I do love fairy tale retellings, and this retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon (or Cupid and Psyche, or vaguely Beauty and the Beast plus tasks) is quite an enjoyable YA novel. Set in 16th century Norway, East takes the reader all throughout Northern Europe and even into France as young Rose sets off as a captive with a White Bear and then sets off to free him from a troll queen. I did find it difficult to imagine her family quite as literate as it was, but I enjoyed the cast enough to overlook it. Pattou definitely has a romantic style of writing, which makes even the most gruesome or harsh scenarios seem a bit "soft" but gives a far more emotional and poetic image to the book.
I haven't read many, but this is my favorite retelling of this tale. I do wish it had a little bit more...I don't know, pizzazz? It was a great and enjoyable retelling, but it doesn't quite capture the heart and imagination the way my other favorite retellings do (Daughter of the Forest and Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marrillier, Beauty by Robin McKinley, and Fitcher's Brides by Gregory Frost).

Death Masks by Jim Butcher
**
Okay, let's just admit I enjoy this series.
In this fifth addition Dresden faces a duel with an ancient vampire, hunting down the lost Shroud of Turin, and a band of thirty bad-ass fallen angels. And dodging the cops. And the return of his half-vampire girlfriend who "wants to talk." I really wonder about all the stress Dresden is under, but obviously his coping skills aren't the best...since he just seems to spiral into further trouble with less sleep and self-care!
While these books do feel somewhat episodic I kind of hope that there is an overarching storyline that I will pick up on sooner or later, that ties them all together. I also think Murphy didn't get enough "screen time" in this novel of the Dresden Files. I do love Murphy.

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher
**1/2
Another foray into The Dresden Files this week! This one follows an entropy curse surrounding an up and coming progressive porn film director and his cast...as well as guardian puppies from Tibet and some secret family history for Dresden that is dramatically revealed to him by White Court vampires! Exciting.

Reading Through 2012-5

Completed This Week

Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
**
I have completed the fourth book in The Dresden Files! Quite entertaining. Although my overall feelings about this author/series haven't changed. It's rather too formulaic. And I just can't get into urban fantasy, so that's another hit. But...I just keep reading them don't I? It's a fun series, give it a shot!

This particular book takes our protagonist into a war between the Winter and Summer Courts (the Fae, Seelie/Unseelie)...in addition to a war between Vampires and Wizards (which he caused), the rapidly approaching deadline he has with his murderous fairy godmother, the fact that his girlfriend is becoming a vampire, and his dead ex-girlfriend just showed up. Yup this book has a whole lot of drama. Overkill? Perhaps. Will I read book number five? You know it.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
**1/2
I kind of dragged my feet through this one, which is disappointing because I've been lusting after it since it was published, and I just love the cover for some reason. I just felt sort of...bored by it. The characters were pretty flat and stereotypical (but not archetypical!). Nevertheless by the final chapter I certainly had an opinion on who should win in the love triangle and fully despised the bad guys! I just never really liked the protagonists. Oh well. I can't have everything.

Anyways, Clockwork Angel is about Tess-an American in London who is kidnapped and forced to "Change" which reveals to her her own latent shapeshifting powers. She escapes with the aid of a secret organization of Angels (well, descendents of Angels) who are sworn to keep the balance with Downworlders (baddies like vampires, warlocks, etc.). In return for her aid in securing information about her captors and their nefarious plans, they help find her brother. Unsurprisingly, the cast of main characters (about ten or so) are all under 25, hot, powerful, etc. etc. Sometimes YA gets a little trying. With that said...gosh I love Henry! Who is a total secondary character who hardly gets any development!

Currently Reading

Yup still trying to read Blade of Fortriu by Juliet Marillier. I did pre-order her book that's coming out (in the US) in fall! I am excited. Maybe I'll even have finished this one by then. Ha!

Reading Through 2012-4

Completed This Week:

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
**
Grave Peril is the third book in The Dresden Files. My husband really enjoys this easy urban-fantasy series, so I've been reading through them too. I'm finding a very consistent pattern in these books. Our protagonist, Harry Dresden, Wizard, is confronted by strange happenings that seem to occur all at once and may or may not be related. He stumbles along until he is forced into a confrontation that he has no hope of winning...then it all comes together. He figures it all out (and then explains it a few chapters later) and somehow squeaks through a nasty situation using questionable tactics (his magic is supposedly only for good...yet he kills so many people). Of course it's emphasized that he's such a good, self-less, chivalrous guy. Which I do find annoying...it's just so much "telling" and not "showing." With that said, this is an enjoyable urban fantasy series (of fluff).

Currently Reading:

Still trucking through Clockwork Angel and Blade of Fortriu, will I ever complete these books, who knows?

Reading Through 2012-3

Completed This Week:

The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
**
I have read Abe before, back in winter 2009, but his weirdness never fails to surprise me. He is very much a surrealist and was considered part of the avant-garde back when he first began publishing in the 1950s and 1960s. In some ways he is very like Tanith Lee (my favorite author) because he tends to write archetypes instead of characters, in fact even names are missing. The two main characters, usually referred to as "the man" and "the woman," are meant to portray ideals or sentiments rather than people. Sometimes I wonder if something is lost in translation or if I just really don't fully understand the ideals these characters are supposed to represent.
Does anyone have any tips for me?
With that said, I did enjoy this rather bizarre and horrifying tale of a man being held captive in a (literal) pit/hole with a woman. They are responsible for digging sand out every night, to keep it from encroaching any further on the village below. Yes, it's weird. Yes, he schemes to escape...but I think Abe is saying something about the human will to freedom here which makes the final scene of a dangling rope ladder rather unsettling...

