CBR17 Books 35-41: "The Murderbot Diaries" by Martha Wells (all the novellas and short stories)

Total page count: 807 pages

My original reviews and ratings for the first four novellas can be found here.

CBR17 Bingo: Favourite (goes for the whole series, and the protagonist)

All Systems Red

Nowhere Book Bingo 25: First in a series

It's been five years since I first read The Murderbot Diaries, and it was interesting to revisit the original novella. This was selected as the January selection for my real-life book club (with the option to read the other three if people had time). While a lot of the members really enjoyed the story, it was agreed that this story is mostly set up and quite unsatisfying if you don't keep going with the series to discover more of Murderbot as a character. There were some who found Murderbot as a narrator quite annoying, while others (like me) found Murderbot's misanthropic attitude and desire to just be left alone to watch its stories deeply relatable. 

Even now, having read the whole series, I still find a lot of the supporting characters who are introduced in this story a bit confusing, and they mostly blend together for me. Doctor Mensah is an obvious exception since Murderbot respects her so much. 

The structure of the novella is also a bit wonky. It starts relatively slow, and then there's a series of dramatic events before the story ends very abruptly, possibly too quickly. 

I also feel like I should address the Apple TV adaptation of this novella, which manages to capture the tone and feel of the story while making some pretty massive changes. Quite a few of the supporting characters have been cut (the fact that it works as well as it does suggests that Wells probably didn't need the Pres Aux team to be as big as it is in the novella - no wonder I keep getting the characters confused). Skarsgård plays an excellent Murderbot, even though he's not Murderbot as I imagine it (the Murderbot in my head is female presenting, more like Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth rather than tall, handsome and Scandinavian), and I can't help but think that our favourite SecUnit's extreme social awkwardness is portrayed so well since Skarsgård is so familiar with Scandinavians and our weird introverted way of being. No one in Scandinavia likes being talked to by strangers or having FEELINGS shared all over them. 

One of my favourite things about the adaptation is the choice to have scenes from Murderbot's favourite media shown to the viewers. If I wasn't already pretty sure I'd be hooked on Sanctuary Moon, seeing the brief snippets of it on screen confirms it. There is still an episode left to go, but so far, I think the show may be dealing with the confusing end section of the story better than in the novella. Time will tell. 

Artificial Condition

Nowhere Book Bingo 25: A novella

I remembered this as one of my favourites of the novellas, and upon revisiting it, knowing how the relationship between Murderbot and ART (A**hole Research Transport) develops in later stories, it was extra satisfying to see how their friendship began. Considering Murderbot is usually the smartest individual in the room, and keeps being exasperated by the silly humans around it, it was fun to see it befriend someone who is certainly on the same level, and probably intellectually even more impressive. Reading about ART and Murderbot bonding through watching Murderbot's various shows might also have struck a particular chord with me, as that is how my husband and I met (watching shows in various friends' dorm rooms), and we still spend a lot of quality time enjoying shows together. 

Another thing I'd forgotten about this book was how quickly Murderbot, so intent on going off on adventures of its own, trying to avoid annoying emotional attachments, so quickly finds a new group of vulnerable, squishy humans it needs to protect. The humans in this story are, if possible, even more clueless in the big, ruthless corporate world than the Pres Aux team, and that is saying something. 

I'm also very relieved that Apple TV have announced that there will be a second season of Murderbot, so viewers get to watch the friendship of ART and Murderbot develop on screen. Hopefully, we'll also get glimpses of more of Murderbot's favourite shows. 

Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy - 3.5 stars

This surprise story was announced by TOR only days before the first season of Murderbot aired, and it was launched online after the last episode aired. Considering it's chronologically set after Artificial Condition, it's not like it contains direct spoilers. 

Considering we don't actually get to meet ART again in the Murderbot universe until Network Effect, it was a really nice bonus given to the fans from Martha Wells, a story showing us ART/Perihelion with its own crew a short while after it and Murderbot part ways in the second novella. I'm a huge fan of ART/Peri, and seeing the scary transport interacting with its own crew in this story was an unexpected delight. 

Rogue Protocol

I remembered this story as the one I liked the least of the original four novellas when I first read the series. Upon a re-read, I was surprised to see how incredibly action-packed it was compared to the other novellas, and it's in this story that we really see why Murderbot may have chosen that name for itself.

Going back to the now-abandoned mining colony, where it suspected it had committed a massacre, proves to it that a large group of people got killed, but it also proves to Murderbot how right it was to disable its governor module, so it can never be made to do things like that ever again. Any murders it will be doing in the future will be to protect others, not just senseless violence at the orders of a greedy corporation. 

It's quite clear from some of the early Murderbot stories that our favourite SecUnit has some not always pleasant prejudices towards other robots, and in this story, Murderbot is forced to confront some of these. One of the reasons Murderbot felt it had to leave its favourite human, Doctor Mensah, and the Pres Aux team was because it didn't want to become someone's pet droid. Having been basically enslaved in its service with the Corporation, before it hacked its governor module and went rogue, Murderbot, even with the extremely progressive view of the members of the Pres Aux team, it just can't really believe that humans could feel towards robots as they do humans. So it's good for its personal development and continued journey towards some kind of personhood to have some of those notions disproved.

Mild spoiler warning - this is probably the novella with the most bummer ending of all of them. 

Exit Strategy

Having discovered during its wanderings, trying to find itself, that GreyCris, the evil corporation that tried to kill the Preservation Alliance crew in the first novella, has kidnapped Doctor Mensah, Murderbot (who really shouldn't have feelings for anything or anyone) feels compelled to return for a rescue mission. By now, Murderbot has met and interacted with a bunch of other human groups, and even experienced loss and something like grief, and since Doctor Mensah is its favourite human in the whole world, it can't stand by and see her endangered by GreyCris. It also becomes clear that Murderbot is ready and willing to die in the attempt to get Mensah safe.

I don't think it's a spoiler to anyone that Murderbot, the protagonist of the series, which is currently eight stories and counting (I recently heard that a new Murderbot book, Platform Decay, will be coming out in 2026 - much rejoicing) isn't actually killed here. In case anyone was worried.

Before I finally read Network Effect, this was probably my favourite Murderbot story. 

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory - 3 stars

While most of the stories in The Murderbot Diaries are obviously told from Murderbot/SecUnit's POV, this short story is set after the events of Exit Strategy. It gives us Doctor Mensah's perspective both on the events of that novella and shows us her dealing with the aftermath of what is clearly a very traumatising experience. 

Mensah is clearly a very intelligent and sensitive person, and her insights into Murderbot and the understanding she's clearly gained about it over the course of the novellas (she clearly thought a lot about everyone's favourite SecUnit even when it was away from her and busy finding its own purpose in the world). 

I didn't realise this existed when I first read the series, so I had to go back to it a bit out of continuity, but it's always nice to see the Murderbot world through some of the other characters' eyes, as well. 

Fugitive Telemetry - 4.5 stars

Buzzword Cover Challenge 25: Technology

While Murderbot isn't anyone's pet at Preservation Station, it's not entirely clear what its duties are supposed to be. Because of the rather harrowing events in Exit Strategy, Murderbot is obviously extremely protective of Doctor Mensah. Protective to the point where it's not surprising when the woman is almost relieved when a dead body shows up, so she can volunteer her SecUnit to assist in the investigation. 

Murderbot is worried that the dead body may have something to do with GreyCris, so it agrees to help determine the identity of the deceased, find out where the body was killed and how, and most importantly, why this happened. Of course, in order to do so, it needs to persuade the rather cautious members of station security to trust it (not everyone knows that Murderbot, while a rogue SecUnit, isn't a BAD SecUnit) and speak to a number of humans and other robots, not exactly something it's super well-equipped to handle. 

To my delight, Murderbot seeks the advice of Ratthi and Gurathin, some of my favourite supporting characters (the show did SO much to expand on the character of Gurathin - I liked him before, now I love him). 

