I haven't really read much for a couple of years mostly due to university, so I decided that, since university officially finished in December, I would read more this year and resume monthly library visits.
Therefore, without further ado, I present my January list, written to a soundtrack of the Dear Evan Hanson OBC album,
Beware: this post is dark and long and full of spoilers.
Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
This is the first book in the Powder Mage trilogy and my first foray into fantasy that is not Tolkien. The best way to describe this book is to imagine the French Revolution dropped into a fantasy world and add rumours of returned vengeful gods. Not going to lie, I loved the intricacies and complexities of the evident world building and that you don't get the the characters backstories in one hit but you find it out in bits and pieces as is relevant to the story and the semi-historical feel it has due to the Industrial Revolution era technology. Also, multiple points of view.
You have Field Marshal Tamas who overthrows the incompetent king in order to bring democracy to Adro and winds up at war with a neighbouring and much more powerful country. There's the retired police inspector Adamat who ends up working for Tamas trying to uncover a traitor. Also, powder-mage Taniel who has orders to track down and kill first a powerful sorcerer and then his oldest friend. And Nila, a laundress who manages to save the son of a noble from the guillotine. Then there are various levels of abilities of magic and the return of two very different gods.
I had to constantly remind myself that this was not some historical novel with magic thrown into the mix - the world building was that thorough. I also enjoyed the logical approach to magic which is different to other fantasy books I've read.
The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan
This is the second Powder Mage book. It's a solid sequel and middle book of a trilogy.
It starts with a rout of the Adran army.
Tamas is caught behind enemy lines with his best soldiers and is marching back to Adro with the enemy on his heels. Nila is taken by apparent royalists and is tasked with acting as nurse to the noble's son who is now the closest relative to the deposed king. Taniel is tracking down an injured and extremely vengeful god. And Adamat is embarking on a mission to rescue his family.
Like Promise of Blood, the separate arcs are resolved in that they are resolved as part of the book's plot but unresolved as part of the series. Any more and I think I may spoil this past the point of no return.
The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan
A satisfying ending. A realistic ending. Not on the level of epicness as The Return of the King but good in itself. It stays true to the worldbuilding groundwork laid in the first two books. Some parts drag a little, some of the endings I expected, some I had half worked out due to reading between the lines and a few clues, and others I didn't expect.
Storylines converge. Tamas is back from the dead, sorting his divided army out and working to establish the democracy. Taniel is running, chasing Kez who captured Poel. Nila is fine tuning powers she never knew she had. Adamat has found himself back in Adro, half running an election campaign.
The endings are realistic and satisfying, logical for the characters but leaving it open for more if the author so chooses.
I quite enjoyed this series. It will be on the re-read list and possibly go onto my to buy list.
Whispers by Robin Jones Gunn
I have been reading Robin Jones Gunn since I was fourteen and I picked up a Christy Miller volume at Koorong. Since then, she has become one of my favourite authors. I enjoyed Whispers as it picked up the story of one of the minor supporting characters in my favourite Christy Miller book and her character was not what I expected from her brief appearance in Christy Miller. I love that Robin makes her characters real and not the 'perfect' Christian that is so often portrayed. Grandma Moreno is definitely my favourite character - she's hilarious! Also the Teri and Anita relationship is so real - I can relate so much to Anita as I've got two younger sisters. And I love the glimpse of Jessica & Kyle's happily ever after.
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
I only read this book because I wanted to see the movie mostly because of the cast and I have this thing where I need to read the book if movies are based on books. I haven't seen the movie yet as I my work roster clashed constantly with the cinema screening times.
This isn't the first Poirot book I've read. I found it hard to read at times and contemplated putting it down a few times. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate how carefully the circumstance, the murderer, the motive and the evidence are constructed. But I don't know if it was the writing style or the fact that most of the book is interviews with very little action that makes it tedious.
In terms of the story, it's well thought out and if you're a Christie fan, you'll find it engaging.
If I ever see the movie, I'll have to do a comparison.
* only read the next two books if you want to be emotionally drained & wrecked & are prepared to read in one sitting and they contain some occasional mild swearing and a lot of Aussie slang and I wouldn't recommend unless you're definitely over 16 *
Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
The thing with Saving Francesca is that the characters are diverse and real and broken. You have Francesca who is in the first intake of female students into an all boys school, who is trying to keep her family together while her mother suffers from crippling depression and her grandmothers think they know best and ends up friends with the girls her former group of friends labeled losers and a couple of boys who some would call dropkicks and after all that she gains the interest of her house captain who is so introverted he comes across as stuck-up. And she has to deal with being a normal 16 year old. It's messy, it's broken, it's real. And if you're Australian, even if you're not from Sydney, it's extremely refreshing to read a book set in Australia with Australian slang and expressions. I'm not from Sydney but I can easily imagine the events as if they were set in my own town.
It's a reread for me but I'd read it again and again.
The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta
Five years post Saving Francesca, this story picks up the story of Francesca and her friends through different characters.
There's Tom, who winds up living with his aunt and working with Francesca and Justine at a pub, who's living with his aunt after his roommates kicked him out, who has spent most of the last five years living on drugs, the dole and one-night stands, whose family has split and fallen apart after the death of his uncle and the escalation of his father's drinking, who ends up confiding in the girl he abandoned years ago.
Then there's Georgie, pregnant with her ex's baby seven years post their breakup, who somehow becomes anchor for her fractured family after her younger brother's death and her twin brother's marriage and family is broken by his drinking, who gives both her nephew Tom and his father a home and becomes the buffer between them.
A recipe for disaster. I love the openness of the ending, that nothing is fully resolved but you can imagine that all parties are on the way to resolving their issues somehow.
I'm not sure what I'll read for February yet, perhaps some classics and biographies since this month has been mostly fantasy.
