The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Another year is on the wane, and like so many, I find it a good time to look back and look forward. This year I read more books than I blogged about. Most of the ones I skipped writing a full review of were fun but not exceptionally strong or weak reads, unexceptional sequels to books I did review, books outside of my normal genres, or re-reads. I also quit reading a decent handful of books this year, which is unusual for me. I have become more protective of my time, and I am less willing to waste it on books that don’t grab my attention. This was a really strong year for comics and graphic novels. Half of the books I rated 5 stars this year were graphic novels; three of those are the first in a new series and one is a prequel: Lumberjanes Jem and the Holograms Bitch Planet Sandman Overture As far as comic books that I’m collecting in issues, everyone should be reading The Wicked and The Divine  and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl . Also if you like dark fantasy, check o

The Raven in the Foregate (Cadfael Series) Ellis Peters, 1986 Crossposted from Mainlining Christmas This is book number twelve in the Cadfael series, but I jumped ahead to it because it's set explicitly at Christmas. Premise: In 1141, a new priest comes to the town outside the abbey. He is harsh with the people and quickly makes enemies. The woman and young man who came into town with Father Ailnoth are not who they say they are, and all mysteries must come to light after a violent death on Christmas Eve. I've very much enjoyed all of the Cadfael books I have read, although this one seems to retread some ground. Cadfael's friendship with and patronage of the young couple particularly, is a repeated thread in more than one of these stories. It's still an enjoyable yarn, with the final solution to the mystery held secret to the end, despite how steadily pieces are revealed. Cadfael, as usual, keeps his own counsel and works only for what he thinks is the

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Barbara Robinson, 1972 Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas I have been seeing this book on lists of favorite Christmas books since we started the Mainlining project. But reading the back cover blurb made it sound entirely like a cheese-fest, overly religious, or otherwise sanctimonious, so I'd been putting it off. I have to admit, though, for an eighty-page book written for young readers, this is impressively subversive. Although, it probably seemed less so in 1972. The plot regards a group of unruly siblings who take over the Christmas pageant in a small town. In doing so, they force the townspeople to confront the reality behind the rote recitation of the myth. This may come as close as any religious-ish story ever has of evoking actual emotion in my cold, dead soul. The most interesting thing is the narrator. The story is told in the first person, by a young girl. Her opinions and asides add color, humor and context. The narrat

The Santa Klaus Murder Mavis Doriel Hay, 1936, ebook reprint 2015 New Release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. Crossposted from Mainlining Christmas Premise: Part of the British Library Crime Classic series of reprints. Sir Osmund Melbury has gathered his fractured family for the holiday. There’s a lot of money at stake for remaining in Sir Osmund's good graces, so naturally he ends up dead, and everyone has a motive. I liked the first half of this book much more than the end and resolution. I don’t know whether it dragged on too long, or I just lost track of who said what to who when. But I did like the first half quite a bit. The book explicitly switches between perspective, especially in the first few chapters. These chapters each take the form of a narrative of events written after the fact by one of the characters. You learn a lot about what the characters think of each other and their descriptions are often amusingl

Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories L. M. Montgomery, edited by Rea Wilmshurst Collection 1995, Stories originally published 1899 - 1910 Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas Premise: A collection of holiday tales by L. M. Montgomery. They can't all be winners. This volume occupies a weird space between light holiday collection and academic archive only of interest to scholars. There isn’t any scholarly commentary, but I can't imagine anyone reading this entire book who isn't either writing this review or looking for common themes in pieces from the time period for a research project. Because oh, are there common themes. The strongest pieces in the collection are the two excerpts from the Anne books: a chapter from Anne of Green Gables and one from Anne of Windy Poplars. Both of these have charm, whimsy and warmth in equal portion. The introduction explains that the other stories were among many written by Montgomery in these years for various ma