Because this novella was published as the sixth in the series, but chronologically takes place as number five, I skipped it on my first read-through, because I didn't want to read it out of order. So, with the exception of Rapport, which came as a surprise to everyone, this was my last existing Murderbot story to discover. Having now read it, I'm sorry I waited so long. It was great. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR15 Book 52: "Kushiel's Dart" by Jacqueline Carey

Page count: 1040 pages

Rating: 5 stars

CBR15 Bingo: Sex (the protagonist is a god-touched masochist courtesan spy)

Kushiel's Dart is the first novel in the Kushiel's Legacy series, which came to number six books in total. Jacqueline Carey also wrote an additional trilogy in her Terre D'Ange universe, and over the course of all of her books, pretty much explored every continent in her alternate-history fantasy world. This first book is set in an alternate historical version of Europe, set at about Renaissance times, or somewhat earlier, although the descriptions of the Skaldi society (Vikings) and the Albans (the Celts and Picts) clearly being from more medieval times. 

Our protagonists come from Terre D'Ange, which is located where our France would be. In this Universe, Jesus died on the cross and his blood, mingled with the tears of Mary Magdalene, fell to Earth, who gave birth to a new deity, Elua. Not acknowledged by the Yeshuite god, Elua went wandering the world in company with a number of angels who felt compelled to go with him. Eventually, Elua and his angelic companions came to the land that would become Terre D'Ange and settled there. Elua's main decree to all of his followers was "Love as thou wilt", and because of this, any sexual act is seen as holy by the D'Angelines. It also means that non-consensual sex of any kind is not only a crime, it's literal heresy. 

Phédre, our unlikely heroine, is the orphaned daughter of a courtesan, who is taken into the household of a mysterious nobleman. She is trained not only in the sexual arts, as a courtesan herself, but taught to watch, listen, observe, and reflect, and her patron, Anafiel Delauney, wants her and his other protegée, Alcuin, to spy for him and ferret out secrets among the nobility who have assignations with them, for reasons he refuses to reveal to them. Phédre has not only sworn herself to the service of Namaah, the goddess of pleasure but is utterly unique in her generation as someone marked by the stern god of punishment, Kushiel. She experiences sexual pleasure through pain, often the more extreme the better, and that makes her a valuable tool for Delauney to ferret out secrets. Both Phédre and Alcuin feel a strong debt of gratitude towards Delauney and therefore serve him with absolute loyalty, but as Phédre gets older, she can't help but wonder what conspiracy her patron is actually trying to uncover. Unfortunately, by the time she figures out the entire truth, she's also unearthed a conspiracy against the Crown itself and needs to be removed.

Since this book is more than twenty years old (originally published in 2001), anyone who wants to can find detailed plot summaries online. I don't really want to reveal too much of the plot, because part of the joys of this book is discovering it all for yourself. In a recent interview, the author herself described the book as "Kinky, but feminist! Epic fantasy, but alternate history! Tattoos! Slow-burn romance! Cool fight choreography! Subversive theology! Big battle scenes! Lyrical prose for readers who love words like ‘ormulu’ and ‘incarnadine!’" So if you think that might be something for you, you should absolutely consider giving it a chance. I hadn't read the book for more than a decade (probably closer to fifteen years by now) and was very happy to discover that it still absolutely holds up as well as it did in my memory, and still very much deserves its place as one of my favourite fantasy novels. I had forgotten just how slow it is to get started, but on the other hand, when the action finally kicks off at about the 40% mark, it doesn't slow down until the very last chapters and some of the action leaves you absolutely breathless. 

I first discovered this book back in 2004. I bought my mass-market paperback copy in Barnes and Noble on Union Square in New York while visiting my BFF Lydia. So it felt extra special to be re-reading it while I was visiting her and her husband now in their house in Vermont. The reason I remember so very clearly when and where I was when I first got this book is not only because it was unlike any fantasy I had read up until that point, pretty much, and it completely engrossed me, but also because the copy of the book that I bought had a misprint, where about halfway through, in possibly the most tense and dramatic section of the whole book (and that's saying something), about 70 pages of the book were missing. There was just a repeat of the previous 70 pages instead. I can promise you that it was a terrible place to suddenly be ripped out of the story, and I had to rush back to the bookstore the next day and secure myself another copy (which thankfully did not have the misprint), so I could see if my beloved protagonists survived their desperate trek through the icy northern wastes (if you've read the book, you know which bit I'm referring to). 

I decided to re-read this now because Jacqueline Carey published her companion novel Cassiel's Servant at the start of August, where we get to know Phédre's unfailingly loyal (if initially deeply disapproving) companion Jocelin Verruil a lot better. Not only do we get to see the events of Kushiel's Dart from his POV, but we also find out about his life before he gave his vow to protect and serve Phédre, no matter what. Unlike E.L. James and Stephanie Meyer, who also wrote POV novels from "the other side", this doesn't feel like a cynical cash grab to me. For one thing, Carey waited more than 20 years after publishing her original novel to do this, and Joscelin's book comes out 12 years after the last book Carey published in her Terre D'Ange universe. She's written a lot of other things in the interim, and I don't think she'd write and publish this companion novel if she didn't feel like it could shed new light on her already cult classic novel. 

It also pleases me that this book happened to become my 52nd review of the year. It feels good to Cannonball on a really excellent novel. 

Judging a book by its cover: In the decades since the novel first came out, it's had many different covers, but this is pretty much the original one. It was recently re-published with some gorgeous UK covers, that I'm going to have to resist buying (I already have the entire original trilogy, I don't need new copies). I know it's probably irrational, but I hate that the illustrated Phédre has bangs - why did anyone think that was a good idea? Phédre is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous (apparently nearly all D'Angelines are near-perfect specimens), and based on the historical setting this is supposed to take place in, that hairstyle feels very out of place.  

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CRB15 Book 45-46: "Men at Arms" and "Feet of Clay" by Terry Pratchett

CBR15 Bingo: Nostalgia

Total page count: 733 pages

Rating both books: 4 stars

In Men at Arms, there's a series of mysterious deaths in Ankh-Morpork, and the Patrician, Lord Vetinari, strictly forbids Sam Vimes, the head of the City Watch to investigate, thus ensuring that he will do the exact opposite. Vimes, Carrot, Nobbs and Colon, who used to be the whole of the Watch have been joined by new recruits to diversify the Watch, Cuddy (a dwarf), Detritus (a troll) and Angua (a werewolf, although Carrot believes it to be because she's a woman). As the ragtag group of individuals learn to work together (trolls and dwarfs are sworn enemies), it turns out that the murder is part of a plot to replace Vetinari with a king, since the plotters have discovered who is the rightful heir. As well as 'disobeying' Vetinari and investigating the string of murders, Vimes is also super stressed about his upcoming wedding to Lady Sybil Vimes, the richest woman in Ankh-Morpork (who insists on being traditional and transferring all of her money and assets to Vimes upon their marriage). 

In Feet of Clay, Sir Samuel Vimes, Commander of the ever-growing City Watch (he was both promoted and knighted at the end of the previous book) and his various underlings have to figure out why a museum curator and a priest have been murdered, and why shortly after, a dozen golems, working at various factories around the city very dramatically and publically kill themselves. To add to the complications, someone is clearly trying to assassinate Lord Vetinary, and he keeps getting worse no matter what safety precautions an increasingly more frantic Vimes puts in place. 

Obviously, in each of the books, the rather complicated central mysteries are eventually sold, and at the end of each book, poor Samuel Vimes seems to end up promoted into an even higher social sphere as a reward for his loyal service. The Watch keeps expanding, in Feet of Clay, Cheery Littlebottom, a dwarf from Uberwald (think the location of every Hammer horror movie ever) joins the team as a forensic expert and comes to several conclusions about their identity over the course of the book.

A perusal of my blog shows that back in 2010 I read and reviewed quite a few Pratchett novels. I also reviewed my re-read of Soul Music in 2015 and my revisit of Guards Guards in 2021. The meticulous records of my reading history (a lined notebook where I've written down everything I've read since back in 2007 - it'll survive even if technology fails!) show that while Pratchett is an incredibly important writer to me and his books have brought me so much joy over the years, I haven't really re-read many of his books in the last 10-15 years. My husband and my BFF Lydia have both warned me not to read Raising Steam (his penultimate Discworld novel and the book where it's the most clear that Alzheimers had stolen away too much of his brain) and although we have a lovely hardback copy of it on our bookshelf, I still am not emotionally ready enough to read The Shepard's Crown - his very last novel before he died. Especially not now that I lost my mother this winter. If I read his final book, it becomes irrevocable that he's gone. 

