Review

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This month I read The Devourers by Indra Das. From the back blurb, I got that this was about shapeshifters in India. Sounded pretty interesting just from that, so I picked it up. Wow, though, this book is so much more. It’s about sex, brutality, the child of rape, and both the good and bad of being true to one’s nature.

The story follows college professor Alok Mukherjee, who agrees to transcribe a couple of journals for a shapeshifter in exchange for knowing more of the shapeshifter’s personal history. You get little snippets of Alok’s life and experiences as he goes through this process, which helps tie everything together. In the first journal, he learns the story of three ancient shapeshifters from Europe who are on a migration. These are pretty terrible dudes, and while it can be hard to read at times, it’s a well written and compelling tale. The second story he transcribes gets into a more revenge-y journey of one of the shapeshifter’s victims. She’s a pretty cool character, so I was glad to read some of the book through her eyes. Once the two inner stories get wrapped up, we get to learn more about the initial shapeshifter we met and learn how he fits into the larger picture. It’s just as interesting, harsh, and heavy as the rest.

After reading, I struggled with one question. Can I recommend the Devourers? The answer I came to was yes. It’s just, well, potentially problematic for some readers. It’s violent and cruel in the middle and steamy toward the end. If that’s cool with you, I’d give this one a try. It has fascinating characters, a great sense of place and history, and kept me curious to the very end.

My rating: Oof. This one’s making me change my rating system! This one takes more thought and care than a beachable book, but it didn’t quite earn my top rating. So, I give in. I’ll use stars from now on.

4 stars out of 5 (forgive me; I’ll have to get a stars graphic later!)

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Got a slightly different review this month. First, it’s not from the Nebulas, just one I’ve been looking forward to. Second, it’s an audiobook. Lately I wouldn’t have time to get any books in without audio as an option.

In the Labyrinth of Drakes is the fourth in the Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan, and I’d say it’s a great continuation of the story. I thought book three was probably the weakest of them, but book four built on what was good about book three, and completely mended the series in my mind.

I picked up the first book in the series because it’s about dragons. Or, rather, an 1800’s-equivalent naturalist woman who studies dragons. The tagline I heard was “if Darwin studied dragons instead of finches.” Which is pretty spot on. These are magical creatures, but animals of the “big, dangerous, and mysterious” variety. The illustrations on the covers of these books are gorgeous; they really set the mood for both scientific discovery and adventure.

Now, if you ever plan on checking this series out, I highly recommend the audio version. And this is regardless of whether or not you have the time to sit and read. It’s all about the narrator. She’s freaking perfect for reading as Lady Trent.

This fourth book finds Isabella in a desert region, researching how to breed of dragons. Tensions are high between countries, and dragons are seen as the key to winning any future conflict. She braves this task with the help of old friends, family, and new allies, but a brutal desert environment and dragonfire aren’t the only dangers she’s up against.

Something else I enjoyed about this book was the romantic angle. “What?! Really?” you ask, with a heavy (and fully justified) dose of skepticism. Look, most of the time I groan and flip to the next scene whenever the lovey-dovey stuff comes up. But this was such a slow build. It’s like the Commander Shepherd and Garrus romance in Mass Effect: a relationship of great friendship and respect that grows stronger until you realize it is love.

There’s only one book left in the Lady Trent series, where I’m guessing all the unresolved tension from this book comes to a head. I’m excited, if a little sad it’s all going to end.

My rating: Devoured! – Like adventure? Dragons? Pick this one up!

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I picked up The Murdstone Trilogy by Mal Peet because I liked the doodles on the dust jacket. Yeah, I said it. I judged this one by its cover. I’m not ashamed. Especially not after I read it. It was really entertaining.

The book follows an author (the eponymous Murdstone) who gets roped into writing a high fantasy trilogy by his agent. After attempting to find inspiration, he gets further roped into participating in a very real fantasy realm. He might be using this fantasy world to write his books, but he’s being used just as much. Some might get annoyed with the amount of things Murdstone just falls into and goes along with, but he’s a guy who’s floundering in his career / life so I figure it fits perfectly.

At first I found the protagonist to be a whiny, pompous jerk, but as the story progressed, he mellowed out enough to be sympathetic. Once the fantasy stuff started up, I really started to love it. Not because it was fantasy (though, yay fantasy!), but because it was a refreshing take on the tropes. It’s a quietly, Britishly funny story, and I burst out laughing a few times too.

My rating: Devoured! – If you like humorous books about fantasy / writing, this is worth a try!

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I’m trying something new! I’ve decided to start writing book reviews on the blog. What, you may ask, is Toni J doing, writing book reviews? Well, I’ve got a couple reasons. First, it’ll get me to read more books consistently. Second, writing about other people’s books might just help me think and write about my own work. Oh, and third, maybe you’ll find a book in my reading pile that interests you! Look for one of these to pop up every month.

My scale, so far as I figure it right now, goes like this

Devoured! – When I find a book so awesome I just can’t put it down.
Beachable – When I’ve got time to fill and just want to read something (like on a beach!).
Couldn’t Finish – Maybe this would work for you, but I couldn’t get into it at all.

I got a rather large bag of books when I went to the Nebulas this year, so that’s where I’m going to start. Top of the stack was the United States of Japan, by Peter Tieryas.

It’s a novel that explores the question of what would happen is Japan made all the right choices in WW2. Also, if they had giant mechas to help in the fight. It was an interesting concept, very Man in the High Castle, and kept me reading even when I wasn’t all that attached to the characters.

 

The story begins just as the Japanese enter California, signaling the end of the war. We meet a young couple (I could never get a real bead on their ages, they seem really young, but the chick’s pregnant, so can’t be terribly so) who are liberated from an internment camp for Japanese Americans.

We then flash forward to the late ’80s where we meet Beniko, the couple’s lazy tech genius of a son. He monitors video games for unpatriotic actions the players take. He is contacted by an old superior in the army, which puts him in agent Akiko Tsukino’s spotlight. She thinks he’s criminally useless, or maybe just criminal. Ben proves to be the only one who can help uncover clues at a murder scene, so Akiko’s forced to bring him along as she tries to root out the George Washingtons, the last American resistance group.

The investigation sets off a chain of events that propels the two through a weird, sometimes cold and oppressive, sometimes colorfully wild landscape.

 

It’s a fascinating cyberpunk world. I enjoyed all the little tech elements, and the dark atmosphere of the alternate SoCal. The concept driving the story was interesting to think about. And I’m a sucker for mecha fights. But, the plot itself just didn’t catch me. I kept wondering if one or another character was going to die, and if I would care if it happened. I read for the worldbuilding, not for the story itself, but the worldbuilding was enough for me.

My rating for United States of Japan: Beachable

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