Watchstar by Pamela Sargent
***
Amazon says "Alone in the desert, Daiya is faced with dilemma that will determine her fate. If she can successfully resolve it she will join the Net of her village, but if she fails, her life will be spent will the feared Merged Ones. Confused and torn between worlds near and far, Daiya harbors a secret of her people, and must find a way to move beyond her discoveries to a safe place where she can survive."
I find the summary misleading! Daiya lives on a futuristic Earth populated by telekinetic and telepathic agrarian humans who strive towards becoming one with "The Merged One"/God. "Solitaries" without these abilities are born into their society, and quickly killed, and those who survive are tested upon entering adulthood to see whether or not they can truly enter the village and become Merging Ones themselves. Individuality is, not surprisingly, looked down upon. But Daiya meets a Solitary not of this world, and this threatens not only her worldview but her entire planet with her "separateness." This is a young adult fantasy/sci-fi read from 1980...it's quite enjoyable.

Currently Reading:

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Amazon says "Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length . . . everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world. . . . and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all."

Blade of Fortriu by Juliet Marillier
Yup I am still trucking through this one...very slowly.
I love Marillier but for some reason I find this series so...unreadable! I just can't connect with any characters and don't really care about the plot...any tips to get through this because I really want to read it!

Quick Review: Mortal Suns

Title: Mortal Suns

Author: Tanith Lee

Themes: family, love, royalty, fate, blessings, deformities/disabilities, hard work, incest, death

Rating: ***

Plot: Horrible screams pierce the night air as the Daystar, Queen Hesta of Akhemony, wrestles with the delivery of the King's child, beautifully formed except for one heartbreaking deformity -- she is born without feet. Consigned immediately to the world of death, the lame infant is dispatched to Thon, the underworld temple, and baptized Cemira -- "snake" -- the name she will bear throughout a lifetime of darkness. It is only at the behest of Urdombris, the Sun Consort, that Cemire is wrested from te temple of death, renamed Callistra, and restored to her rightful place in the kingdom.

My Thoughts: Basically, I think this blogger sums it all up nicely. I recommend checking it out for a quick and easy review of Mortal Suns.

• Another typical Lee protagonist and plot-very beautiful and slightly off heroine with a love/lust/obsession for someone powerful (and usually blood related, to be frank). Enjoyable, but familiar if you have read much of Lee's work.
• A vaguely alien Egyptian world, a different planet, but the court life and sun worship just strikes me as Egyptian for whatever reason.
• A diverse and well made mythos. Lee provides not only a complete official pantheon within the story, of well fleshed gods/myths/superstitions/rituals but also gives the world a bit of depth by showing that there are competing mythologies in her world.
• This story is essentially the first half of the narrator's life, and by the conclusion, you will feel something is missing-namely what comes next! Although I wouldn't necessarily call it a cliff-hanger.
• Political intrigue and shifting alliances take up the majority of the plot, our narrator is merely a powerless player.

Recommendation: I enjoyed Mortal Suns quite a bit. It has Lee's excellent world building, if also her typical protagonist/plot outline. I felt the narrator had a strong and distinctive voice, but it did not really connect to the main character (herself) as described. In the end, I would recommend this to any fantasy lovers out there as a fun and intriguing read.

Similar Reads: Heroine of the World by Tanith Lee,

Random Quote: "From the smoke, maybe, the moon blushed rosy.

In his tent hung with crimson, Nexor dined with a meager scatter of sycophants.

They heard the songs.

Over the valley of two miles, the Ipyrans heard them, too. A joyous bridegroom sings before his marriage day, they said, in Ipyra. They listened to the joyous bridegroom singing, and wondered if marriage would mean, for them, something else. (p. 201)"

Lee, Tanith. Mortal Suns. Woodstock: The Overlook Press, 2003.

Quick Review: Heart Beast

Title: Heart-Beast

Author: Tanith Lee

Themes: werewolves, curses, love, lust

Rating: **

Plot: After the killing of his brutal father, golden and handsome Daniel Vehmund has sought refuge in an exotic faraway land. But his contentment is shattered when a fabulous diamond is pressed on him by a sinister graverobber. From that first fatal contact, Daniel is doomed each night of the full moon to become something else ... something dark and powerful and savage. And nothing that originates on this earth can destroy him

Laura, a beautiful redhaired farm-girl, lives with her two awful sisters and her selfish grasping parents in the remote English countryside. Apparently condemned to a life of drudgery, all is transformed when she is wooed and wed by a wealthy local squire. But this gilded existence is threatened when a travelling magician persuades her besotted husband to buy for her a very unusual diamond. For this gem is "The Wolf," the diamond that had so transformed Daniel Vehmund's destiny. And when he himself returns at last to England, his fate and Laura's are devastatingly intertwined ...
Meanwhile some dark, malignant presence continues to prowl the woodlands and hedgerows ... and seemingly nothing can curb its unquenchable bloodlust.

My Thoughts:

• This is definitely one of Lee's more gruesome tales, with lots of (literal) gut-spilling and savage cruelty. While it does suit the theme and nature of the tale, of a sort of beastly possession, it can be a little overwhelming at times.

• Another (I think) common Lee element also comes into play; the protagonist, female lead is more symbol than character. She is largely passive and "swept away" into larger, unfolding, events and eventually seems to represent values or emotions rather than motives or personality. This is especially true in Lee's Volkhavaar, if you are interested.