Re-reading these books is absolutely nostalgic for me. I read a lot of them during my student years in St. Andrews in Scotland back in the late 1990s-early 2000s and because Pratchett has always been one of my husband's favourite authors, we had a lot of enjoyment reading the books together in the early years of our relationship. The great thing about Pratchett is how versatile he was as an author. He didn't just write police procedural novels with a fantastical twist like he does with the City Watch novels. Because his creativity and cleverness were so vast, he was able to write very funny, but also sharp, insightful, and frequently satirical books and make a lot of astute observations while doing so. Not to mention his mastery of language. There are so many puns - so many amazing turns of phrase. There really was no one entirely like him. 

Judging the books by their covers: My Pratchett novels are the original paperback editions with cover art by Josh Kirby. I know they've been redesigned several times since. While I don't always agree with the way the various characters get depicted on the covers, it's always fun to see plot elements hinted at on each of the covers. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR12 Book 44: "Fire" by Kristen Cashore

Page count: 384 pages
Audio book length: 12 hrs 39 mins
Rating: 5 stars

Official book description:
It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. The young King Nash clings to his throne while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. The mountains and forests are filled with spies and thieves and lawless men.

This is where Fire lives. With a wild, irresistible appearance and hair the color of flame, Fire is the last remaining human monster. Equally hated and adored, she has the unique ability to control minds, but she guards her power, unwilling to steal the secrets of innocent people. Especially when she has so many of her own.

Then Prince Brigan comes to bring her to King City, The royal family needs her help to uncover the plot against the king. Far away from home, Fire begins to realize there's more to her power than she ever dreamed. Her power could save the kingdom.

If only she weren't afraid of becoming the monster her father was.

I read and reviewed this back in 2010. My original review is here. I didn't remember the plot all that clearly, except that I really liked it and that it was a very unusual fantasy YA novel, with some really interesting topics being discussed. Re-reading it, I was struck at how many of the characters in the story are trying to get over some sort of trauma. Fire is desperately fighting the fear that she will become like her father, a Monster both in name and deed. Her father cared for nothing but his own petty pleasures and nearly ruined a kingdom because of his ruthless manipulations. Fire has kept herself mostly isolated and surrounded by people who can guard their thoughts against her. She understands why Prince Brigan resents and fears her, and she is exasperated and feels helpless about the attraction his brother, the current king, feels towards her. She is used to both men and women falling for her, unable to resist her strange charms.

King Nash and Prince Brigan are also dealing with traumas, having grown up in the court where their father was nothing but a puppet, and having had to fight to survive. Fire's foster father lost the ability to walk thanks to her dear old dad, and her best friend Archer, the man he is raising as his son, is the product of a brutal and malicious rape by a stranger, again due to the vengeful manipulations of Cansrel and his ability to influence the now-dead king Nax.

Yet even with so many damaged people, they step up and do their duty. Fire is scared, but can't say no to helping the king and his brother. In leaving her safe home and travelling to the capital, she risks herself in more ways than one, but also comes to know herself in an entirely new way, and falls in love along the way. The romance in this book is very slow-burn, but utterly lovely, as are many of the friendships that Fire makes throughout the book.

There is also darkness and sadness and loss as part of this book. As with Graceling, I'd forgotten how dark it got in places, and exactly how it connected the two books (this one is actually a prequel of sorts). I listened to the audiobook this time and possibly liked this book even more now than when I first read it. Highly recommended, although for it to really work, you should probably read Graceling first.

Judging a book by its cover: As with Graceling, I own the UK paperback of this. I think the lone female cover model is more suitable on this cover, with the woman portraying Fire in a flowing red dress, holding a bow, her spectacular red hair blowing in the wind. Fire does wear a beautiful gown like that at one point. She's also quite skilled with a bow. At no point are these two things in the same scene, certainly not while Fire stands on a cliff's edge with her hair swirling in the breeze.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR12 Book 42: "Graceling" by Kristin Cashore

Page count: 481 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Katsa lives in a series of kingdoms where a small percentage of the populations have a unique ability or grace. These people are known as Gracelings, and the abilities can be benign and useful, like being extremely skilled at baking, cooking, sewing, or in one case, being able to smell exactly what the person in question wants to eat or drink. They can also be dangerous, like Katsa's extreme fighting ability, which was discovered when she accidentally killed someone in self-defense when she was only eight years old. All Gracelings are clearly identified by eyes of different colours, but it can take a few years for the eyes to change colour, and even longer for the grace to actually become obvious. It is the rule in the various seven kingdoms (with the exception of the island kingdom of Lienid) that Gracelings pretty much become the property of their king, forced to serve him in return for room and board. Katsa is the niece of king Randa of the Middluns, and he forces her to use her abilities to threaten and sometimes even kill for him. The older she gets, the more unhappy she is about this, so she secretly also runs an underground group, of resistance fighters, the Council, in the various kingdoms, trying to secure justice for the ordinary people.

The book begins as Katsa and some of her allies are breaking into the dungeons of king Murgon of Sunder to rescue Prince Tealiff of Lienid, the elderly father of the current king of Lienid. Neither Katsa, nor her friends understand why in the world king Murgon would kidnap the kindly old man. While on the mission, Katsa also encounters Prince Po of Lienid for the first time, who is also in the kingdom looking for his missing grandfather. Katsa is trying to escape detection, so is forced to knock the handsome young man out, but when he later shows up at king Randa's court, suspecting that Katsa and her friends may know more about the whereabouts of his grandfather, they strike up a friendship. Po's grace makes him remarkably skilled at fighting, and he becomes one of the few people Katsa can really spar with, without having to worry that he won't be able to hold his own and she'll accidentally kill him.

Katsa's friendship with Po makes her realise that she's deeply unhappy with what she is constantly forced to do, and after king Randa sends her on a particularly unfair mission to threaten a good man into doing his bidding, Katsa instead disobeys his orders and subsequently confronts her uncle and refuses to work for him any longer. She knows she has enough friends and allies in the various kingdoms to manage perfectly well on her own, she was never comfortable with the privileged life of a princess anyway. She is determined to find out why Prince Tealiff was abducted and who could benefit from it, and Po accompanies her on her quest. As they travel through the various kingdoms, they come to the conclusion that there is something strange going on in Monsea, the most remote of the seven kingdoms. King Leck, who rules there, is married to one of Tealiff's daughters, who is said to have locked herself and her daughter away, grieving because of the uncertain fate of her father. King Leck is rumoured to be a kind and beloved ruler, especially fond of children and animals, but the more Katsa and Po investigate, the stranger some of the stories coming out of Monsea become, and there is clearly something very strange going on there. Why would the kindly Leck pay a fellow king to have his father-in-law kidnapped?

I first read Graceling back in 2009, about six months after it was first released. I remembered some of the details of the story and world-building, but there was also a lot that I had forgotten, such as how dark this book gets in places. It may be Young Adult, but there are a lot of serious issues covered over the course of the story, such as physical and emotional abuse, violence, manipulation, and coercion. In the second half of the book, where Po and Katsa start discovering the truth about Po's grandfather's abduction, they have to travel through very inhospitable terrain to Monsea, where they face some very unique dangers.

There is a lovely, slow-burning romance as part of the story as well, as Katsa, who has always been fiercely independent and very reluctant to ever marry, comes to discover that Po loves her, and to her surprise, she returns his feelings. Katsa never got to have much of a childhood, once it was discovered that she had a lethal grace, and she is determined never to have any children of her own who might inherit her abilities. She can't imagine why a charming, handsome and clearly very popular prince (even though he is the youngest of many) would want her. Po, on the other hand, doesn't see a ruthless thug and killer when he looks at Katsa. He sees her strong spirit, her desire for justice, he knows she started the Council and has worked tirelessly for years behind her uncle's back to stand up for the poor, downtrodden, and those who can't fight for themselves. He sees how determined she is to discover the truth behind his grandfather's kidnapping, even willing to risk her life to get to the bottom of things. It's not at all surprising that he falls for her.