Forbidden Fruit (Corinna Chapman Mysteries, Book 5) Kerry Greenwood, 2009 Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas Premise: It's Christmas with the staff of Heavenly Pleasures and the inhabitants of Insula. Time for heat waves, bands of roving hippies, and a family with a lost daughter and a very dark secret… ( Previously reviewed: Book One ) I’ve read all of this series. Yes, I only reviewed the first one until now, (although ironically, the first one was probably the weakest) but I had to come back to blog for Christmas!  It's funny, but for all the different media we've consumed for the mainlining Christmas project, this year might be the first time we’ve done anything conspicuously set in the southern hemisphere. Australia is hot at Christmastime, and yet the holiday comes on all the same, with all the crowds and obnoxious music and such. Corinna’s commentary on the holiday season is especially fun. The two plots Corrina and her friends are investigating this

A Child's Christmas in Wales Dylan Thomas, 1950-1955 (depending on how you count) Crossposted from Mainlining Christmas I have seen this book on lists of classic Christmas stories for years now, but it just kept falling to the bottom of the to-read list. It probably could have stayed there. There's nothing wrong with it. It's a short story's worth of words poetically describing the activities and feelings of the holiday at a very particular place and time. It's pretty, especially the version I had with big color illustrations. But there's just not much to it other than nostalgia and pretty phrases. There are some very pretty phrases, admittedly. There's food, and weather, and an amusing story about a fire scare fought with snowballs, and a brief interlude where young boys sing carols outside a creepy house. Whether the narrator is speaking to a general audience or one person was unclear; it seemed to shift without clear demarcation of any so

Silent Nights Edited by Martin Edwards, ebook release 2015 New Release! I received an electronic copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. Crossposted from Mainlining Christmas Premise: Another collection of Christmas Mystery stories, this one from the British Library Crime Classics series. Fifteen tales of murder and thievery at the holidays. I know, you'd think I would be sick of short mysteries after last year's lengthy read of the Big Book of Christmas Mysteries. However, in this book I discovered a well-balanced selection that was of overall enjoyable. I think I may be giving extra credit for being of a manageable length, though. Here's what you'll find, with stories that I've read previously noted: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (repeat) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle A classic, I would never fault anyone for adding this to a Christmas compilation. It remains charming on whatever number re-read this is. Parlour Tricks

Bitch Planet: Extraordinary Machine (Volume One) Kelly Sue Deconnick, Valentine De Landro, 2015 New Release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. Premise: Collects Bitch Planet #1-5 . In a near future world, society is run by the Fathers. Women who don’t abide by the rules - aren’t thin enough, pretty enough, submissive enough, compliant enough - are sent to the Auxiliary Compliance Outpost, a prison in space better known as… Bitch Planet. Oof. I didn’t expect anything less, but reading this book feels somewhere between a punch to the kidneys and the crawly feeling of an effective horror movie. Its masterful blend of tone and style evokes both exploitation filmmaking and old-time comic books and mixes them up into an updated space-age Handmaid’s Tale with a righteous, intersectional feminist rage. I shouldn’t have to say this, but this is for mature readers only. Lots of nudity, violence and language. The volume opens with a story that

Startide Rising (Uplift Series) David Brin, 1983 Hugo Winner - 1984 Premise: Streaker is in trouble. The ship from Earth was only supposed to be doing some routine investigation of little-traveled star systems while the mostly-neofin crew gained in experience. They weren't supposed to find a lost fleet of unknown origin, then be chased by hostile galactic fleets who each want to be the sole recipient of whatever knowledge is there to be gained. Now the crew is hidden on an unknown planet, hoping to find a way to get through the massive space battle nearby and get home with their discoveries. Dolphins! In! SPAAAAACE! Yes, the book is a serious exploration of sentience and morality as well as an ensemble survival adventure. But seriously. I'm here for the space dolphins. There are a lot of interesting concepts here. There is a huge, complicated, mostly hostile galactic society based on the idea of Uplift. Uplift is racism, slavery/indentured service and colonialis

