Filed under: lit reviews | Tags: bookcase, fantasy, l. e. modesitt jr, modesitt, review, science fiction, small world, the corean chronicles, the saga of recluse, the spellsong cycle
I’m skipping ahead a bit in the alphabetical order of my bookcase, but a revelation that I had today in class made it an absolute necessity for my sanity. Ever since the first day of Torts, I’ve had a nagging feeling that my professor was related to L. E. Modesitt – they share a last name, and I know he has several children in professional industries. Plus the way she talks about environmental issues is strangely familiar… I’ve tried to find the biographical information I know I’ve read in the past that would have revealed if perhaps one of his daughters was a lawyer, but didn’t find anything conclusive until today in class, when, during the break, I got up the nerve to go ahead and as my professor if she was perhaps familiar with the science fiction genre…
…and from the expression on her face, she definitely knew where I was going with that question. Evidently, some years it comes up on the first day, and others it comes up not at all, and sometimes it occurs to someone in the middle of the year, like this time.
Now, L.E. Modesitt is one of my favorite authors (and, happily, his daughter is my favorite professor this year, though I think the fact that the class is something like three hours long (as opposed to the usual 1.25) detracts from my enjoyment of the class at times), for a variety of reasons including his versatility (he writes both science fiction and fantasy, as well as touching a bit on the more mainstream, literary style), his prolificness (I read fast, so it’s always good when writers can keep up with my needs!), but mostly because he manages to blend fantastic characters of all stripes with fascinating social commentary that doesn’t take utter control of the plot or other elements.
As an author, he both educates and entertains, and that mix is an important one. I grew up loving Heinlein, and while he and I have grown apart over the years, as it were, I came away from my early experiences with those books with a deep appreciation of fiction that is both good fiction (because “literature” as it were bores me to tears) and good philosophy – I suppose I’m being a bit misleading when I say “social commentary.” I hate books that try to go on and on about what a horrible state our current whatever is in. But I love books that offer up viewpoints and ideas that I might not have thought about before, especially as they relate to ethics – and even more, as they relate to hard questions.
The Spellsong Cycle exposed me to the idea that maybe it’s a cop-out to wait for hard “proof” that you can show to someone before acting to prevent harm. I came across the Recluce books at a time in my life when I honestly think reading a book about a young boy who had it all but couldn’t handle his parent’s perfectly intelligent lessons with patience and good grace instead of lashing out like a teenager… made me a better person. My parents and I certainly disagree about things, but we try very hard to be respectful to one another, and I’m one of the only people I know still living at home happily and without conflict, with absolute respect for my parents. Obviously their skills at raising me had a lot to do with this, but so did being exposed to a surly young protagonist with a lot of intelligence and potential… who finally grew up enough to realize what a disservice he was doing to the people who raised him. The way that the Recluse series show both good and evil on both sides of the “black” and “white,” “order” and “chaos” divide gave me a deeper understanding – at a time when yeah, I’m young and naïve and don’t have as much experiential exposure to the real world – that it’s not all about “sides.”
Filed under: lit reviews | Tags: bookcase, hitmen, kelley armstrong, review, urban fantasy, werewolf fiction, young adult fiction
Ms. Armstrong’s website is at kelleyarmstrong.com. It’s a great resource: she not only posts preview chapters of published and forthcoming books, and information about publication dates and other nice stuff like that, she also provides us with cool “Extras” like online fiction — some of which is later compiled into an anthology, like she did with the “Men of the Otherworld” series.
I decided that it’d be fun to go through my (alphabetically organized) bookcases and take a look at some of the novels I own. I started with the first shelf, and while Kelley Armstrong isn’t the first author on that shelf (Alma Alexander is, but I’m darned if I can remember what those books were like beyond general impressions and a faint recollection of the basic plot impetuous), she’s the first one that I feel comfortable wholeheartedly recommending and admitting that I read and enjoy (because V.C. Andrews is crazy).
Ms. Armstrong writes three main series. The first, and the one that made her famous, is her “Women* of the Otherworld” series. You can find it shelved in the SF/F section of the bookstore. The second is the Nadia Stafford series, which is probably shelved in either Mystery or General Fiction, I’m honestly not sure. The third is a young adult spinoff of the Women of the Otherworld series, called Darkest Powers.
The Otherworld
- Bitten (Elena) — own
- Stolen (Elena) — own
- Dime Store Magic (Paige) — read
- Industrial Magic (Paige) — read
- Haunted (Eve) — own, @ friend’s
- Chaotic (in “Dates from Hell”, Hope) — own
- Broken (Elena) — own
- No Humans Involved (Jaime) — read
- Twilight (in “Many Bloody Returns”, Cassandra) — own
- Stalked (in “My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon”, Clay) — own
- Personal Demon (Hope & Lucas) — read
- Living with the Dead (Robyn? & Hope?) — Nov 08
- Frostbitten (Elena) — Nov 09
As a general rule, I prefer Elena’s narration to that of all save Eve. I find Paige rather annoying, Jaimie’s problems baffle me (she’s a real necromancer pretending to be a fake necromancer so that she can make money, so she’s basically a reality tv star), and while I’m slowly warming up to Hope, she’s a tabloid reporter and rather naive. Elena and Eve have a down-to-earth sort of ruthlessness that I appreciate in a protagonist. I tend to find that werewolf characters like Elena have that quality, which may be why I enjoy them, and Eve is delightfully “gray” in a moral sense. (Elena is, too, of course, but her killing is easier to accept, for me at least, than Eve’s black activities.)
Nadia Stafford
- Exit Strategy — read
- Made to be Broken — spring 09
I was wary of picking up Exit Strategy at first. I tend to dislike mainstream mysteries, and I couldn’t imagine that a story about a hitman would be that interesting for me. Boy was I wrong – my only regret about this book was that I got it from the library instead of just going ahead and buying it. I probably will buy Exit Strategy in 09 when book two comes out. Nadia is one of my favorite narrators of all time, and the male protagonist, Jack, is absolutely fascinating. I’d tell you more, but every detail is so integral to the plot that I’d hate to give it away!
Darkest Powers
- The Summoning — own
- The Awakening — May 09
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy The Summoning all that much – Young Adult books don’t appeal to me most of the time because I never really had the common “young adult” problems. Most of the interpersonal and identity-crisis issues of the average teen were never ones that troubled me. But, as you may imagine, I have a lot of faith in Ms. Armstrong’s writing, and I was willing to give it a go. I’d say that it was probably worth the money, but I didn’t read and re-read it like I did the Elena books, and I definitely don’t feel as strongly positive about this series as I do for Nadia.
Plus, I hate cliff-hanger endings.
The mystery was pretty good, though. And it was interesting to see the inside of an asylum for troubled teens, which isn’t the kind of thing you typically see in books. I wouldn’t call the book memorable, though.
* Though the series started out with only female narrators, there’s also anthology stories (and some online fiction) narrated by her male characters, which is probably part of the reason why the section on her website is now just called “Otherworld”