One thing I didn't really realise when I first read this book, is how well the entire series by Cashore deals with female agency and control over their own lives and bodies. There is a seed that women can eat to prevent conception, and neither Katsa nor the heroines of the subsequent books are in any way shamed when they decide that they are ready to have sex. There is clearly some societal expectations that Katsa will start acting more feminine in time, and that she should settle down, marry someone and have children, but Po seems quite happy to just be with her for as long as she's willing to have him, whether they are married or not.

I remembered this as a very good example of YA literature, with a strong and admirable protagonist and a sweet romantic subplot, but I had not remembered just how complex and dark it got, and how much trauma the various characters are put through over the course of the story. So it's absolutely a book I recommend, but with some content warnings for those thinking it's just a straight-forward fantasy adventure story.

Judging a book by its cover: I have the UK paperback edition, where a girl with flowy hair and a very large sword appears to be partially clad in armour, but also ill-prepared for the snowy landscape around her, what with the bare arms and all. A lot of the other editions of this book have a stylised dagger on the cover, which seems to fit much better, as Katsa never uses a giant broadsword, but frequently relies on her daggers.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR12 Book 27: "Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel

Page count: 352 pages
Rating: 5 stars

Official book description:
DAY ONE
The Georgia Flu explodes over the surface of the earth like a neutron bomb.
News reports put the mortality rate at over 99%.

WEEK TWO
Civilization has crumbled.

YEAR TWENTY
A band of actors and musicians called the Travelling Symphony move through their territories performing concerts and Shakespeare to the settlements that have grown up there. Twenty years after the pandemic, life feels relatively safe.

But now a new danger looms, and he threatens the hopeful world every survivor has tried to rebuild.

STATION ELEVEN
Moving backwards and forwards in time, from the glittering years just before the collapse to the strange and altered world that exists twenty years after, Station Eleven charts the unexpected twists of fate that connect six people: famous actor Arthur Leander; Jeevan - warned about the flu just in time; Arthur's first wife Miranda; Arthur's oldest friend Clark; Kirsten, a young actress with the Travelling Symphony; and the mysterious and self-proclaimed 'prophet'.

Thrilling, unique and deeply moving, this is a beautiful novel that asks questions about art and fame and about the relationships that sustain us through anything - even the end of the world. 

This was our very first Cannonball Book Club pick back in 2015, and I read and reviewed the book back then too. My original review can be found here. It took me a while back then to decide that I actually wanted to read the book for myself, and I'm not going to lie, re-reading it while a pandemic swept from Asia towards Europe and the USA, was making me a bit nervous. Looking back at the dates when I re-read this book, it was exactly during the time when Norway literally shut down, when the most drastic measures in post-World War II society were implemented, all over the course of a few days. I began my re-read of this on the 12th of March, on my way to work. By the afternoon, we'd been told that the nurseries, schools and universities, not to mention pretty much all major businesses, would be closed until further notice, and everyone was encouraged to just remain indoors, in a kind of pre-quarantine.

Of course, I'm reviewing the book some three months later, and while the pandemic is currently under control in certain parts of the world, it's still spreading wildly and terrifyingly fast in other parts of the globe. While I would love to believe the hopeful views on humanity and survival that are explored in this novel, the current news cycle shows that most people are short-sighted, egotistical, self-centred and careless. It's boring and difficult, not to mention very inconvenient to shelter in place and stay away from people for months. It's much nicer if you can just go about your business instead.  It's hot and uncomfortable to wear a mask to protect others, so a whole bunch of people are just not going to do that, despite all the factual evidence that we could massively halt the spread of the virus if everyone (especially the ones who don't feel sick, but may be asymptomatic carriers) just wore a face mask, washed their hands a lot and tried to keep their distance when out and about.

Station Eleven is a science fiction novel, it's set in a post-apocalyptic society, but it is nevertheless a hopeful and uplifting read. I don't think Emily St. John Mandel would dream of the situations that Covid-19 has created world-wide back when she wrote her book, and as I said, right now, the things that seem the most far fetched and fictional to me, are how well the "Fifteen years later" societies are managing. Of course, we're currently in the middle of "Year One" of this scenario, so perhaps, in the future, when a terrifyingly tragic percentage of the population has died (even if it's not 99%, like in this book), people will again focus mainly on re-building communities and re-discovering art and beauty and togetherness.

This wasn't supposed to be quite such a depressing whinge about how bafflingly selfish a lot of people currently are, but rather a review of my re-read of the book. In my mind, I'd built up the bits I disliked, with the 'Prophet', into a much larger part of the story. So much of the book looks back on the lives of a lot of the people before the Georgia flu hit and subsequently make us care when they are either killed by the flu themselves or lose other loved ones from the illness. It's still a wonderful book, and I'm glad we revisited it for Book Club.

Judging a book by its cover: I own three copies of this book. An e-book copy, an Audible audiobook and the UK paperback copy, which I was gifted in a Cannonball Book Exchange. This is the cover of the paperback I have, which seems extra timely now that an actual pandemic is sweeping the world and we saw that in places where people were forced to isolate during the lockdown, wild animals really did end up roaming the urban streets, undisturbed by people. So the deer facing the reader among the high rises of a city doesn't seem as strange as it may have once done. It doesn't take long for nature to start reclaiming the space we take up.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR12 Book 5: "What I Did for a Duke" by Julie Anne Long

Page count: 384 pages
Audio book length: 9 hrs 23 mins
Rating: 5 stars

I first read and reviewed this book back in 2011 (when it came out), during Cannonball III. My original review, which among other things contains a plot summary, can be found here.

If you do take a look at my previous review (or just check my rating of this book), you can see that the rather unlikely romance between Miss Genevieve Eversea Lord Alexander Moncrieffe, the Duke of Falconbridge is one of my absolute favourites. I loved it utterly when I first read it back in 2011 and when re-reading several times since then. While I used to be a bit unnerved by listening to romance in audio format, I have had a change of heart in recent years, and especially like owning books I particularly enjoy in audiobook as well, so I can listen to the book when I want a comfort re-read.

Sadly, this has not been possible with Julie Anne Long's popular historicals before now. For years, literally, I've been looking for and bemoaning the fact that Julie Anne Long's Pennyroyal Green books were not available in audiobook. However, this changed towards the end of 2019, when once a month, another book in the series became available, and at the end of December, What I Did for a Duke was finally released (you had better believe I clicked that pre-order button the second the news was announced).

Checking Goodreads, I could see that when I started my current re-read, I hadn't really revisited this favourite for over five years. Many romances have been published since then, would it still retain its coveted position as one of my all-time favourites? Would Justine Eyre's narration add to or take away from my enjoyment?

I'm relieved to say that the book was just as good as I remembered it, if maybe a bit slow in the set-up (I mean, who really cares about dumb Ian Eversea?) and Ms. Eyre's narration is great. Considering how long I've been wanting an audio version of this book, it's good that I can have one that I can listen to repeatedly.

The quality of Julie Anne Long's Pennyroyal Green books is variable. Some of them are merely ok, some are a delight, and a very few are absolute romance classics. This may be my favourite of the entire series (although I may have to revisit It Happened One Midnight and The Legend of Lyon Redmond when they come out as audiobooks too.

Judging a book by its cover: Goodreads didn't seem to have an image for the cover that accompanies my audiobook version (and is utterly dreadful), so I'll just comment on the original paperback cover for this instead. I don't even know where to begin with the WTF here. Not sure who these people on the cover are, but they seem very unlike the way Alex and Genevieve are actually described in the book. There is also no scene at any point where they make out in what appears to be a wind tunnel, with Gen wearing a sheet? A weirdly bunched up chemise?  Something else entirely? It's such a bad cover - so, so bad.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR12 Book 4: "Red, White & Royal Blue" by Casey McQuiston - audio book edition

Page count: 425 pages
Rating: 12 hrs 15 mins
Rating: 5 stars

My original, and extremely enthusiastic review of this book, can be found here.