Sandman: Overture Neil Gaiman, J. H. Williams III, Dave Stewart, 2015 New Release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. Premise: At the start of Preludes and Nocturnes , Dream is imprisoned. What could have brought the Lord of the Dreaming so low as to be trapped by a minor occultist? The answers are held in this prequel volume. Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow. This should have been terrible. It’s a prequel to one of the seminal graphic novel series of the modern era, written almost 20 years after the release of the last issue. The last stories Gaiman penned in this world (Endless Nights, in 2003) I found mediocre at best. This should have been a cash-grab with maybe a few redeeming qualities. But it was brilliant. It was brilliant both in that it was smart and complicated, and that it was hard to look too closely, the light might hurt your eyes. All of the Endless have wonderful moments here, and Desire particularly gets some intriguing

Foundation's Edge (Foundation Series, Book 4) Isaac Asimov, 1982 Hugo Award Winner - 1983 Premise: The Foundation has worked for five hundred years to ensure that an era of prosperity and relative peace will arise with a Second Galactic Empire in another five hundred years. The only threat to the technological supremacy of the Foundation were the telepaths of the Second Foundation, but they were defeated two hundred years earlier. Councilman Golan Trevize of the Foundation believes that the Second Foundation still exists. Speaker Stor Gendibal of the Second Foundation believes that some unknown force in the universe is also working toward shaping the future of the galaxy for its own ends. Once upon a time (about a decade back?) I read the first two (or three?) books in the Foundation series. I liked them, but never read the next one. I honestly can't remember why...maybe the second wasn't as good as the first? I was able to pick right up with this entry in th

Jem and the Holograms: Showtime (Volume 1) Kelly Thompson, Sophie Campbell, 2015 New Release! I received an electronic copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. Premise: Jerrica Benton and her sisters dream of a music career. An online video contest seems like a great way to make a splash, but first Jerrica will need a way around her stage fright, and then they’ll meet the competition…Collects Jem and the Holograms Issues #1-6 Up front, I need to admit: I never watched Jem as a kid. I knew that there were dolls in shiny outfits, but it wasn’t a show I was ever into. Today, I think I’ve maybe seen at most one episode, watched on Youtube years back when I was curious. I was told the premise at some point. So unlike many people who are going to read this book, I don’t care about Jem the show. I love Jem the comic book. I love the bouncy, sprightly dialogue, the silly situations. I love the good-hearted characters and the fledgling romances. I love tha

Penryn & the End of Days (Angelfall, World After, End of Days) Susan Ee, 2012, 2013, 2015 Premise: Six weeks ago, the world ended. Or, at least, a series of catastrophes and an army of angels decimated the human race, which amounts to about the same thing. Penryn is 17. She only wants to keep her little sister safe, and her schizophrenic mom alive. When her family is separated, she will do anything to get them back. Even make a deal with an angel. For a series that, if you emphasize certain parts of the plot, falls squarely into many Paranormal YA tropes, this had some serious bite. The action was fast and furious, the story fascinating in its twists and turns. I'll say up front that there is a romance and I didn't hate it by the end, because it ended up tying into the plot in a really interesting way. If it had ended up being a romance for the sake of angst or for the sake of romance itself it might have driven me crazy, but I actually think all the relations

Gwendolyn’s Sword E. A. Haltom, 2015 New Release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. Premise: Lady Gwendolyn has been doing a fine job managing her husband’s estate while he is overseas with King Richard. But with mercenaries sympathetic to Prince John passing through and machinations from her sister-in-law, Gwendolyn will use a superstition, her own stubbornness and her unorthodox training to protect her people. Spoilers ABOUND below, FYI. I was going to cut this book some slack because I assumed it was YA, but I’m not seeing that on any of the promotional pages. I might have enjoyed this at age 12. Now, not so much. It’s not that it’s terrible. It’s that it’s terribly cliche. Gwendolyn doesn’t just know how to use a sword. She’s also great at it, despite the first chapter being the first time she fights in earnest against someone with deadly intent. She’s also secretly the heir of King Arthur. I almost put the book down for good

Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch Book 2) Ann Leckie, 2014 Premise : Sequel to Ancillary Justice . If you haven’t read Ancillary Justice yet… I don’t know what to do with you. Breq’s ploys in the first book have allowed her a certain amount of autonomy. Now she just wants to keep herself and her crew alive long enough to fulfill a debt. I bought this book months ago and only got around to reading it now, just before the release of the third book. I am an idiot for waiting. Although, on the other hand, having some distance from the first novel allowed me to fall in love with the conventions of the series all over again. I love Breq’s perspective. She has lived a long time, she is not human, not really, and sees things in a subtly different way from the people around her. I love the way she questions history and draws connections that are uncomfortable or unthinkable for others. And I still love the pronoun thing. [In case anyone’s reading this who hasn’t read the first: bec

Free Country: A Tale of The Children's Crusade Neil Gaiman, Toby Litt, Rachel Pollack, Alisa Kwitney, Jamie Delano, Chris Bachalo, Peter Gross, Peter Snejbjerg. et. al., 2015 New release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. Premise: Once upon a time there was an idea for a Vertigo Comics crossover story, which took characters from a handful of titles (Sandman, Swamp Thing, Books of Magic, Animal Man, Doom Patrol, Black Orchid) and gave young characters from these worlds a story together. Unfortunately, given budgets and timelines, the plot ended up a bit rushed. This edition features an all-new middle chapter, giving more characters on-panel time and clarifying the story. Acts One and Three originally released 1993-1994 as The Children’s Crusade 1 and 2. Premise the Second: Children disappear. It happens. It has always happened. But what if they are all going to the same place? Who could possibly be able to find out? This story i

Demon Drums Carol Severance, originally published 1992, Kindle edition 2015 New eBook release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. Premise: Iuti had seen enough blood. She retreated from battle and gave up everything for a chance at peace. But sometimes peace is too good to be true, and chance encounters can change the course of war. I really liked this book. It has an uncommon setting, an uncommon protagonist and an uncommon story, and all of those things work extremely well. The story starts after the main character has tried to leave behind a major war. The world is evocative of Micronesia, with multiple island nations and a closeness with the sea. Iuti’s tie with a powerful shark-spirit gave her power in battle, but exhausted her soul and finally drove her from her people. I know that dealing with issues of PTSD is not as infrequent in fantasy as sometimes it seems, but this book also features a fully adult female protagonist in

Throne of Glass Sarah J. Maas, 2012 Premise: Celaena is an assassin, sentenced to die in a labor camp for her crimes. She has one chance to earn her freedom: Win a competition to work for the king she despises. Hmmm. I’m quite torn on this book, honestly. I tore through it, read it extremely quickly, but after I was done, all that stayed with me were the bits I didn’t like. The cover of the book says that fans of The Hunger Games will love this book, and I agree in that it’s very readable. The pace is breakneck from almost start to end. And yet, I found that to be a critique as well, as when I described the competition premise to a friend who immediately said: “So this got published because Hunger Games made lots of money, right?” The setting and backstory had lots of intriguing hints which might be developed in later books, but the ending of this book I found unsatisfying. There seems to be an undercurrent of untapped magic in the society and the palace, mysteries aboun

Hawkeye: Rio Bravo (Volume 4) Matt Fraction, David Aja, Chris Eliopoulos, Francesco Francavilla, 2015 Premise: Follows L.A. Woman . Clint digs down to an ever-deeper rock bottom but finds a place to stand there. Collects Hawkeye issues #12, 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21-22 This is the climax of Fraction’s run on Hawkeye, and I enjoyed it, although I didn’t find this volume as a whole as satisfying as I hoped I would. I might go back and read the issues in the order in which they were released, (which requires flipping back and forth between books 3 and 4) to see if that changes the overall pacing for the better. There are really fantastic moments in this book. Gorgeous, perfect moments where a character makes a choice or makes a stand, or a bunch of plot pieces come together, or friendship and affection is more important than anger and resentment. The story as a whole just didn’t 100% gel for me. I kept having to go back and re-read sections to catch some foreshadowing I missed o