• Yes this is a werewolf romance, but NO it is not like any popular titles I've seen out there. This is a surreal, gory, and violent story filled with gruesome murders, betrayals, and fear. I think it's safe to say that the romance could better be described as a bizarre compulsion/attraction that spells a doom for most of the book's cast.

Recommendation: Despite the surreal and surprising nature of this stand-alone novel, I am still on the fence about it. I would recommend for werewolf *horror* fans, of course to fans of Lee, but I am not sure of any other niche that this book would fit nicely into. If you have it and the time, go for it.

Similar Reads: Vivia by Tanith Lee

Random Quote: "So the village packed the church with its black and its sweat. They stared at Daniel, the stranger who had been away.

They agreed he was foreign, might have come from the tents of some desert tribe, or the gaudy bazaars (p. 204)."

Lee, Tanth. Heart-Beast. New York: Dell, 1992.

Quick Review: Troubled Waters

Title: Troubled Waters
Author: Sharon Shinn
Themes: change, power, love, family
Rating: **1/2

Plot: Bestseller Shinn (Quatrain) carries readers away into a vivid new fantasy world where the five elements control everyone's lives. Alone and in shock after the death of her father, Zoe Ardelay is invited to the capital to become the king's fifth wife and create a much needed numerological balance both politically and at court, where the four queens vie to promote their children for the role of heir to the throne. Then Zoe learns she is the new prime of the Lalindar clan, which saves her from the marriage, but thrusts her into a world of dangerous political scheming, secret agendas, and an increasingly risky attraction to royal adviser Darien Serlast. This entertaining and suspenseful story is full of lively characters, and the intriguing new system of magic and politics provides plenty of potential for sequels.

My Thoughts: For some reason I totally had Avatar: The Last Airbender in mind the entire time I was reading this fun little adventure/romance by Sharon Shinn. In Shinn's new world every person has a tie to an element which determines their character to a large extent. The whole elemental connection/magical power thing definitely followed the traditional modes of thought (i.e. "fire" people were hot tempered and ambitious, "stone/earth" people are stubborn and unmovable...etc.) concerning elemental personality attributes. I think this is always a fun way to order a fantasy universe/people, despite the fact that it's been done countless times before. Shinn adds an extra element by providing an elaborate "blessing" system that occurs at birth, where the new parent asks three random people to pull blessing coins from the temple for their newborn child. These coins contain words or phrases such as "beauty," "power," or "industrious" and are believed to truthfully characterize the newborn through their life.

Zoe is a likable, yet very flawed (and rather slow), protagonist with a strong sense of right and wrong - but an ambiguous relationship to power and any means to gaining power. While the romance was a bit predictable and staid, and the elemental philosophy a bit overemphasized and redundant I found this novel to be a fun little jaunt into another of Shinn's fantasy worlds. Zoe faces many obstacles, gains and loses power, and finally comes to a self-awareness she lacked at the beginning of the novel.

With most of Shinn's works I find the plotlines to be a bit...overextended, with events just piling up and no apparent reason for it all. While it makes for a fast and exciting second-half of a book it does come across as strained to me. It just seems like a bit too much. Just one of these issues or events could make a satisfying and exciting read...for instance the Soechin infatuation with youth was disturbing and frighteningly familiar and the entire book could have been written about the possible marriage between the two kingdoms.

Recommendation: A staid read with predictable romance and a familiar elemental personality system...yet the details are fun and the world building is excellent. I would recommend to anyone looking for a light read, especially if they are a fan of Shinn's works.

Similar Reads: Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn, Chalice by Robin McKinley

Shinn, Sharon. Troubled Waters. New York: Ace Books, 2010.

The Wolf Tower Sequence

The Series: the Wolf Tower Sequence
Titles: Wolf Tower
Wolf Star
Wolf Queen
Wolf Wing
Author: Tanith Lee
Themes: love, family, fate, magic, science, deception, perseverance, adventure, running away, betrayal
Rating:***

The Wolf Tower Plot: Orphan-slave Claidi knows only the mindless rituals and cruelties of the House and the Garden, where the ruling families wallow in lavish extravagance. Then a golden stranger promises freedom if she will journey with him through the savage Waste.
Mad tribes and strange cities, enemies and friends where she least expects them, above all the Wolf Tower that broods over the grim stone city of her destiny; nothing - and no one - is as it seems.
If she is to survive, Claidi must learn fast - hone her wits, sharpen her instinct for danger...
Freedom demands that she confront the Law - once and for all...

The Wolf Star Plot: Orphan-slave Claidi has fought for freedom and won. Now she looks forward to a life of happiness with the wandering Hulta people.
But once again for Claidi, nothing and no-one is as it seems. Secrets menace her; a bewildering land of giant flowers and savage animals; the awesome Rise, a great cliff topped by a mansion ruled by a strange, arrogant, enigmatic Prince. At dusk each night, the rising of the flaming Wolf Star.
Again, Claidi has only her wits and courage as weapons and her diary as her only friend.

The Wolf Queen Plot: Leaving the Rise, Claidi anticipates a joyful reunion with her beloved Argul.
Instead, her return to the Hulta people meets only mistrust, fury and betrayal. Determined to unravel the lies and deceit which haunt her past and threaten her future, she journeys northward. But in the strange cities - and even stranger people - she finds, Claidi sees only more mystery and deeper secrets.

