Susan Hated Literature

Author: Lynn Flewelling

1. The Bone Doll’s Twin
2. The Hidden Warrior
3. The Oracle’s Queen

DDC: Read with FantasyFavorites and FFSeries
See also: Lynn Flewelling’s LJ ; What we read ; Voracious Reader

As always the problem with reviewing a series of books is that you might give away plot points by accident, so I’m not really going to mention the plot at all.

In many ways this is fairly typical “epic” fantasy. We have a chosen one prophesied to save the world. Or at least on country. Evil usurpers in power not the rightful monarch. And of course the quest to regain the throne. But despite that aspect is actually quite a good read. Flewelling has her own twist on the cliché that makes it much more entertaining and interesting than others that follow the same general plot. Plus her characters actually have shades of grey, not just the black and white that makes going into battle against the evil ones so much easier for our heroes.

I really liked the gender twist. And the problems that Tobin/Tamir faced were well-written. Plus it made for a fresh take on the whole romance side of the book. But overall none of the characters really leapt off the page for me.

I was interested, but never really gripped by the plot either, so I’d have to say that it was an average enough read. Nothing I’d recommend to anyone.

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Author: Jonathan Stroud
ISBN: 0552550280
DDC: 823.914
Book 3 in The Bartimaeus Trilogy
See also: Library Thing ;

The assassins dropped into the palace grounds at midnigh, four fleet shadows dark against the wall. The fall was high, the ground was high; they made no more sound on impact than the pattering of rain.

The third book in this series, Ptolemy’s Gate is the final chapter in the story of the djinni Bartimaeus and his master Nathaniel, aka John Mandrake. Three years have passed since the end of the second book, and in that time Nathaniel has become more and more John Mandrake the magician, and less and less Nathaniel the person. He has also kept Bartimaeus around for far too long, two years without respite, and now the djinni is far from his best, weak and almost powerless, yet never without a sarcastic remark to make.

Kitty also makes a return in this book, although this time without the Resistance. She has grown disillusioned with the futility of trying to battle the magicians, and the constant talk but little action from many of the “commoner’s groups”. But she does have a plan of her own. One that involves Bartimaeus and his past, and the reason he so often takes on the guise of an Egyptian boy.

As in the other books we get a variety of narrators, each with their own style and humour, from Bartimaeus to Nathaniel, to Kitty to an omniscent narrator. My favourite has to be Bartimaeus, maybe because I am partial to footnotes and sarcasm.

This is a little dark in places, but overall a fun, entertaining, humourous read. I’m also tempted to say that it may possibly have political overtones, what with an overly authoritarian government spying on its own people “for their own good” but I won’t bring that up. There are some very nice touches throughout the book, whether that is rewriting history and myth so that events fit into this alternate world, or just Bartimaeus’ views on the world. Well worth reading.

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Author: Jonathan Stroud
ISBN: 0552550272
DDC: 823.914
#2 in The Bartimaeus Trilogy
Group Read: FFseries
See also: Library thing

London: a great and prosperous capital, two thousand years old, which in the hands of the magicians aspired to be the centre of the world. In size at least it had succeeded.

Although in the previous book Nathaniel said, almost promised, he wouldn’t summon Bartimaeus again, events force his hand. He needs a servent demon that he can trust trust. Well, for a certain value of trust, given the relationship between magicians and their slaves.

The resistance that made a brief appearance in The Amulet of Samarkand make a reappearance, and a much more substantial one as they attempt to rouse the general populace into revolt against the tyranny of the magicians. But the commoners aren’t to be persuaded by random acts of theft and violence. So the resistance have to raise their game.

So we come to know more about Kitty, the girl who turned up in the first book. How she became part of the Resistance, and why.

And then there is the mysterious entity causing widesprad destruction throughout London. No one knows what it is, all they know is that it is dangerous, having killed several spirits.

Stroud’s second book in The Bartimaeus Trilogy is even more readable and enjoyable than the first. We get to see what changes 2 years and 8 months have wrought on Nathaniel, and to find out that for the most part these aren’t too great. Now moving in more powerful circles he has become more and more a magician, with all the faults that entails, such as being overly ambitous, power-hungry, unfeeling, vain and I could go on.

Bartimaues, of course, is his usual old self. Time doesn’t really pass in the Other Place, and besides as a djinni several thousand years old almost 3 years isn’t really that long a time span.

As with the last book the narrative shifts from one point of view to another, though this time round there are three narrators; Nathaniel, Bartimaeus and Kitty. Each with their own agenda and perspective on events.

This is the middle book of the trilogy, the one that is usually the least entertaining as there is no “shiny new world� to show off, and a lot of set-up for the final installment. This doesn’t really suffer from that problem as it has one self-contained story that the book resolves by the end. Stroud also develops the world he has created, so we get to visit Prague, and to see how the commoners live.

All in all an entertaining and amusing read, with plenty of humour thrown in.

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Author: Guy Gavriel Kay

ISBN: 0586215220
Book 1 of 3 The Fionavar Tapestry
DDC: 813.54

This is a reread for me, the reason being that we are reading the series at ffseries starting with book 2 as we read the first one in fantasy favorites. So in preparation I thought I might as well skim over this one so I’d know what I was talking about.

When I first read The Summer Tree I wasn’t all that impressed, thought it was quite standard fantasy, and, when compared to other books by GGK, disapointing. I’m glad to say that after my rereading I’d half to disagree with my earlier self.

Yes, there are quite a lot of the standard fantasy cliches; light and dark, a band of inexperienced possible-hero types, older magic figures, kings, maps, and a creature of pure evil. And it was probably these that threw my on my last reading, I wasn’t expecting this form of fantasy, so I didn’t really look past the surface.

Underneath the standard fantasy elements GGK’s writing shines through. His characters sometimes act, or feel, a little too much a little too soon, but overall they are fantasticly written. From the outsider Dave who is “too quick to renounce friendship” to Paul who is still recovering from the loss of his girlfriend.

Another possible reason I didn’t enjoy it first time round is the fact that five characters (Paul, Kevin, Jennifer, Kimberly and Dave) travel from our Earth to Fionavar. Usually the traveling to another magical world is done simply so the author will have a person as clueless as the reader who can ask the questions why, how, where etc. And there is a slight element of that here, but there is also another reason behind it.

The Summer Tree is an example of High Fantasy that rises above its own cliches, and is well worth a read.

Bright Weavings (GGK’s official site) | GGK | Infinity Plus interview with GGK

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