His Majesty’s Dragon: Temeraire #1

I’ve started a new fantasy series! Or new to me, at least. The Termeraire series is set during the Napoleonic wars, where countries use dragons as their air force. These dragons are extremely intelligent creatures, able to carry on conversations and learn physics. Will Laurence is an officer in the British Royal Navy, whose ship conquers a French ship and wins a dragon egg in the process. After it hatches, it impresses itself upon Laurence, whose life is drastically altered.

This series was interesting to me because I wanted to read more fantasy, but was having a hard time finding a series I enjoyed. I came across this one, featuring one of my favorite time periods in one of my favorite countries and just had to give it a try. I was not disappointed.

My favorite part of this was the new, original take on dragons. These dragons aren’t just fire breathers, they are intelligent creatures. Termeraire loves to be read to throughout the book, especially from academic texts that Laurence himself does not fully understand. This intelligence lends an interesting dynamic to Termeraire and Laurence’s relationship, as well as their role in the army. Instead of vessels guided by their riders, they are active participants in strategizing.

It was also interesting how Naomi Novick made being in the Aeriel Corps as decidedly un-prestigious. It is the job of second sons and the occasional woman, not a Major in the Navy. Laurence’s family is not overjoyed to hear the news, and his fiancee shares in their sentiments. It is interesting, in part, because many authors would have made anything involving flying to be amazing and exciting in this time period. I think Novick’s choice works well, though, and facilitates the close bond between the dragons and their riders.

There’s a sort-of subplot with Laurence and a fiancee which I could have done without. It seemed a little shoe-horned into the story, which him showing much more guilt than affection toward her and her only being mentioned every few chapters as an aside.

Now that I’ve finished His Majesty’s Dragon, I’m looking forward to beginning Throne of Jade!

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The End.

Things get a little weird in The End of the Baudelaire’s story.

This book is such a dramatic departure from the rest of the series. The Baudelaires and Count Olaf find themselves marooned on an island governed by white-robe wearing Ishmael, whose feet are (literally and metaphorically) stuck in the ground. He says he never forces anyone to do anything, but it is clear that claim is tenuous at best. The people who live on the island all washed up from one place or another and avoid anything that could create conflict, real or imagined. Here, the Baudelaire’s discover more about their parents – including their parents’ own stint on the island – and experience a schism. It’s clear in the way they react to the schism that they’ve been paying attention to what happened to the VFD.

Many people are frustrated that not all the answers about the VFD are answered, but that is part of the beauty of The End. As quirky and unrealistic as the setting is, the Baudelaire stories have always been brutally honest about the dark realities of the world. And one thing of those realities is that your questions are never all answered. In many ways, the VFD serves less as the plot and more as a way for the Baudelaire’s to wrestle with moral ambiguity, come to terms with what they don’t know about their parents, and in the end the importance of not allowing schisms to form.

Though we have no idea what happens to the Baudelaires, they’ve moved on from being stuck in unlucky-13 chapters and have a new, 14th chapter, moving past their bad luck and into a new world. I like to think that they’ve made some sort of organization utilizing Klaus’s researching, Violet’s inventing, Sunny’s cooking, and whatever baby Beatrice’s talents are.

Re-reading this series was a great way to start the first third of the year. It was an enjoyable re-read, perfect for reading a book in a couple sittings. It is also fitting that I finished the series just before starting my job, a large portion of which is self-reflection and professional development. This series kind of started me down that route. Re-reading as an adult, I saw how this series shaped how I think. It introduced me to some heavy topics as a kid, and allowed me to begin to understand the world in shades of gray. I had no idea that this series had so shaped my worldview, but after reading it again it is obvious to me that it did, not only in the way I view the world but also in shaping my taste (anyone else see parallels between people who read these as kids and people who love Welcome to Night Vale?). It would seem that Kathleen Kelly was right about childhood reading:

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

One of my goals this year was to begin working my way through the Sherlock Holmes canon. I have this lovely Kindle book that has every Sherlock story in order of publication. I read the first two novels in quick succession, but really stalled with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the first short story collection. This was partially because I had just read a lot of Sherlock and wanted a break, but also because the short stories can be a bit dull.

I know, majorly controversial opinion about a universally adored character. But I said it. Reading the short stories in quick succession, they start to get formulaic. Watson sets the scene. They’re hanging out at Baker street. A mysterious and panicked nobleman/sad woman frantically rings the bell. Several pages of them telling their tale of woe. Sherlock disappears (since Watson narrates we actually don’t see that much of him). Then he tells everything he’s done in one long slog. End of story.

This isn’t to say that I didn’t love some of the stories in this collection. After all, one of them stars the infamous Irene Adler. I just started to see patterns and was able to guess some of the mysteries before they finished. To be fair, some of that has to do with being a contemporary reader. I know Victorian readers would have never guessed the sad, innocent woman as the culprit so of course she’s my first guess.

Overall, Sherlock Holmes stories are great and I’m continuing to work my way through them, but I’m not sure I’ll read every single short story or at least not in quick succession.

A Series of Unfortunate Events 10-12

The Series of Unfortunate Events re-read is almost done! The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto, and the Penultimate Peril round out the last three books before The End. First of all, can we just acknowledge that a children’s/middle grade book has the word penultimate in the title? (continuing in my obsession with ASOUE not condescending to children).