This was my first re-read (of what I'm sure will be many) and this time, I chose to listen to the audio book. When I first listened to the sample available on Audible, I was honestly not sure if I liked Ramon de Ocampo's narration, but after seeing the audio book of this highlighted on a bunch of best of the year lists, I decided to give him a chance. Of course, the samples never really turn out to be representative, as I always listen to the books in 1.5 speed (it takes far too long to get through the books otherwise). The long and short of it is, I needn't have worried, he turned out to be a great narrator. If I wanted to be super picky, I could note that some of his British accents were a bit less consistent and could have been better in places (note that I'm married to an Englishman and lived in the UK for six years, so I possibly have higher standards than some for this).

Re-reading this book just brought home once again that I was entirely correct to choose this as my top book of 2019. It's funny, touching, emotional, deeply romantic, very sexy. I didn't know that much about the author when I first read the book, and having since read more about her, it's great to see how pleased and surprised she is about the staggering success of her debut novel. The (frankly hilarious) chapter where Alex is coming to terms with his bisexuality and in the end realises that "straight people usually don't spend this much time telling themselves they're straight" is in part based on her own realisations in her early twenties that she was queer and she's had a lot of very positive responses from readers about it too, which just proves that the book reads true to a lot of people. I love that part of what she wanted with the book was to subvert the image of the perfect Prince Charming, and created Henry, who uses his looks and charm to hide to the world how conflicted, gay, rebellious and prone to depression he is.

Of the two protagonists, I love Henry the most. I just want to wrap him up in a warm hug and tell him everything is going to be ok, and he needs to stay brave, because everything WILL work out in the end. Alex is a bit much and can absolutely get a bit exasperating at times, but the two guys are just so perfect together and the semi-epistolary sections towards the second half of the book, when they communicate through text messages and poetic e-mails to one another make me swoon.

I mentioned in my original review that pretty much every single supporting character is solid gold as well. I would quite happily read whole novels about Alex' sister June, their best friend Nora, Henry's sister Bea or his best friend Pez, as well. I would happily read a book about President Ellen Claremont and how she met her husband, or the romance between Henry's parents, the princess with a doctorate and the actor who played James Bond. Even tertiary characters like the White House Chief of Staff, Alex' bodyguards or Henry's equerry are fully fleshed out and interesting to me. That barely ever happens in a novel and I both love and slightly hate McQuiston for giving me this perfect cast of characters and then never letting me find out what happens to all of them after Alex and Henry find their happy ending at the end of the book.

This book ended up not just on my (and tons of other) best of the year list, but won both the "Best Debut novel" and "Best Romance" at the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards. It's an utter delight and very good escapist literature during these dark days of ours. I cannot recommend it warmly enough.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 98-101: "Hidden Legacy" by Ilona Andrews (re-read)

Total page count: 1382 pages
Burn for Me - 4.5 stars
White Hot - 5 stars
Wildfire - 5 stars
Diamond Fire - 4.5 stars

Sapphire Flames, book 4 in the series (novellas only count as half instalments) and the continuation of the series came out in August (on my birthday - thank you, House Andrews, for your benevolence!). In the months leading up to that release, I wanted to re-read the previous books, so everything was fresh in my mind. The plan was that my husband would read them too (how am I married to a man who just simply refuses to read the same things I like and adore?) and then we would review all four under the "Two voices are better than one" square on this year's Cannonball Bingo. Unfortunately, due to his brain worms and a number of other factors, he never ended up even finishing his re-read of Burn for Me, let alone get round to reading any of the others. So instead, we had to go with plan B, a co-written review of Pumpkinheads (which was considerably faster for the husband to read than the nearly 1300 pages of these combined books).

This brings us to December, and me desperately scrambling to actually complete my double Cannonball. My work load this year is frankly depressing (if I'm not correcting and grading something, I'm probably planning the next task that needs to be corrected and graded). It also turns out that while maternity leave and taking care of a small baby leaves you with a fair amount of time to read (if your hormonal brain lets you concentrate on anything), being the mother of a very active and demanding toddler demands enough of what is left of my energy and intellectual capabilities once the work stress has done its damage, that I barely have the capacity for much of anything anymore. In the last month, I've barely even watched TV, we end up watching movie trailers and YouTube videos, because even a half hour episode of a show either takes up too much time, or demands too much of my mental faculties.

I pretty much have no choice but to write a rather rambling review of my re-read of these books, if I'm to have any chance to complete my double Cannonball (never give up, never surrender!) I can't have four books there on my "Read in 2019" shelf just standing there being un-reviewed, even if they are all re-reads. I've already linked to my original reviews at the top of this one, so anyone wanting plot summaries and such like, can just go check out what I wrote last time.

Why you should read the Hidden Legacy books by Ilona Andrews:

• Excellent plot. There's an over-arcing story going through all three of the first books, with a series of shadowy figures trying to destabilise the powers that be in Houston and our resourceful protagonists having to join forces to unmask and stop them, but there's also a self-contained story in each of the three books. While you will get more attached to the characters and invested in the bigger plot lines, Ilona Andrews also recaps the most important points in each book (without it seeming like too annoying regurgitation), so you could start with any book in the series and manage to follow along (but where's the fun in that?)
• Amazing world building. I have no idea where Ilona Andrews get their ideas from. The husband and wife writing team consistently, in each of the many books and series they have produced, manage to build and populate fascinating worlds, with interesting magical systems, supernatural abilities and creepy crawlies. The Hidden Legacy series is set in a world not all that different from our own - it's just that when magical powers were discovered, the magical elite developed and took power, with society having to change to adapt to that. The various types and variations of magic that they use in this book - so clever and inventive
• The supporting cast. One of my favourite things in all the different series that Ilona Andrews have created over the years is their ability to create wonderful and interesting supporting characters. If the protagonist is a loner, they make sure said person gets enough friends and eventually found family to support and back them. If the protagonist is part of a family, said family will probably be full of interesting, vibrant, demanding and usually supportive. If the protagonist in question comes from a dysfunctional family background, the authors will make sure that by the end of the story, that character has found a new set of people to lean on and belong to. In so many stories, children and adolescents are just annoying plot moppets. This is never the case in an Ilona Andrews story. In Hidden Legacy, Nevada is the breadwinner for her family, but she has her mother, grandmother, her two cousins and her younger sisters firmly on her side at all times. While her sisters and cousins bait and tease her and deeply exasperate her sometimes, they will also drop everything on a second's notice to come to her aid. 
• The protagonists. While Connor Rogan took a while to make me really like him, and make me believe he was worthy of Nevada, our heroine, Nevada Baylor had me won over by the end of the first chapter of the first book. She's had to work hard for a long time and has absolutely no time or patience for arrogant men who think they can order her around or swoop in and one up her. Once Connor realises just how isolated he's made himself, and what a remarkable woman he's found in Nevada, he more than does the legwork to prove himself an acceptable partner to her. 
• The action. There are always a lot of amazing action scenes in all of Ilona Andrews' books. This series is no exception. There are car chases, shoot outs, intense magical battles and more quiet power struggles - all fun.
• The humour. Ilona Andrews writes amazing banter between their romantic leads, but also has laugh out loud funny dialogue and situations involving supporting characters in each of their books. I frequently find myself laughing out loud more than once, in between biting my nails because of the tension and suspense.
• The original trilogy is already completed. While Diamond Fire is a novella introducing Nevada's younger sister Catalina as the protagonist and this story bridges the gap between the original trilogy and the new one (which begins with Sapphire Flames), the three books about Nevada and Connor and their attempts to stop the whole of Houston society being destabilised (all while falling in love and figuring out how they can have a future together) are finished and all out - so three great books to read, no waiting. 

I've re-read each of these books at least twice now, and can very much vouch for the quality and entertainment value of the stories. I really think Ilona Andrews just keep getting more talented with each new book they publish and feel lucky that I've been reading their books for so long. I have extremely few auto-buy authors anymore, but Ilona Andrews qualify not just for auto-buy, but pre-order. Then, once the books are out in paperback, I will pay again for physical copies. That's a very rare privilege.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR11 Book 96: "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Page count: 502 pages
Audio book length: 13 hrs 40 mins
Rating: 4.5 stars

Official book description:
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway - a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love - a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

I first read this book back in 2011, during Cannonball III. I revisited it a few years later, to see if it was as magical and unusual a reading experience as I remembered, and I still pretty much loved it. This autumn, trying to challenge myself and move outside my comfort zone, I joined a book club and despite my busy work schedule and my extreme tendency for introversion, I've actually managed to go to every meeting since September. This was the December book, and so I had the perfect excuse to re-read the novel once more, this time in audio. I found Jim Dale's narration to be very good, although I'm not sure he did all of the female characters' voices justice.