The Wolf Wing Plot: Free at last, Claidi and Argul can begin their new life together. Yet, nagged by her past, Claidi feels compelled to return to her birthplace, the House, to rescue her fellow slaves.
Again, nothing is as it seems. The shadow of the mysterious scientist-magician Ustareth still spreads over them, drawing them relentlessly into a quest beyond their wildest dreams.

My Thoughts on the Whole Series: This is a series aimed at Young Adults, so as such it is a bit exaggerated and simplified with a heavy emphasis on love interests and betrayals (just seems like common traits in YA series to me).

I had a hard time with the love story, as I increasingly do, because it seems like the male character/love interest is so perfect and the protagonist is so very flawed and really not lovable in the slightest...yet the love interest goes above and beyond and adores them and trusts them even when all evidence points to something else...I don't know. Maybe I'm too cynical. But I feel like when it becomes so one-sided like this it seems more like a lonely girl's fantasy than a realistic romance. I think I am being too picky.

As usual, Lee's worldbuilding is fun and I continued reading simply to find out more about Claidi's realm. I enjoyed the fact that the world was large and heterogeneous, there was a variety of peoples, societies, beliefs, and technologies in different far-flung regions-it made this new world more realistic and complex. It also made the significant amount of travel in the story more interesting because Claidi could describe new surroundings and peoples. About 90% of the series is spent in travel, and as it is written in a diary format, it does make for better storytelling.

The constant betrayal inside betrayal topped with another betrayal within layers of secrets and revelations did get a bit old by the second book however. Claidi is a slave who is secretly a princess who isn't actually a princess but a slave being set up as a scapegoat who really was a princess after all if you go back far enough into history....really? And the love interest, technologies, side characters all have similar convoluted stories. Of course the story leading up to the "real truth" of Ustareth" was just as obnoxious-though it was more legitimate since she was actually a mysterious chameleon type character. She reminded me quite a bit of the protagonist in The Birthgrave trilogy actually.

It's almost as if the author wasn't quite sure where it was going until the very last novel. Or that she was just throwing new twists on the page when she lacked inspiration. I love Tanith Lee. I enjoyed this series. But I was tired of it all long before finishing the story.

Recommendation: If it sounds interesting to you at all, pick it up! If you hate the first book you certainly don't have to read the other three. They were light, quick, and easy reads that were enjoyable.

Similar Reads: The Unicorn Series by Tanith Lee, Sister Light, Sister Dark by Jane Yolen, The Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce

Lee, Tanith. Wolf Tower. New York: Puffin, 2001.
Lee, Tanith. Wolf Star. New York: Puffin, 2002.
Lee, Tanith. Wolf Queen. New York: Firebird, 2003.
Lee, Tanith. Wolf Wing. New York: Puffin, 2004.

The Secret Books of Venus

The Series: The Secret Books of Venus
Titles: Faces Under Water
Saint Fire
A Bed of Earth
Venus Preserved
Author: Tanith Lee
Themes: love, loyalty, apocalypse, murder, revenge, feuds, family, music, wealth, religion
Rating: ***1/2

Faces Under Water Plot (***): In this new series, Tanith Lee weaves intricate plots around the elements of water, fire, earth, and air. the first in this new series, Faces Under Water immerses readers in the timeless beauty of Venice and the secret terror that lies beneath.

In the hedonistic atmosphere of an eighteenth-century Venice Carnival, gaiety turns deadly when Furian Furiano happens upon a mask of Apollo floating in the murky waters of the canals. The mask hides a sinister art, and Furian finds himself trapped in a bizarre tangle of love, obsession, and evil, stumbling upon a macabre society of murderers. The beautiful but elusive Eurydiche holds the key to theses murders and leads him further into a labyrinth of black magic and ancient alchemy. For all readers who fell in love with Lee's Paradys series and for all those enchanted and terrified by the fantastical, Faces Under Water will be sure to thrill.

Saint Fire Plot (***): Starting with the premise of four novels based on the phases of alchemy and the four elements, Tanith Lee has created an evocative alternate Italy in her new series, The Secret Books of Venus. The first volume, Faces Under Water, was set against a backdrop drenched with atmosphere and water in a parallel Venice.

In Saint Fire, the gripping second volume in the series, Volpa is a strangely beautiful servant girl who glows with an inhuman inner fire. When her master, an abusive woodseller, is mysteriously incinerated, Volpa begins to discover her power of fire. Her gift is noticed by the church leaders, who see her as a mighty weapon in their holy wars. Not sure if her powers are heavenly or demonic, the priests are nonetheless determined to have Volpa on their side. This gripping fantasy of a mysteriously gifted Joan of Arc figure is stunning from beginning to end.

A Bed of Earth Plot(****): A Bed of Earth is a haunting journey to a parallel version of sixteenth-century Venice, where a fierce territorial rivalry between two noble families unearths a supernatural force from beneath the placid surface of the canals and rotting understructure of the city.

The struggle between the two families for space on the Isle of the Dead, the overcrowded burial ground for generations of Venetian nobility, culminates in the abduction and horrific murder of a fourteen-year-old-girl. As the years pass on, parties complicit in her fate begin to suffer the consequences in a series of shocking deaths that could emanate from none other than a supernatural force. A humble apprentice gravedigger is left to sort out the mysteries and subdue the ancient terror that threatens to destroy the entire republic.

