Series

C. S. Forester, "The Young Hornblower"

2007-05-08 14:10; in Adam's Books, Hornblower; 137 words

An anthology of the first three Hornblower books: "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower", which is itself a collection of short stories, "Lieutenant Hornblower" and "Hornblower and the Hotspur". (That is, the first three chronologically; they were written as backstory long after Hornblower's ascent to Lord.)

These are roughly contemporary with the first couple of Aubrey-Maturin books, which I've also read recently, so I had a nagging feeling of familiarity throughout -- confirmed by "Hotspur" which ends with the same naval battle as "Post Captain". I suppose there are only so many battles you can write about in a Napoleonic naval saga, although in this case Forester certainly did it first! (I assume the crossover possibilities have already been adequately explored in fan fiction...)

Recommended for fans of the genre; Forester's reputation is well-deserved.

ISBN 0140119396. Buy this book at Amazon.

Dorothy L. Sayers, "The Complete Stories"

2007-04-22 22:56; in Adam's Books, Lord Peter Wimsey; 156 words

A cheap-and-cheerful collection of all of Sayers' short mysteries -- which includes a lot of Lord Peter Wimsey stories, rather fewer Montague Egg stories (he's a travelling salesman who -- no great surprise -- solves mysteries), and a handful of standalone mysteries. The only thing it's missing is "The Wimsey Papers", which aren't really stories as such.

This collection really makes Sayers' skill at inventing mysteries obvious -- nearly all of the Wimsey stories could have been worked up to book length. (Indeed, one was; "The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face" is clearly an earlier version of "Have His Carcase", albeit with a different resolution.) Many of the stories here are rather more light-hearted than the usual Wimsey fare, though, which may not be entirely to the reader's taste.

Recommended for those who've enjoyed Sayers' full-length mysteries and are looking for a collection of ten-minutes diversions along the same lines.

ISBN 0060084618. Buy this book at Amazon.

Jill Paton Walsh and Dorothy L. Sayers, "A Presumption of Death"

2007-04-06 12:12; in Adam's Books, Lord Peter Wimsey; 212 words

The second Jill Paton Walsh-completed Lord Peter Wimsey book. In this case Walsh has had rather more of a hand in the plotting than she did in "Thrones, Dominations": this is based on "The Wimsey Papers", a collection of letters between characters in the Wimsey stories that Sayers wrote for "The Spectator" during the Second World War. (They aren't in the collection of Sayers short stories I've got, but you can find them online fairly easily.)

Since the letters weren't originally intended as a novel, the rest of this -- including the all-important murder mystery -- has been fabricated entirely by Walsh. It's very much a Harriet book rather than a Peter one, and there's a lot more background and character development than actual mystery-solving; I feel this is for the best, since the original Sayers material consists entirely of background! The overall effect is pleasing; it kept me interested all the way through, and I completely failed to predict the ending -- as usual.

The one detail that bugged me was the throwaway reference to Bletchley Park; it's perfectly accurate, but there's no way that Sayers could have written it at the time!

Recommended. I wish Walsh would write more, but that seems a bit unlikely now...

ISBN 0340820675. Buy this book at Amazon.

Robin Hobb, "Forest Mage"

2007-04-01 22:49; in Adam's Books, Soldier Son; 104 words

The second book in the Soldier Son series. I can't really describe the plot without giving away much of the surprise, but suffice it to say this is an excellent instalment of a series which I would unreservedly recommend; I continue to be impressed by Hobb's talents for description, plotting and, above all, character invention. And now I have to wait until July for the third book -- hrmph!

(My only complaint? The paperback edition is the same size as the hardback, much larger than the paperback version of the first book, so I can't shelve them together...)

ISBN 0007196164. Buy this book at Amazon.

Dorothy L. Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh, "Thrones, Dominations"

2007-03-30 20:43; in Adam's Books, Lord Peter Wimsey; 214 words

I read all the Lord Peter Wimsey books in my early teens -- I have fond memories of borrowing Sevenoaks library's large-print editions, because the others were usually on loan, and reading them at arm's length. More recently I'd listened to some of the BBC radio adaptations of the books (which are mostly very good indeed), and I was surprised to discover that two more books had been written by Jill Paton Walsh in the late 90s.