Re-reading and then discussing a book I love with near-strangers with different opinions was an interesting experience for me. From month to month, it varies how many show up to the meetings, and also how many who actively take part in the discussion. For December, turn-out was unusually high, and a lot of the members had feelings they wanted to share. To my dismay, many of them seemed not to like the book all that much, or to have serious problems with it. Since I still pretty much loved the book, that wasn't the easiest thing to hear.

So what were problems that fellow members of my book club had with this book? Quite a few people thought the romance between Marco and Celia to be either far too underdeveloped or wholly unnecessary. She didn't really make the reader see why exactly they were so drawn to one another, it all had a bit of a fated mate feel to it, which is an unpopular trope. A few thought Isobel, Marco's jilted girlfriend, would have been more interesting if she'd turned out to be villainous. Several were of the opinion that Morgenstern's writing was too unfocused and all over the place, and that she didn't really go into depth about any of the things that were truly interesting - like the inhabitants of the circus and how the strange magical stasis affected them.

There was agreement that the best bits of the book were the sections seen through Bailey and Herr Thiessen, through whose eyes we really understand more of what makes the circus just so fascinating and appealing. I also think that everyone felt that our doomed lovers had some pretty dreadful father figures in their lives, and that the physical and emotional abuse they both went through was awful.

As is always the case at our book club meetings, a good third of the attendees had either not read the book at all, and just showed up for the social aspect, or at least not finished the book before the meeting. No one seemed to have loved the book as much as I do, which I found very sad, as while I can see a lot of some people's complaints, I still very much love the book. I'm desperately sorry that the Cirque de Rêve is entirely fictional and not a place that can actually be visited.

Judging a book by its cover: My copy of this book has the UK cover and I bought this very edition because I love the cover so much. The white silhouettes on a stark black background. The little touches of red to help draw the eye. The gorgeous Victorian costumes the couple on the cover are wearing. The silver of the cover quotes. All the colours are the primary ones used in the Night Circus itself, so it feels entirely appropriate that only they are used in the cover design.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR10 Book 103: "Attachments" by Rainbow Rowell

Page count: 357 pages
Rating: 5 stars

#CBR10Bingo: So Popular!

This is my second re-read of Attachments. I first read it back in 2011, and my original review can be found here. Considering how much I loved the book back then (and still do), it's a fairly short and unenthusiastic review. But it'll give you the basics of what the book is about.

When it came to selecting a book for the "So popular!" square, all ten choices (among the most reviewed books of the ten years on the Cannonball blog) were ones I'd already read at least once. Some, like Divergent, The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl, I really just didn't feel like reading again. Some, I'd already read more than once, and it seemed unnecessary to revisit them. I had decided to reread Eleanor & Park, the only Rainbow Rowell novel that I've only read once before. However, only about fifteen pages in, the main reason why I've never really wanted to pick it back up (and why it's my lowest rated of all of her books) started upsetting me too much (Eleanor's incredibly horrible home life, especially her awful stepfather) and I realised that I just had to pick one of the other books on the list if I was to be able to complete my bingo card.

Hence I picked up Attachments once more. Goodreads helpfully showed me that it's been more than five years since I last read it and I was interested in seeing if I still loved it. Short answer, yes. I am a huge fan of the romantic comedy as a genre and am so very ready for it to come back into popularity (Netflix seems to be doing what they can to help, I am grateful). This book would make a great film, as long as it was adapted by the right people. I'd be terrified that they'd mess something up and ruin it, but recently, there's been a lot of good romantic book adaptations, so with any luck, I'd end up with something that was possibly EVEN better than the source material (like Crazy Rich Asians or To All the Boys I've Loved Before)

This was Rowell's debut novel, and when I read it, I had no idea that she would become one of my favourite writers, with each and every new book just resonating with me on a special level. In each and every one of her books, there seems to be scenes that speak directly to me, and in some, I possibly identify a little bit too much. The book where this most holds true, is Fangirl, but with this book, I see so much of myself and my best friend Lydia in Beth and Jennifer's friendship. While they e-mail each other daily, she and I became friends through letters (because this was in the before times, when the internet was not readily available and we had to wait weeks for a letter from the other one). Now of course, we have not one, but two different Facebook chats going (one also includes our husbands) at any given time and we try to video chat at least once every week or so. Technology is a wonderful thing. If we worked in the same place, though, we would totally be sending the sort of e-mails that Beth and Jennifer exchange, and you'd best believe we'd trigger any filter that looked for inappropriate words or content.

I absolutely adore this book, and the fact that I can still be friends with Lydia, even if she found the book "just ok" is a testament to the length and strength of our connection. Cause not loving Rainbow Rowell should quite possibly be some sort of deal breaker. Are Lincoln's actions in the book a bit uncomfortable? Yes. This is addressed within the story. Is the fact that he falls in love with Beth without even knowing what she looks like still super romantic? Yes. Does it all possibly end a little bit too conveniently? Probably, but that's a staple of the romantic comedy genre.

Rereading Attachments made me feel the need to immediately listen to my audiobook copies of Fangirl and then Carry On right after. I have no intention of reviewing either of those books again, because frankly, having just returned to work a little over a week ago, I'm pretty much constantly tired and it's a miracle I'm getting any reading, let alone blogging done. Suffice to say, I still love them just as much as before too. I will at some point be at a place where I'm mentally and emotionally strong enough to tackle Eleanor's home life in Eleanor & Park again and then I will reread that too. But I'm not there yet.

Judging a book by its cover: I have the UK paperback of this book, and much prefer it to the original American edition with the paperclips and empty office chairs. I like the bright colours and the little silhouettes, although I'm not entirely sure why the little man character is wearing a suit, something I'm pretty sure Lincoln never had to do, working the night shift and mainly reading other people's e-mails.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR10 Book 102: "Pretty Face" by Lucy Parker

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

This is a re-read of one of my favourites. My original review (which is quite lengthy) can be found here.

We're pretty much in the coldest and darkest part of the year here in Norway now and it gets harder to motivate oneself for anything except hibernation, really. So with an ever more attentive and demanding baby and preparing to go back to work as a teacher for the first time in over a year, I'm not really up for anything very challenging to read in my spare time. Hence the need for comfort reading.

As I mentioned in my review of The Wedding Date, neither 2017, nor 2018 have been especially great years for romance, but Pretty Face, released early last year, was absolutely one of the exceptions. I remembered it being very good, and re-reading it, I started wondering whether I should actually change my rating to a full five stars. Having thought about it some more, I'm going to leave my rating the same, mainly because great as it is, I would have preferred a bit more time reading about Luc and Lily as an established couple before the book ended, not just the very sweet epilogue.

In her London Celebrities series, Lucy Parker is working her way through her favourite romantic tropes. In the wonderful Act Like It, she covers the "fake dating" trope, in this, she covers "the age gap", which can be extremely tricky to manage properly. Romance with a substantial age difference is difficult to write convincingly, because done badly, this trope can be reading about a guy having a midlife crisis with someone young enough to be his daughter, or some slightly damaged woman with daddy issues trying to work through them with someone inappropriately old for her.

Interestingly, while Luc is certainly going through something resembling crisis (trying to refurbish the family theatre, having recently very publicly broken up with his famous partner), he's in no way having a midlife crisis. Lily certainly has a complex emotional relationship with regards to her father, considering she's the product of his adulterous affair with her mother, and while she knows deep down that he loves her, she's never really been welcome in his home while her stepmother was there and frequently, her father puts himself and his business ventures ahead of spending time with Lily. As does Lily's mother, and for a time, Lily's ex-roommate Trix. Yet it never feels like she's throwing herself at Luc, she is in fact trying very hard to fight the attraction, for a number of reasons (see my original review for her three relationship rules).