Hunter Mercedes Lackey, 2015 New Release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. Premise: The barriers between Earth and another, unknown place have grown thin, and humanity now lives in protected cities where they are safe from creatures of magic and myth. Joy is a Hunter, one of a small group of people born with the ability to manipulate magic and fight off incursions of dangerous critters from the Otherworld. She has been called to Apex city to train and work with other Hunters and meet her uncle, an important politician. But politics can turn deadly when a lot is at stake and Joy has to be very careful about who she trusts… To be upfront: is this sometimes a little like The Hunger Games ? Yes, yes it is. First-person, ridiculously badass young female character living in remote, hard-scrabble area brought to the ridiculously technologically-advanced and decadent big city to commit violence (in this case to fight monsters, not other tee

I'm not gone! I've just had a heck of a few months, and while I've been reading, it's mostly been re-reads of old favorites, or new books that I just didn't like enough to review. But the drought ends later today with a new review. AND! Are you looking to feed your reading habit? A Count of Five is a fantasy novel with a unique setting and a set a great characters. I haven't reviewed it because I also edited it, which seems more than a little like a conflict of interest. But you don't have to take my word for its quality, because you can get it FREE on Kindle! Get your copy TODAY only:  http://amzn.com/B00WS2LCRI

Lumberjanes: Volume One: Beware the Kitten Holy Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Brooke Allen, 2015 Premise: Collects Lumberjanes #1-4. Alice, Molly, Jo, Mal and Ripley are spending their summer at Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady Types. They should be learning scouting skills, canoeing, hiking and learning about nature. Instead they’re trying to get to the bottom of some seriously mysterious goings-on. I read the first issue of Lumberjanes a while back, and knew that all the hype is true: this is a really special book. I bought the collection of the first four issues a few months back, and just finally got time to read it. And good timing, too! Lumberjanes just won two Eisners, for Best New Series and Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17). This book deserves its awards and its laurels. It’s loads of fun, funny and clever and sweet all at once. It stars great characters in an insane, cartoonish world, where exploring a cavern

Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin: Book Two) Robin LaFevers, 2013 Premise: Sybella blessed the day she was told she was a Daughter of Death and taken into Mortain’s convent to be taught to kill. Because her human father, the nobleman d’Albret, was the stuff that nightmares are made of. But now she is back in his household, spying for the young Duchess of Brittany, and trying to keep both her life and her sanity intact long enough to kill d’Albret. If you liked Grave Mercy, don’t be foolish like me and allow a few years to go by before you read this sequel. I was intrigued but terribly confused for several chapters before I remembered barely enough of the political plotline to pick up on how this story fits into that story. I remember being very interested in Sybella before, as she was a mysterious side character in book one, and at least the first half of her story lived up to those hints. She was subject to an incredibly dark childhood, but now must face those demons, externa

Batgirl (Volume 1: The Batgirl of Burnside) Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr, 2015 I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley for the purpose of review. Premise: Babs moves to a new neighborhood for a fresh start, a new look, and a new outlook. Reviewing this book is really hard. I think I'm too old for it. (For what it's worth, I am 33.) I like the art; I like the humor. In principle I like the lighter take and I liked aspects of the story. But for me, it's not my Batgirl, without quite being a brand new Batgirl. In this volume, they did a soft reboot. The character gets a new outfit, new friends, a new neighborhood to protect, and the protagonist has been called (both affectionately and not) "hipster Batgirl". She does live in a Brooklyn analogue, and is making dumb mistakes the way young people in their early twenties do ... although it bothers me a little that at the same time she's struggling with, not college, but her dissertati