These books are really exciting and layered. They also arguably show significantly more character development than any of the previous books.

The Slippery Slope

First, we have The Slippery Slope where the Baudelaire’s have been split up by Count Olaf. While this seems tragic, it sets the stage for Sunny’s evolution. It’s a little unclear how much time has passed since the series began, but it becomes abundantly clear in this installment that Sunny is no longer a baby. This development will become more important, but it’s also just nice to see some movement. This book also sees the Quagmire shocker and the return of Carmelita Spats. As I have mentioned before, Carmelita is one of my favorite characters. She is just so unbelievably awful – it’s amazing. This book finally gets some movement on the shadowy VFD. The VFD was just starting to get a little annoying, since it’s been around for a few books with little movement, but now the intrigue has returned.

The Grim Grotto

The Grim Grotto almost feels like two books. There’s the first half, where they are on the submarine and in the eponymous Grotto, then there’s the second half where they are captured by Olaf and have to once-again escape. It’s nice to see another young person, sometimes it seems like the Baudelaires are the only children in their world. The continuing lessons of moral relativism are so important in this book. Fiona and her brother raise really important questions, and it continues to be one of my favorite elements of this series. And of course, Carmelita making everyone (including an eye-rolling Count Olaf) listen to her performance is hilarious.

This book was, I thought, the darkest so far. It is unclear what happened to the Captain and Phil, Fiona betrays them, and Sunny almost suffocates to death. Even though Violet almost died at the hospital and Madame LuLu was eaten at the carnival, this seemed to have the largest number of dark occurrences. I think it seemed darker to me because many of the dark occurrences previous to now have been one-person tragedies. Here, though, they were betrayals and prolonged almost-deaths.

The Penultimate Peril

The Penultimate Peril reminded me in some ways of all the trailers for the Grand Budapest Hotel. The hotel from the commercials seemed just quirky enough to fit into the Baudelaire’s world. This book has some of my favorite small details, like the spatulas for flipping the sunbathers and the Dewey Decimal system. I have mixed feelings on some aspects of this book. After a while, the Frank or Ernest question became tedious and I just wanted to know which was which so we could move on with the plot. Also, the blindfolded trial seemed like it was taking the whole “adults will let you down” thing a little too far. This book has great plot elements, though, including Kit Snicket providing more background information and trying to figure out why (most) of their former guardians have all been gathered together.

Now we move toward The End, where things get weird and more than a little biblical.

May To Be Read (TBR)

I usually don’t make a TBR, for a few reasons. I have a hard time predicting what I’ll be in the mood for in the future because of my “phases” I tend to go through, so they’re often a waste of time. Also, I am really goal-oriented with everything else in my life so if I make a TBR I often end up stressing myself out for no reason because I desperately want to finish it.

Lately, however, I find my book-polygamist ways getting out of hand so I think I need to crack down on myself and make a list.

Top priority is finishing a couple books I’m currently reading. That’s King Lear, Unnatural Creatures (edited by Neil Gaiman), and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I’m also currently reading the Best American Essays of the Century but that book is a monster. The rest of what I’m hoping to get to this month is re-reading The Casual Vacancy, reading Throne of Jade (Temeraire #2), and reading The Mysterious Benedict Society.

It looks like a pretty ambitious TBR, especially since I’m starting a new job Tuesday, but most of the books are at least halfway read so I should be able to accomplish most of it this month.

What are you reading this month?

The Wives of Los Alamos by TaraShea Nesbit

This book tells the story of the Manhattan Project in a totally different and inventive way. It is told from the plural first person perspective of the scientist’s wives. Transplanted to a completely unfamiliar town (not even knowing where they’re going until they get there), unable to see their families or tell them where they are, the women form a community around their shared confusion. They don’t see their husbands very much and they are civilian women living in a military/male world.

This book was pleasant and an interesting perspective, but the plural first person kept the novel from having any sort of plot. Instead, each chapter was a look at an aspect of their lives. There’s chapters on trying to (and giving up on) keep “proper” dress, chapters on parenting alone, on socializing with the scientists, on working. These little glimpses into life in Los Alamos were interesting. However, there is never a story. The story is the project, but since the women are not actually involved in the project, there isn’t much information about it.

I can’t decide how I feel about The Wives of Los Alamos. I enjoyed reading it, but I didn’t feel like I came away with anything when I finished. I feel like the story was more about life as a woman: having to follow your husband to a mysterious job, parent alone, adjust to life, and then at the end have to go back to your old life as if nothing changed. The setting didn’t really matter that much, it could have been any military story, professor story, pioneer story –  it didn’t have to be the Manhattan Project. I think that was what I struggled with, that the setting and time period didn’t really seem to have that much effect on the story. It seemed odd to set the story in such an interesting time and then not really do much with the specific setting.

A lot of people dislike the plural first person, but I thought it was well-done. Using it to illuminate their lives rather than to tell a plot heavy story allowed it to be used effectively and I think it worked well. It also underscores the sense of community and solidarity the women had. Not only does it bind them to each other, but it keeps the men and the women scientists separate, further emphasizing how the wives lived.

Overall a good, quick read but nothing too crazy especially if you’re looking for a plot-heavy or character-heavy book.