Having revisited this, I'm very excited that Lucy Parker has another novel out next year (starring Freddie Carlton, Lily's co-star in this book), but also sad that it's not out until April. That's a long time to wait for what I am hopeful is going to become another favoured comfort read in years to come.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR10 Books 66-78: "The Kate Daniels series books 1-9", "Magic Gifts", "Gunmetal Magic", "Magic Stars" and "Iron and Magic" by Ilona Andrews

Total page count: 3747 pages

#CBR10Bingo: Throwback Thursday

Spoiler warning! This is my re-read of the first nine books in the Kate Daniels series, in addition to the two books books set in the same universe, Gunmetal Magic and Iron and Magic, as well as two of the more essential novellas to complete my revisit of the complex and fascinating world that Ilona Andrews have created. If you read through this review, I will assume you are familiar with the series already.

If you haven't read the books yet, but are looking for a good introduction, check out Den of Geek's very cool article here.

Magic Bites - rating: 3.5 stars

This is the first novel that husband and wife duo Ilona Andrews ever published. They've said several times that it's rough, and this is certainly true. When recommending the series (which I've done to SO many people) I always insist that said person read books 1 and 2 before making up their mind about the series, as it really just isn't fair to judge the series on just this first effort from the writers.

The main problem with the book is that Kate, our protagonist, doesn't feel quite like herself yet. She's a bit too much of the stubborn loner and her absolute refusal to trust or work with anyone else is the reason it takes her much longer than necessary to solve the book's main mystery and figure out who the nasty kidnapper/murderer is.

Nevertheless, much of the Andrews' excellent world building is already in place. The post-apocalyptic Atlanta, where technology and magic constantly battle to be the driving force, where there are powerful shapeshifters and magic users in society, where you can encounter all sorts of scary beasties if you're not careful and anyone who wants to survive long term should be proficient with bladed weapons or know someone who is.

While Kate doesn't feel quite right yet, a lot of the supporting characters are there pretty much from the get go. We get Kate's first meeting with Curran (who is oh so very alpha, and I can see why quite a few readers have a problem with him in the first few books), the Beast Lord who rules Atlanta's huge Pack of shapeshifters; Jim Shrapshire, Kate's sometime mercenary partner and were-jaguar. Derek, who becomes Kate's loyal sidekick as the series progresses. Saiman, the scientific expert who can twist his body into any shape, and seems determined to find one Kate finds pleasing.

This is the weakest book in the series, but it's also one of the shortest and should be read just to get a proper feel for the world Kate Daniels inhabits.

Magic Burns - 4 stars

In my mind, this is "the one with the magic flare and the legendary hunter". I suspect that if you don't like the series after finishing this book, it's just not going to be for you. So far, absolutely NO ONE I've introduced the books to (and we're talking double figures by now) has decided not to keep going after finishing book 2.

Every seven years or so, the world is overwhelmed by powerful magic flares, when magic is super strong for several days and even gods can manifest if given the right enticement. Kate is asked to help the Pack locate some stolen maps, that keep being snatched by a mysterious bowman who can appear and disappear into thin air.

Already, Kate is becoming less of an ornery loner, we are introduced to Andrea, who becomes Kate's best friend. Andrea is a petite blonde and the Order of Merciful Aid's Master at Arms. She's described as being able to shoot the eyes of a die at long distance. If you can fire it, be it a gun or a bow, Andrea is probably lethal with it.

Kate also picks up a stray. A girl, Julie, is placed in her care. Her mother has gone missing, along with her coven, and Julie needs Kate's help in locating her. As it turns out, Julie's mother has met a rather grisly end, and by the end of the book, cranky loner Kate is also "crazy aunt" Kate, with a magically adept young woman to look after.

In this book, we're also introduced to the Bouda clan for the first time, the were-hyenas who are led by the formidable Aunt B, and Dr. Doolittle, the Pack medic. Kate reveals more of her powers and the readers get more hints at her heritage and upbringing, which is one of the reasons she's lived much of her early life alone and without making lasting connections.

Magic Strikes - 4.5 stars

Or "the one with the underground tournament" - said tournament always looms very clear in my mind, so imagine my surprise when I discovered that the actual "fight to the death" tournament that Kate and a bunch of the other characters enter only takes place in the last quarter or so of the book. Before that, Derek, Kate's faithful "boy wonder" is badly beaten and injured. Kate, along with Jim, try to figure out who's behind it, all the while hiding information from Curran, who gets increasingly more paranoid and angry about the whole thing. We discover Saiman's background and how he can change his shape so comprehensively. We're introduced to the Red Guard. Hugh D'Ambray is mentioned for the first time, and the readers get conformation of Kate's mysterious biological dad, who she's been hiding from her entire life.

This is the first book where we meet Dali, the severely short-sighted white Indonesian were-tiger, who is vegetarian and obsessed with drag racing. Here she's mostly delightful comic relief, she becomes more important later in the series.

Magic Bleeds - 5 stars

After a rather antagonistic relationship in the first book, more overt flirting in the second book and some pretty serious foreplay in book 3, this is the book where (after a somewhat rocky start in he book) Kate and Curran finally embark on a relationship. Not all of the Pack are entirely happy about Curran's choice of partner, even less so once it becomes clear that the new big threat to Atlanta is a sinister and extremely powerful relative of Kate's. Over the course of the book, Kate leaves the Order of Merciful Aid because of ideological differences, has a falling out with Andrea and has to spend much of the end of the book proving her worth and tenacity to the shapeshifters of the Pack.

I like Erra, she's a very good villain. This book shows more than any before it that Kate is no longer a bitter loner with no support network. While mutual stubbornness and a lack of communication keep Kate and Curran apart at the start of the book, when they resolve their differences, it's pretty spectacular and it's made quite clear over the course of the book that this is it for both of them - no going back now. While the readers had their suspicions about Kate's parentage confirmed in the last book, she tells the man she loves about it here, even fearing that he might reject her. While Curran's adolescence was bad, Kate's whole family background is a whole other level of f*cked up.

Magic Slays - 4.5 stars

Kate has left the Order of Merciful Aid behind and is trying to make a living as a paranormal investigator on her own, but at least initially, no one is hiring her. Then it becomes clear that a missing inventor is responsible for a device that could pose a massive threat to anyone with magical abilities, meaning all the shapeshifters or even vaguely magically adept people in Atlanta could die. While trying to enlist help to locate the fanatics who have the device, Kate needs to talk to several of the magical factions, including the witches and the vholvs. She comes to discover that what she has believed her entire life about her mother and stepfather was a complete lie and when her ward, Julie, is in danger, she needs to come to terms with how far she's willing to go and use her formidable powers, even when it goes against good reason, to save her.

Despite having read this twice before, I remembered very little about the details of the story. I remembered that Julie was put in danger, but I had forgotten all about the major plot stuff, and Kate and her allies having to track down the anti-magic nuts. Hence it came as a happy surprise that this book was the introduction of Roman, handsome and sarcastic black vholv and high priest of Chernobog. Evdokia, who we first meet in book 2 also plays a more prominent role and her family relationship to Kate is revealed.

Magic Gifts - 4 stars

This novella is classified as 5.4 in the Kate Daniels series. Its action takes place at the same time as Gunmetal Magic and it was included at the end of said book, but was originally released as a newsletter present to the fans. Kate and Curran are going out for dinner, when they the death of a young woman after a necklace was gifted to her by her boyfriend. Said necklace ends up around the neck of her little brother, and it's clear that it's cursed in some way and will need to be removed soon or the boy will die too. In order to help the child, Kate and Curran need to confront some neo-vikings, negotiate with a very deadly creature and speak to a dwarven smith.

While you don't HAVE to read this story to get a full picture, it's inclusion as a bonus at the end of the Andrea book makes it obvious that the authors thought it might be good for the readers to have access to it. It mainly shows that Kate is perfectly willing to put her life on the line just to save one single child, it doesn't have to be the end of days or an upcoming massive threat.