This one's based on an outline and some fragments of a book that Sayers was planning to write but abandoned; it's set in 1936, some years after the last instalment of the story, and the authors therefore spend several chapters setting the scene before anybody dies. The mystery itself is standard Sayers fare, with an unusually dramatic (but reasonable) ending.

The obvious question here is how Walsh fares when writing a Sayers book. Well, I can't find anything to complain about; she nails Sayers' style very effectively, and develops the characters in an interesting and believable way. I'm now curious to read more of Walsh's work to see what her writing's like when she's not trying to imitate someone else; if it's half as good as this I'll be happy. Recommended.

ISBN 0340684569. Buy this book at Amazon.

Agatha Christie, "The Murder at the Vicarage"

2007-02-25 17:41; in Adam's Books, Miss Marple; 86 words

The first Miss Marple mystery. I was given a pile of these by my mother because she couldn't stand Christie's writing style, and I can sort of see what she means; it's written from the perspective of the village parson, and the prose is rather flat and lifeless. It's a reasonably clever mystery, but didn't particularly grab me. I'm neutral on this one.

(My copy is a book club edition; the ISBN below is for a cheaper mass-market paperback.)

ISBN 0007120850. Buy this book at Amazon.

David Weber, "The Honor Of The Queen"

2007-02-03 15:59; in Adam's Books, Honor Harrington; 131 words

The second book in David Weber's Honor Harrington series. I'd call this formulaic space opera, except that there aren't really that many people doing it any more, and Weber does do a very good job; he finds a few more interesting aspects of the technology he introduced in the first book, he introduces a highly-conservative society, explains how it got that way, and how it's likely to change as a result of the events of the book, and there are Big Space Battles. It's convincing and entertaining, even if it's something of a guilty pleasure.

If you liked the first book in the series, this one's even better; if you didn't then you'll probably hate this one too. Recommended for fans of the genre.

ISBN 0743408233. Buy this book at Amazon.

Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis, "1635: Cannon Law"

2007-01-15 02:45; in Adam's Books, Assiti Shards Series; 103 words

Further adventures (how many more ways can I phrase this?) in the Italian branch of the 163x universe. The general tone is much the same as the last Flint/Dennis book; there's a lot of humour, particularly any of the bits involving Rui. I do wonder what fraction of readers would spot the Fawlty Towers parody, although it made me laugh out loud...

I think this series is going to stay consistently good -- again, it's not going to be making it to GCSE English curricula any time soon, but it's a pleasant way of spending an evening.

ISBN 1416509380. Buy this book at Amazon.

Eric Flint and Virginia Demarce, "1634: The Ram Rebellion"

2007-01-10 02:50; in Adam's Books, Assiti Shards Series; 93 words

A rather splendid entry in the 163x files: how an uptime farmer's land shortage eventually provoked a full-scale political revolution, via an ill-behaved German ram called Brillo and the foundation of a ballet company. This apparently grew from a series of stories originally intended for the Grantville Gazette, and a number of authors are represented inside (with Flint and Demarce being the major contributors and editors). Possibly the best yet -- of course, you will need to have read the preceding books for it to make sense...

ISBN 1416520600. Buy this book at Amazon.

ed. Eric Flint, "Grantville Gazette II"

2007-01-07 03:00; in Adam's Books, Assiti Shards Series; 100 words

I'm pleased to see that the first Gazette book was popular enough that Baen could continue to publish the rest -- some day someone'll produce a computer screen that's as good as paper for reading in bed, but it hasn't happened yet!

Another anthology of short stories and non-fiction articles about the 163x universe. The highlights for me were "An Invisible War", about getting the Jena university up to speed with 21st-century medicine, and the article on telecommunications systems in the 163x universe. A good read, and I continue to like this format. Recommended.

ISBN 1416520511. Buy this book at Amazon.