The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, Book 1) Martha Wells, 2017 Premise: All Murderbot wants is to be left alone to watch tv. Unfortunately, if it doesn't want its free will to be discovered, it still has a job to do, and someone's trying to kill the people it's supposed to protect. This was an absolute delight. Going in, I thought was that this was a novella from the point of view of a killbot. What I found was a snarky sci-fi adventure with a protagonist whose general misanthropy is not entirely genuine, but this never falters into pathos. The humans call it Security Unit, or SecUnit, but a murderbot is what it calls itself. The reason why is a mix of black humor and cynicism. Murderbot is not only hiding its sense of humor but also its free will from both the humans it's assigned to and the shadowy Company that owns it and financed the scientific mission they're on. A SecUnit has consciousness, but it isn't supposed to be able to choose for ...

Christmas vs. the Fourth of July Asenath Carver Coolidge, 1908 Challenge Book! Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016 - Read a book under 100 pages Another bonus review on Mainlining Christmas ! This week, read about a weird little book from the early 1900s.

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus L. Frank Baum, 1902 Cross-posted at Mainlining Christmas This is a rather unique little... novella, I guess I would call it by the length. Probably one of the earliest attempts to really codify a “logical” life story for Santa Claus. I found it interesting, though, that even given a few animated specials that adapt this story directly, very little of this story has directly migrated into the popular conception of Santa. This could be one of the things that pulled the idea of Santa into the framework of “fairy tale” rather than “religious/mythic figure”, but I couldn't find out much about its original reception or effect. Eschewing any references to Saint Nicholas, the historical figure, this Santa is a foundling raised by wood nymphs and fairies, called Claus because it means something like “small one”. Most of the story is pretty cute: the fairies raise Claus, and since all manner of immortal spirits are his friends and protectors h...

No comic books came out this week that I am collecting.  I did look at the hard-cover Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale graphic novel.  Apparently it was planned to be released as a mini-series, and then after many delays they decided to put it out as a slim graphic novel instead. I skimmed it, and while it looks decent, it doesn't look much better than the other Serenity comics, which have all been just okay, in my opinion. And I'm not going to pay $14.99 for 50 pages of just okay. Ah well, next week there are 6 titles scheduled that I have some interest in...

Skin Trade (Anita Blake 17) Laurell K. Hamilton, 2009 Just in time for Halloween, I'm catching up on my Anita Blake. Premise: Anita is called to Las Vegas to help hunt down a vampire serial killer. While there, she has to try not to have sex with were-tigers....This series is so surreal. This one was really not bad. I continue in my opinion (from book 16) that it does feel as if Hamilton is trying to write her way out of the hole she'd dug for the series. After books and books of angst and ridiculous new powers every time you turn around, this one had a sense that things were beginning to stabilize. I had quit after Harlequin (book 15), which I felt sunk to new depths of idiocy, and while I did break down and read Blood Noir (book 16) and felt that it was somewhat better, I didn't return to the series until recently. There is still a great deal of ridiculous repetitive business about beasts and sex and such that mostly gets in the way of the story here. ...

Due to constraints on time and inspiration, Faithful Readers (all 6 of you),  in place of a long article on one book, here are some brief thoughts on other books I've read recently, that don't quite have enough to get their own article.   Plus, my camera is broken. His Majesty's Dragon Naomi Novik, 2006 Sometimes I see a book that seems to say, "I was written just for you!"  This is one of those books.  In sketchiest outline, the plot is a little bit like Eragon , (person imprints on dragon, life changes), if Eragon were any good.  And set in the Napoleonic Wars.  And starred a Naval captain.  The author is, like me, a great fan of both JRR Tolkien and Patrick O'Brian, and it comes through in the writing. The protagonist, Captain Laurence, is a proud, hot-tempered man who clings to duty and responsibility when his life is turned upside-down.  His unexpected bond with Temeraire, a rare Chinese Dragon captured from a French ship, m...

The Deep Beyond C. J. Cherryh, 2005 It's two books in one!  Two... completely unconnected books.  According to Wikipedia, they take place in the same universe, but I didn't get that from reading them. Cuckoo's Egg (1985) Intriguing premise that never really goes anywhere, more of an extended character background than a novel in it's own right.  The identity of the main character is interesting, but not surprising the way the book seems to imply it should be.  The politics are slightly too muddled, the plot fuzzy.  The last little bit has all the plot, and then it ends.  It does bring up some intriguing ideas, and the society of Space-Cat-Samurai is fairly original, but I'd prefer if those ideas were attached to more of a plot.  Serpent's Reach (1980) Very cool world, interesting, if confusing, plot.  Again I could have wished for a bit more resolution (Of the situation outside of the planet the plot ends on), but this one's much ...