Seven Good Books

[firstfrost]

Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story (by Leonie Swann)

A flock of sheep investigates what happened to their shepherd. I found this adorable. The sheep seem about as sheepy as they can be made without being incomprehensible, which probably makes them poor sheep but very amusing protagonists, worrying about acting naturally near the shepherd's body, eating geraniums to see in windows, discussing herbs of the abyss and how to turn into a cloud sheep. (A Christmas present; I read it on the flight home!) Four and a half stars.

Camouflage (by Joe Haldeman)

A thought experiment on what it means to be human, or pretend to be human, but not really a very profound one. The Bataan Death March felt out of place in what was otherwise a fine fluffy book. Three stars.

Sun of Suns (by Karl Schroeder)

A fun romp (book one of a trilogy) set in a small-planet-sized sphere full of air - so zero-gravity, but with air. Bicycle-copters. Space boats. Sargassos of burnt forests and miniature fusion suns surrounded by clouds. I am not convinced it's plausible, but very entertaining. My biggest complaint is that there are bits that make it seem like a sequel, or, at least, there are characters wandering through who feel like veteran characters with at least one previous novel under their belt. I can find no evidence of it, though, so it's presumaby just Mysterious Backstory. Four stars.

Liar (by Justine Larbalestier)

I ran across a mention of this book due to the fuss about its cover (since updated). It's a YA book with a seriously unreliable narrator, leading to several plot twists, which is what makes it interesting. I found it kind of slow-moving, possibly due to listening to it as an audibook and thus being unable to skim the repetitive angsty bits, but the various layerings of "Okay, all that about X was a lie. Here's how it really was" made for a thought-provoking story. There are still a few things I haven't made up my mind about, and I do keep thinking about it afterwards; it would make for a good discussion book. Three and a half confusing stars as an audiobook; it would probably be closer to four stars as a book.

Soulless (by Gail Carriger)

An entertaining, amusing though predictable Victorian urban fantasy, which is kind of a charming genre. The Victorian isn't quite perfect ("Gee" seems Insufficiently Period for me, though apparently it dates back to 1895...). I'll probably pick up the next one some time. Three and a half stars.

Good Omens (by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett)

Another audiobook - I have a tendency to get audiobooks that I've read already a long time ago and I know I love, because there's nothing more frustrating than an audiobook you hate. Anyway, I still love it. Five stars.

The Warded Man (by Peter V Brett)

In a world... where elemental demons rise to prey on humanity every night. (Can't you just hear that Voice Guy?) This is something like the origin story for what will be a series. Life is nasty, brutish, and short, and the people are made to fit. The main characters are (generally) idealists but still pretty flawed; the supporting cast tends to be more flawed, but generally still human. There are cowards (demons are *scary*!), and xenophobes, and rapists of both the charming smarmy kind and the bandit thug kind... it's not a pleasant world, but it does feel more like a place with many people originally decent, made hard and painful by terrible violent pressure; not like a place populated with implausibly awful people because the author is a misanthrope. Four and a half stars, but warning: first book, rest of series yet to come.