Venus Preserved Plot(**): The thrilling conclusion to Tanith Lee's compelling Secret Books of Venus quartet, Venus Preserved is set centuries into the future in the undersea city of Venus, the site of a macabre experiment to bring two lost souls back to life. Salvaged from beneath the sea and rebuilt under a dome, Venus itself has been resurrected with a vast network of advanced computers that regulate weather, noise, and the most previous undersea commodity of all-air.

When the experiment goes awry, claiming several lives, the questions abound: was it merely an accident? Computer failure? Or has an airborne virus been unleashed? Or is there an even more sinister danger afoot, a force from beyond that threatens the survival of Venus itself? To answer these questions, a traveler from the surface is forced to confront mysteries in his own past and to reveal the connection that ties him to the unavenged spirits wreaking havoc n the doomed city.

My Thoughts (on the whole series): What I had enjoyed so much about Lee's Paradys series was it's rather epic and self-referencing nature. It was essential a collection of short stories that took an alternative Paris from pre-modern to futuristic vignettes. Poets or liars or cheats or heroes from earlier stories would be seen again in stories later in the same tome, or later in the series, as a street name, a legend, a small reference. But each book, or short story collection, was easily read on its own. Each could be read out of order. The Secret Books of Venus are still self-referencing and each tome is independent and so can be read out of order or even individually. But I was rather let down by the fact that they were actual novels, not more collections of short stories, because I felt I didn't get a wide enough swath of Venetian history and life as I did for Paradys. Because really, each of these "Secret" series are stories of the city-not of whichever protagonist is currently on the page. Paradys was a mosaic, Venus is more of a linear narrative.

Of course Lee's writing is lush, vivid, raw, and beautiful. Her references to an alternative Christianity both beautify the ecstasy of belief and ritual, while emphasizing the fallibility of mankind (i.e. religion as institution). I found that the scenes and stories revolving around religion to be the most beautiful things written in the series (especially Saint Fire). She also tackles more supernatural/magical elements in a way that is typical of her writing style-that is, in a way so that the reader doesn't realize it's magic or unrealistic, only that it makes a strange sort of sense within the context.

While I did find the conclusion of Venus Preserved to be a bit over-the-top, I thoroughly enjoyed most of this series and have aspects of each book that I truly loved. Faces Under Water was intriguing because of the deadly mask, and Eurydiche's face which was a mask. Saint Fire was bizarre and enjoyable because of the intense fervor shared by Volpa and her knight. A Bed of Earth was tragic and magical, with a plot that transcended time, space, and any sort of logic while maintaining an atmosphere of unlimited possibilities and hope.

Recommendation: If you're curious about Tanith Lee's fiction and are a fan of the slightly sinister and epic tales in general, I would recommend both The Secret Books of Venus as well as The Secret Books of Paradys. My favorite Venetian book was A Bed of Earth, and I see no reason why you couldn't start there if you were so inclined.

Similar Reads: The Secret Books of Paradys by Tanith Lee (Book of the Damned, Book of the Beast, Book of the Dead, Book of the Mad), The Birthgrave by Tanith Lee

Lee, Tanith. Faces Under Water. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 1998.

Lee, Tanith. Saint Fire. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 1999.

Lee, Tanith. A Bed of Earth. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 2002.

Lee, Tanith. Venus Preserved. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 2003.

Sea Change

Title: Sea Change
Author: Aimee Friedman
Themes: friendship, mermaids, forgiveness, betrayal, love, class, wealth
Rating: **

Plot: When Miranda Merchant, sixteen and levelheaded, escapes her lonely, hot summer in New York City, little does she know what awaits her. She steps off the ferry onto an island rife with legend, lore, and a past her logical mind can't make sense of. She isn't expecting to feel a connection to this unusual place, so filled with languorous charm and strange history.

And when she meets Leo, a mysterious local boy, she finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew about boys, friendship, reality...and love.

Is Leo hiding something? Or is he something she never could have imagined?

My Thoughts: I admit to being slightly disappointed by Sea Change. I have been looking for an enjoyable mermaid/selkie young adult book since reading Melissa Marr's short story "Love Struck" which can be found in this book. Sea Change takes place on Selkie Island and is perhaps about merpeople, so I gave it a shot! I just found it to be a bit lacking in both the romance development as well as the mythic/folkloric aspects of the storyline.

First, my qualms with the back cover/bookflap summary. Selkie Island isn't what I would call "rife with legend, lore, and a past her logical mind can't make sense of." In fact the only real legend, lore, and mysterious past in this book emanate from a book of legends our protagonist finds and mostly ignores, and an older man on the ferry who warns her of a kraken. I think that Friedman could have really expanded on this particular theme, since later suspicions that Leo isn't wholly human seems to be more extreme paranoia and silliness than based on any sort of prevailing lore within the context of the story.

The protagonist herself, Miranda, is fairly cliched as well, which I personally find unbearable. She is a "science" nerd...so that disallows her to be anything but super-ambitious, super-ingenious, anti-social, awkward, and sloppily dressed apparently. She just can't get "English or history" or anything not related to science...she has "science withdrawals" as well. She also suffers from low-self-esteem, until she suddenly discovers she is beautiful because boys find her desirable...it just seemed like such a silly and unrealistic transformation from wallflower to "oh gosh I'm sexy!" I'm sure such people exist, but it just seems like such a collection of stereotypes in this case. I found Miranda to be completely flat and unlikeable because of it.

