Not so Final Fantasy

Shadowrise
Tad Williams
DAW

Okay ... so non-hardcore fantasy fans can stop reading now.  This entry is only for the geeks.

OMG -- Williams has done it again.  Shadowrise is the third installment in what was supposed to have been the Shadowmarch trilogy.   Like Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, however, dude has more plot than pages and the final book as been split into two.  I'm not complaining and will happily add the fourth and final novel to my Christmas list.

Back to Shadowrise -- this book has it all.  Magic, heroes, battles, swords, heroines, gods, poets, dwarves and lots and lots of mayhem.   I think Williams might now be in the lead for my favourite fantasy write of all time.  Yes -- it was that good.  Five dashing princes out of five.

Return of the Mack

The Black Book
Ian Rankin
Orion

Call me lame, but  I hooked up with John a couple of weeks ago.  He was on a "break" from his girlfriend and I figured, what the hell -- what could it hurt?  Sure, he's a little disorganized, slightly misanthropic, and still has a more than questionable relationship with the bottle, but he's also funny, wickedly smart, and ever so manly.  I like manly.

As usual, we didn't spend too much time together.  He was working a case that was more personal than professional and it took up quite a bit of his time.  Apparently, one of his constables was put in the hospital and for some reason John thought the attack was related to a fire that he investigated about five years ago.  Turns out that the fire was an attempt to cover up a murder and you know my boy John ... can't leave a sudoku unsolved let alone a homicide.

On the upside, we did spend some good time together and he actually made me dinner one night.  I'd give it a three out of five in terms of effort.  On the downside, John has decided to get back together with his girlfriend.  Frankly, I'm not sure what the attraction is between the two of them.  They are always fighting and/or trying to avoid one other.  The make up sex must be spectacular.  I'll let you know if I see him again.

Immortal Beloved

Tuck Everlasting
Natalie Babbitt
Square Fish

What would it be like to live forever?  Would it be a curse or a blessing?  This is just one of the questions posed by Babbitt's 1975 classic Tuck Everlasting. 

When the story opens we are introduced to Winnie Foster, an eleven-year only child growing up in the late 1800s in America.  It is the dog days of August and Winne is oppressed by both the languid heat and her over protective parents.  School is still weeks away, she is bored and she is considering running away.

One morning with adventure in mind, she wanders into the wood that is on her property and comes across a beautiful young man who is sitting by a large tree and quenching his thirst in a spring.  Long story short, the spring is essentially the fountain of youth and the young man, Jesse, and his family haven't aged since drinking from it over eighty years ago.  To protect the secret, Winnie gets kidnapped by Jesse and his family.  Eventually, Winne has a decision to make -- should she drink from the spring and live forever or should she continue to grow, become a young woman, have children and eventually die?  That's a lot of thinking for one so young.  I'll not tell you how the book ends.

Without a doubt, this is the best story that I have read all year and if I were in charge of such things, it would find its way into hands of every little girl in the country. Please please please read this.   Five hot summer days out of five.

The Surreal Life

Fall
Colin McAdam
Penguin

I finished reading Fall on a Sunday afternoon about three weeks ago.  I tried to write about the book later that evening, but found that I didn't have the words.  I still don't seem to have them.  This is one of those novels that disturbs you on a fundamental level and once read, it is hard to get it out of your head.

The story opens at St. Ebury's -- a posh Ottawa boarding school.  Noel and Julius are roommates attending their senior year.  Noel is the son of a Canadian diplomat who is stationed in Australia.  He is quiet, obsessive, and unbeknownst to the rest of the school, a violent sociopath.  Julius is the son of the American ambassador to Canada.  He's tall, beautiful, athletic, and is the type of boy the Noel wishes he could be.  Fall, the character who lends the book one aspect of its title, is Julius' girlfriend and part of Noel's obsession.

I'm not sure why this book bothered me so much.  Admittedly, the subject was a little disturbing and it is clear from the opening passages that something is, well, not quite right.  Perhaps it was the narrative structure that threw me for a loop.  Noel, Julius and Julius' driver all take turns telling portions of the story and it is Noel's narration that is the most clear.  Or is it?  It has been weeks since I read this book and it is still taking up space in a corner of my mind.  The author either did a very good job, or something more is going on and I just need to figure out what it is.  Three pensive stars out of five.