Gunmetal Magic - 5 stars

Otherwise known as Andrea's book. Dumped by her Bouda boyfriend Raphael, rejected by the Order of the Merciful Aid (the only place she'd felt at home) and generally not in a good place, Andrea Nash is not having a good time of it. Having made up with her best friend Kate, all she can do is try to piece her life back together slowly and try to avoid thinking of Raphael. Which isn't easy when she's assigned to investigate four dead Pack members at one of Raphael's construction sites. To add insult to injury, it seems Raphael's rebound girlfriend is some sort of stuck up supermodel. While Kate's off with Curran dealing with who knows what, Andrea tries to track down the giant snake creatures that seem to have killed Raphael's work crew.

I love this book for many reasons. First of all, it's so much fun seeing Kate and Curran through the eyes of another character. The authors wisely have them only showing up in small doses, so as not to overshadow Andrea's achievements in her own right. Secondly, Roman the black vholv plays an important supporting role in the book (he wears Eyore pyjamas!). Third, the romance between Andrea and Raphael, while on the rocks at the start of the book, is pretty epic and the way Andrea finally gets her revenge for him parading a vacuous supermodel through her office made me laugh out loud when I first read the book and again on my re-read. As always, there are some truly spectacular fights with some really nasty beasties in the book (the Andrews have a terrific imagination for enemies and threats of all kinds). Ascanio, the teenage Bouda, is around as Andrea's hormonal and sometimes exasperating teenage sidekick. Andrea has to work through the abuse and horror of her childhood and make a decision about who she wants to be, and once she makes up her mind, she's not going to settle for being anything but the best at it.

Magic Rises - a grudging 4 stars, if I gave quarter ones, this would be a 3.75. It's the second weakest book in the series, after book 1.

The one where they go to Europe. Desperate for panacea, the herbal remedy that can massively reduce the risk of shapeshifter children going loup (basically their animal instincts taking over and them having to be put down), Kate and Curran agree to travel to the Black Sea to mediate in a shapeshifter conflict, even though it's obviously a trap of some sort. They can only take a support crew of about twelve other shapeshifters, which is unlikely to be enough if there's any kind of massive threat.

This book sees the proper introduction of Hugh D'Ambray, Warlord to Roland (Kate's ancient and incredibly powerful dad). While Hugh's handsome and charming and has his own European castle, he's also tremendously dangerous and, being trained by the same man as Kate since childhood, a ruthless and extremely efficient killer. Over the course of much of the book, Kate and Curran are at odds, as he's not telling her his real plans and making her crazy insecure and jealous by pretending to flirt with a young, beautiful werewolf. Hugh happily takes advantage of Kate's jealousy (although as is pointed out in Iron and Magic by his lovely wife, he takes entirely the wrong track in trying to seduce Kate away from Curran and the shapeshifters). There are also strange, scaled and flying shapeshifters trying to kill not only Desandra, the werewolf the Atlanta Pack are there to protect, but pretty much everyone in the American delegation.

I can sort of see what the authors were trying for here, but Curran's plan is no less frustrating for the reader on a second read. I knew what he was trying to do and why and I still wanted him dropped from a great height onto really spiky things. Hugh is a wonderful antagonist and really gets to shine here. As Kate observes, he is pretty much what she could have become and probably what Voron, her stepfather (and Roland's first Warlord) wanted her to be. He's her biological father's right hand and while Kate tries to be wary of him, she cannot help but be curious about Roland and the things Hugh can divulge about him. The situation is obviously not helped by Kate being unsettled and worried about the attacks and Curran's utterly moronic tactics. Thankfully, Curran grovels profusely towards the end of the book and completely and wholly admits to being wrong. That helps a little. There are also were-dolphin pirates at one point, which is a wonderfully creative idea. That this book also introduces Desandra, who is, to an extent, mad as a box of frogs, but so much fun as well.

Magic Breaks - 5 stars

Initially, the series was only ever supposed to be seven books, and as a result, a lot of the storylines established earlier in the series come to a head in this one. Curran is called away on Pack business, and while he's gone, Hugh D'Ambray shows up in Atlanta and tries to get the Pack implicated in the grisly murder of one of the top Masters of the Dead. He wants to stir up a lot of trouble, and when Kate cleverly manages to find a way through, he abducts her and nearly starves her to death in a water-filled pit. Accidentally teleported along with her is Ghastek, one of the other powerful Masters of the Dead - he and Kate have a lot of time to bond while trying not to die. Kate finally faces her father and the power struggle that ensues has unexpected results.

I love this book. I love Kate's crazy family. Much as I like Kate and Curran as a couple, I like that Curran is sidelined in the story for more than half of the book, so Kate needs to interact with and rely on other characters to solve her problems. I love the way the authors twist and subvert the reader's expectations when it comes to Roland and his expectations of Kate.

Magic Stars - 4 stars

Jullie and Derek work together to avenge the death of a local family and try to prevent a magical artifact from falling into the wrong hands. I reread this one because I couldn't remember if it was essential to the overall plot of the series or not. It's not, really, but again, I enjoy seeing our main cast through the eyes of other supporting characters

Magic Shifts - 4.5 stars

A book with rather lower stakes than book 7, following such a game changing story. Kate and Curran are separated from the Pack and living in suburbia. Kate is asked by Curran's adopted sister to find Eduardo, her boyfriend, while Curran, bored from no longer having fifteen hundred shapeshifters to boss around, decides to take over the Mercenary Guild.

Another interesting villain taken from a previously untapped source of mythology, some spectacular battles, a lot of cool character interactions and fun scenes of Kate and Curran getting used to their new neighbourhood.

Magic Binds - 4.5 stars

Kate and Curran are close to getting married, but Roman, who is going to officiate, discovers that she's done absolutely zero about the wedding planning and takes over that side of proceedings as well. Meanwhile, the witch oracle have dire visions of what Roland is planning next, and it doesn't look good for Curran or Kate's potential future child. In order to stop the dire prophecies from coming true, Kate decides to do something truly crazy, so her father can't possibly predict her actions.

Roman is one of my favourite supporting characters, so seeing him trying to be Kate's wedding planner is naturally a hoot. Andrea is massively pregnant at the start of the book, and it's lovely to see what she and Raphael end up naming their child. We get the unlikely return of Erra, Kate's unorthodox aunt - who turns out to be a very useful ally. I'm very glad I reread the book, as I had forgotten a LOT of the details, including most of the big battle towards the end of the book, before the long awaited wedding.

Iron and Magic - 4.5 stars
Audio book length: 12 hrs 51 mins

Obviously, it's not been all that long since I first read this. My original review can be found here. This time I listened to the book in audio, having discovered that Steve West (whose voice I really like) was narrating it. As is often the case when I'm excited by a new release, I go through it very quickly. It was good to revisit the book and have it read to me, so I had to take a bit more time out of it.

As I said in my original review, I very much appreciate that the authors didn't in any way go back on their previous work and try to soften just how bad a person Hugh was. The book reveals that in order to have an efficient Warlord, Roland manipulated Hugh's emotions, making it harder for him to question orders he may otherwise have hesitated to carry out. No excuses are really made for Hugh's past, but it's clear that now that he is his own man, having to figure out what to do next, he isn't necessarily quite the monster he has appeared to be. Also, his new wife is more than a match for him.

The only gripe I had with the narration was that it was obvious that no one had informed the narrator that Andrea, unlike Rafael and Ascanio (who both appear in the book) is not a Hispanic character and should not have been given the accent she is. Apart from that, I have no complaints and am considering getting the next two Iron Covenant books in audio as well.

Judging the books by their covers: Ilona Andrews famously have some dreadful covers for a lot of their paranormal fantasy books. I have lost count of how many different cover models there have been portraying Kate over the course of the series (especially since sometimes the foreign editions or e-books have a different dark-haired lady with a sword than the original paperbacks). The common theme on all the books is your dark-haired, tough looking young woman with a big sword (that would be Kate) and a lion (that would be Curran). I think my least favourite of the covers is Magic Slays (Kate's face looks weirdly skeletal on one side), whilst the one I dislike the least (can't really say I love any of them) is book 8, Magic Shifts.

I frequently think of the Kate Daniels series as Magic verbs, because each book in the main series begins with the word "Magic" followed by a verb in the present tense. Even the spin-off books, about Kate's BFF Andrea and one of her main adversaries, Hugh D'Ambray have the word in the title, so you can see that they're connected to the main story, even if they can be read independently.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.