My final comments deal with the romance aspect of the novel, which admittedly is about 90% of the story. Through the novel the reader discovers Miranda's ex-boyfriend and the reason for her disavowal of "love" and "happy endings," during which time we are introduced to two boys on Selkie Island. One, T.J., is a "summer" inhabitant of the island-who is rich, gentlemanly, and boring. The other is Leo, a local on the island who lives in Fisherman's Village and splits his time between his father's fishing business and his internship at the island marine center. Naturally, he is also a bit of a "bad boy." I didn't find his "bad boy"-ness to be particularly obnoxious or forced (as in some YA romances that I've read), and actually found his character quite endearing even if I'm not quite sure of his intentions or motivations even after I've completed the book. However, I did find all of Miranda's potential relationships to be rather flat; she was there a week and a half...and it just seemed to rushed and hollow. I couldn't really understand the romance since it seemed far too quick and with far to much "baggage/drama" to be really believable.

I won't repeat myself by discussing the mother/daughter relationship and the books ending. They were sort of...surprising because they didn't make sense, and terribly flat as well.

Recommendation: This wasn't an unenjoyable book, and any fans of supernatural (or not?) romances and YA fiction might enjoy this more than me. Otherwise I probably wouldn't recommend this particular novel. I just couldn't connect at all to the flat protagonist and felt rather grossed out at the break-neck speed of the potential romances that occurred in Sea Change.

Random Quote: "Mom stepped up to me and put her hands on my arms, but I jerked away. 'You're going to catch a cold,' she said. 'You should take a hot shower. We'll talk about this another time. Doctor's orders,' she added with a small smile.
'I don't want to talk about it,' I snapped. It was my last lie of the night. And with that, I brushed pasted Mom and started for the stairs, leaving small puddles in my wake." (p. 161)


Friedman, Aimee. Sea Change. New York: Point, 2009.

Volkhavaar

Title: Volkhavaar
Author: Tanith Lee
Themes: sorcery, love, the power of belief, souls, astral projection, slavery, religion, pride
Rating: ***

Plot: The author of the unforgettable Birthgrave, of the panoramic outworld of The Storm Lord, and of the future folk of Don't Bite the Sun, now presents us with something different-and yet equally enthralling in its color and fantasy and high adventure.

For Volkhavaar is a novel of witchcraft and wonders on a world far removed from those we know. Here the gods contend for power-and the Dark forces against the Light-and here an entire city and its land is plunged into the shadow of an evil beyond anything conceivable.

It is the story of Shaina the slave girl and of Volk the outcast who enslaved himself to cosmic forces to gain total power-and of how they were finally to meet and clash-with an entire world as their prize.

Volkhavaar is high fantasy comparable only to the best of Andre Norton and Michael Moorcock.

My Thoughts: Reading has been difficult for me this month, with school starting up and all. It seems I rely very heavily on fantasy and Tanith Lee novels when I'm stressed about school! This particular novel I actually ordered through Link+ at my university library, since I was having a hard time finding an affordable used copy. It contains all of the elements I so love about Tanith Lee novels, but with unique characters and plot so that I'm still interested it as an individual piece of work.

Volkhavaar is told in a very mythic tone, giving its story an air of folklore or ancient myth as told by a wizened grandparent. Archetypes are also heavily relied on in this novel, as is apparent from the plot description given on the back of the book. The story truly is a dichotomy between Light and Dark, Shaina/Love and Kernik Volk Volkhavaar/Hate. While this can sometimes feel quite flat, overall Volkhavaar maintains its integrity as a story, and seems to still have something to "say" despite the cliched basic premise.

The power of belief is essential to this tale, and the reader is left wondering throughout if something really occurs (magic or the gods' power for example) or if it is only believed to occur. This issue is even explicitly addressed in one instance, when a sword is reduced to its basic elements in order to erase its belief in a killing-which is undone as soon as the sword stops believing it occurred.

Like in most Lee stories, I found that the villain received the most attention, and that they were the true "movers and shakers" of the story. In this case, Kernik's life story and ambitions take up well over half of the pages and is much more of a "presence" then Shaina, who seems to be merely another beautiful, proud, vision of a hero. The conclusion only reinforces these impressions.

With that in mind, I did feel the conclusion was a bit anticlimactic. While the emphasis on belief creating reality throughout the novel did prepare you for the ending, it did seem as though it would have benefited from a more difficult or flashy resolution...since the clash between Shaina and Kernik was being slowly intensified starting page one I thought that there would be more struggle/fireworks in the concluding chapter. But apparently not.

Recommendation: Any lover of fantasy novels or stories about Love and Light struggling against Dark and Hate should enjoy this short novel (192 pages). The writing is atmospheric and artistic, and the themes tackled throughout the book are timeless.

Random Excerpt: "Takerna was the King, and Kernik was his prophet.

In the village street, passing him, they bowed to Kernik, as they had nodded to the priest. He was dreaded and blessed. They brought him presents, food, new garments. He led them up the mountain. It lasted all of a year." (p. 58)

Similar Reads: The Birthgrave by Tanith Lee, Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner

Lee, Tanith. Volkhavaar. New York: DAW, 1977.

The Gates, A Novel

Title: The Gates, a Novel
Author: John Connolly
Themes: evil, loyalty, kindness, adventure, trust
Rating: ****

Plot: Young Samuel Johnson and his dachshund, Boswell, are trying to show initiative by trick-or-treating a full three days before Halloween, which is how they come to witness strange goings-on at 666 Crowley Road. The Abernathys don't mean any harm by their flirtation with the underworld, but when they unknowingly call forth Satan himself, they create a gap in the universe, a gap through which a pair of enormous gates is visible. The gates to Hell. And there are some pretty terrifying beings just itching to get out...

Can one small boy defeat evil? Can he harness the power of science, faith, and love to save the world as we know it?

Bursting with imagination and impossible to put down, The Gates is about the pull between good and evil, physics and fantasy. It is about a quirky and eccentric boy, who is impossible not to love, and the unlikely cast of characters who give him the strength to stand up to a demonic power.

In this wonderfully strange and brilliant novel, John Connolly manages to re-create the magical and scary world of childhood that we've all left behind but so love to visit. And for those of you who thought you knew everything about particle physics and the universe, think again. This novel makes anything seem possible.

My Thoughts: The Gates is rather whimsical and lighthearted considering its about the gates of Hell opening on earth (I think most of us would find that a little dreary). I knew I would have to read this book, since I have read Connolly's The Book of Lost Things and immensely enjoyed it. What I didn't expect from The Gates is the childlike and whimsical narrative style (akin to The Willoughbys and Tigerheart) that reads like a clever Victorian narrator who is both part of the story and withdrawn from it.

Samuel is a likable protagonist, and I found his plight of being a child in trying times (who would believe an adult that demons are coming en mass, much less an eccentric child?) to be well described and relatable. Boswell, I think, ended up being my favorite character. Yes, he's a dachshund, but I think he was an essential part of the storyline and kept Samuel safe through the onslaught of demons from Hell. I did find his two friends to be rather one-dimensional, but perhaps this is because they only showed up at the very end of the book and had no opportunity to be fleshed out. Samuel's mother was also rather flat, she was simply a stereotypical newly-single mom who has been left with a child by her cheating husband.

The cast of secondary characters is impressive, however. The book has a large cast of demons, church members, police officers, neighbors, children, and duck club members who all have a moment or two of action in the narrative. The chapters are short, and when all Hell breaks loose we catch glimpses of the chaos around Biddlecombe. We observe demons getting smashed at a local bar, duck hunters turned to stone by a medusa, the local vicar being attacked by the gargoyles and carvings on his church in addition to the evil corpses surrounding it in unconsecrated ground. There is also the hierarchy of demons, one of which is a rather low ranking Nurd who befriends Samuel and fears the coming of The Great Malevolence even more than the humans do.

One final aspect of The Gates that I wish to comment on is the science. You see, the gates of Hell don't just conjure themselves up-it is in fact a type of black/wormhole that opens up because of an experiment being conducted in Europe. The opening of the novel is itself a simplified explanation of how such phenomena as black holes operate, and different theories of a multiverse and traveling through wormholes are also emphasized. Keep in mind that there are footnotes littered throughout the novel, and they are best read at the appropriate marked time-not before or after you have finished the whole page.

Recommendation: I found The Gates to be both whimsical and titillating, there is science, religion, action, adventure, and friendship. Many aspects of the book seem to appeal to children, but this is a book for adults. I would highly recommend this latest book from Connolly, so give it a look and read it.

Random Excerpt: "He looked around, and saw one of his socks lying at the end of his bed. As an experiment he leaned down to pick up the sock, then dangled it over the edge of the mattress before dropping it on the floor.

A long pink thing that might have been a tongue, or an arm, or even a leg, grabbed the sock and pulled it under the bed. Samuel heard chewing, and then the sock was spat out and a voice said, 'Ewwwww!'" (page 82, Hardcover)

Similar Reads: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly, The Magicians by Lev Grossman, (similar narrative style:) Tigerheart by Peter David, The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry, The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry

Connolly, John. The Gates, a Novel. New York: Atria Books, 2009.

White as Snow

Title: White as Snow
Author: Tanith Lee
Themes: fairy tales, Snow White, insanity, rape, power, paganism, Christianity, Greek mythology, abandonment, love, forgiveness
Rating: ****

Plot: Once upon a time there was a mirror...

So begins this dark, unusual retelling of the story of Snow White by the writer reviewers have called "the Angela Carter of the fantasy field"-a whole novel based on a beloved story, turning it into a dark and sensual drama full of myth and magic.

Arpazia is the aging queen who paces the halls of a warlord's palace. Cold as winter, she has only one passion-for the mysterious hunter who courts the outlawed gods of the woodland. Coira is the princess raised in the shadow of her mother's hatred. Avoided by both her parents and half forgotten by her father's court, she grows into womanhood alone...until the mirror speaks and blood is spilled and the forest claims her.

The tragic myth of the goddess Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, stolen by the king of the underworld, is woven together with the tale of Snow White to create a powerful story of mothers and daughters and the blood that binds them together, for good or ill. Black Queen. White maid. Royal huntsman. Seven little folk who live in the forest. Come inside, sit by the fire, and listen to this fairy tale as you've never heard it told before.

My Thoughts: Honestly I'm not really sure what to say about this novel. It has several components that I am bound to adore-first of all it's written by Tanith Lee, also it's a fairy tale retelling, in addition to all that it also incorporates Greek mythology. It has intriguing, if not necessarily likable, characters (in fact, not a single character is truly likable). It has a bit of magic, a bit herblore, a bit of just plain insanity. It's entertaining-not romantic, not sweet, and certainly not mere fairy-tale fodder.

The majority of this book is actually centered around Arpazia, a stolen princess who is raped and then shunned by her warlord husband. The isolated girl grows into an obsessively cold and distant women who at times hates the daughter she sees only a few times over her entire life. Most of the time, she simply forgets she has one at all. Madness is essential to this character, a sort of cold hazy madness of a self-absorbed and abused woman. A later abortion confuses the evil mother even more, convincing her she has killed her child and now has none.

When Coira does become the center of the novel she is a teenager much like her mother, cold and distant. Neither woman has ever connected to anyone else on a human level, and to both other people don't truly exist. Coira is taken away by a man with seven dwarfs, who mutiny and set her up as a "master" they can control. They venture underground, to a mining city called the Underworld which is ruled by a mad prince who fancies himself Hades. It is here that Coira's life begins, where she falls in love, dies, marries, and is saved and taken back above ground. Of course, it is fairly easy to see the connection to Persephone here, and Lee makes that parallel very obvious by renaming Coira when she becomes princess of the underworld-Perspheh.

One again, Tanith Lee has fashioned amazing settings and borderline insane personalities that move the storyline along.

Recommendation: A very dark, and soemtimes lurid, retelling of Snow White that fully explains the evil (step)mother and her confused role in her daughter's death and rebirth. If you love dark fantasies or fairy tale re-tellings then this is a great read, I recommend it.

Similar Reads: Red as Blood, or, Tales from the Sisters Grimmer by Tanith Lee, Deerskin by Robin McKinley, Fitcher's Brides by Gregory Frost, The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Lee, Tanith. White as Snow. New York: TOR, 2000.

The Unicorn Series

The Series: The Unicorn Series
Titles: Black Unicorn
Gold Unicorn
Red Unicorn
Author: Tanith Lee
Themes: duty, friendship, family, adventure, love, respect, confidence
Rating: ***

The Black Unicorn Plot: It was big and beautiful and so black that it was like a hole in space, and it was completely impossible. Everybody knew there were no unicorns. Unicorns didn't belong in this world except in legends. But there it stood, radiating magical power, in the shattered wreck of the party.
Nobody knew where it had come from, or what it wanted. Not even Jaive, the sorceress, could fathom the mystery of the fabled beast. But Tanquil, Jaive's completely unmagical daughter, understood it at once. She knew why the unicorn was there.
It had come for her.
It needed her.
Yet she was the girl with no talent for magic. She could only fiddle with broken bits of machinery and make them work again.
What could she do for a unicorn?

The Gold Unicorn Plot: Journeying across different lands, the young mender Tanaquil and her familiar, a quarrelsome talking peeve, learn of the empress Veriam, who wishes to conquer from one sea to the next. Tanaquil is shocked to learn that the woman called 'Conqueror' and 'Child-Eater' is in fact her half sister, Lizra.
Remembering the powerful effect the black unicorn had on her people, Lizra has constructed a tremendous mechanical unicorn of gold as a symbol of her conquest.
The only problem is that it doesn't work - and Lizra commands Tanaquil to make the steam-powered unicorn move. Now Tanaquil must choose between assisting in brutal conquest or risking the ire of her powerful sister.

The Red Unicorn Plot: The young wanderer Tanaquil can mend anything that is broken - except her own heart. With the engagement of her beloved Honj to her sister, Empress Lizra, she returns home to her sorcerous mother - and her mother's new lover, the magician Worabex.
Caught up in their combined magic, Tanaquil and her mischievous familiar - a literal pet peeve - find themselves in a parallel world where she meets Tanakil, a mirror-image princess with murder on her mind.
With Red Unicorn, award-winning author Tanith Lee returns once again to her epic fantasy of magic, of alternate worlds both perfect and flawed, and of the enchanting unicorns that travel between them.
My Thoughts (on the whole series): What I like best about Tanith Lee is her casual world building. She has a strong story, or at least an entertaining one, and the world unfolds around it, enveloping you. It isn't a consciously constructed set with plot and characters plopped on stage; an afterthought. It is a real and breathing environment with its own logic, that unfolds just as New York or San Francisco or anywhere real would as a story progresses. Like every other book or story I've read from Lee, the Unicorn trilogy excels in world-building.

I found The Black Unicorn to be a great adventure, and a story of growing up. In the first novel Tanquil discovers mysteries, adventure, her sister and father, as well as another perfect world from which she must return. She must work hard and use what limited skills she possesses in order to set things right in her world. It is a classic-feeling adventure tale.

The Gold Unicorn was another story about making hard decisions and being forced into situations where you wouldn't want to be. Tanquil is both horrified and tranquil while her sister wages a horrible war using a gold-plated mechanic beast to slaughter people. Her sister wishes to rule every people on the globe in order to create perfection on earth, to erase hate and violence-and so attempts to violently subdue them until the unicorn pulls them all into another world. And it isn't the perfect world from the first book.

But Red Unicorn seemed rather tacked on, like she wasn't satisfied with how the love-triangle ended in the second novel. The book focuses on a third unicorn, and also a third world-this one is a parallel world with a parallel Tanquil. When she returns from this visit, she is able to make hard decisions about her life, her mother, and the man her sister is marrying.

Recommendation: I would recommend the first two novels of the trilogy highly, and the third only if the ending of the second really unnerved you.

Similar Reads: The Birthgrave by Tanith Lee, Pegasus by Robin McKinley, Sister Light, Sister Dark by Jane Yolen

Lee, Tanith. The Black Unicorn. New York: TOR, 1991.
Lee, Tanith. The Gold Unicorn. New York: TOR, 1994.
Lee, Tanith. The Red Unicorn. New York: TOR, 1997.