The Signature of All Things

I have read another book by Elizabeth Gilbert that I quite liked, Committed, on the history of marriage. She is a good researcher and good writer. I enjoyed the movie based on her book, Eat, Pray, Love, but never read the book. A good friend raved about this book and it has received fairly universal positive reviews (fascinating one in the NYT). That being said, I struggled occasionally with this book. I grew impatient with it. But I kept coming back to it, and in fact would read well past my bedtime because I just had to know what was going to happen next. It is not, however, a plot driven book; rather, we are immersed in character and the scientific research that Gilbert must have done in spades to write this historical novel of a woman botanist in the 19th century. This was not a time period when women had many options, but Alma Whittaker's father was a driven and successful businessman who rose from abject poverty in England to astounding wealth in the New World; his wealth and fondness for Alma gave her opportunities most women never dreamed of. Henry Whittaker's passion for botany led him to medicinal plants and eventually the pharmaceuticals business, which seemed nearly immune to financial fluctuations and always seemed to do better when things were at their worst. He and Dutch wife Beatrix ( he contracted with her to marry--a decision which resulted in her being disowned by her family) had only the one biological daughter, but adopted a 2nd girl of Alma's age when Alma was 10 years old. Prudence could not have been more different than Alma. Alma was brawny and unattractive and brilliant. Prudence was also smart but was devastatingly beautiful. Like every relationship Alma had, the one with her sister was complex. Alma was insatiably curious and rational and an acknowledged botanical expert--even published--when she was quite young; she could never let any question rest, even questions of the heart. Prudence could never catch up. It was only when scion Henry Whittaker died and left his estate to Alma that she learned what her sister had sacrificed for her. Alma fell in love first with a scientific publisher, who married someone else, and then with an uncannily talented younger artist. His death drives the 2nd half of the book as Alma seeks to understand him. Gilbert is a talented writer, and in fact, it feels presumptuous even to attempt a critique of such an extraordinary piece of work. But it did not move me as it apparently has so many others.

The Warlock and The Enchantress

These are the final two volumes in "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" series by Michael Scott. I have read, and in fact own the four earlier installments: The Alchemyst, The Magician, The Sorceress, The Necromancer.  You will probably feel hopelessly lost if you try jumping into the series without having read the preceding volumes. Josh and Sophie are 15 year twins residing with their Aunt Agnes in San Francisco while their parents travel the world on archaeological digs. Josh works in a bookstore and Sophie across the street in a coffee shop. The bookstore is owned by Nick and Perry Flamel, the several-hundred-year-old immortals seeking the "twins of legend," who are--you guessed it--Josh and Sophie. The adventures are fast and furious in what turns out to be a battle for the future of the world as Josh and Sophie know it, being fought by Dark Elders and their minions, versus those magical beings who value the humani (as humans are referred to) and want them to continue existing. Read the earlier reviews to get a sense of the vast cast of characters who enter into this battle. In The Necromancer, Dr. Dee has apparently helped Josh gain the power to bring back the dead, and convinced him the Flamels are evil. This has split the twins for the first time in their lives, and they are now working towards very different ends.  Dee will use Josh, Machiavelli, Virginia Dare, Billy the Kid and others to free the accumulation of mythical monsters and evil forces he has collected on Alcatraz in order to destroy San Francisco. Sophie and the Flamels, who are no longer immortal and powerful, also have allies in trying to stop this, but they seem grossly outnumbered and overpowered. These two volumes are full of surprises though as we find that Aunt Agnes has actually been watching over the twins and their predecessors for thousands of years, Josh and Sophie are not really twins, and their parents are ... well you better dive in for a wild ride and read the series. Will the prophecy really come true about the gold and silver twins--one to destroy the world and one to save it? Is it possible for both to happen? These last two books could probably have been condensed into a single volume, i.e., I think this series went on a bit too long, but I enjoyed it nevertheless and highly recommend if you are a fantasy fan.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Another little gem from Neil Gaiman, author of Stardust, Good Omens, The Graveyard Book, and many more. Told as a recollection by a middle aged man who has returned to his childhood village for a funeral, we experience his memories of an eventful few days when he was a small, bookish and bullied 7-year old boy who inadvertently sets loose dark forces that want to take control of him, his family, the village, and maybe much more. The imagery is vivid and compelling, creating a real sense of menace and inescapability.  Fortunately for the boy, he has help in the form of the remarkable women (if they are women) at Hempstock Farm down at the end of the lane. Eleven-year old Lettie promises to protect him from the trouble if only he hangs on to her hand, but he drops it for only a moment and the damage is done. Nevertheless, he eventually makes his way back to Lettie, Mrs. Hempstock and old Mrs. Hempstock who take on the mysterious magical forces that threaten everything he thought he could count on. And Lettie does protect him, sacrificing herself to save him. The muddy duck pond at the farm is, as Lettie had asserted, really an ocean--an ocean of knowledge, and perhaps renewal. You might call this a really good ghost story; like other reviewers, once I started I could not put it down.

Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex

OK, OK, I know these books by Eoin Colfer are written for teens, but they are so much fun, that I could not resist grabbing this the last time I was in the library (see also my blogs for Artemis Fowl,  The Eternity Code, and The Arctic Incident). I grabbed a handful of teen books including the last two installments in Michael Scott's "The Immortal Life of Nicholas Flamel" series and Code Name Verity. I just reviewed the "companion volume" to Verity, titled Rose Under Fire for Children's Literature Database. It was a powerful novel about women's concentration camps during WWII, so wanted to read Verity as well.
Anyway, back to Artemis, the 12 year old criminal mastermind, who is, in this book (the 7th in the series), now 15 years old and seemingly having a change of heart. He wants to save the world from the effects of global warming with a machine he has created to blanket the world's ice caps with an artificial reflective snow. Unfortunately, not so benevolent forces are at work, namely Turnball Root, brother to now deceased Commander Julius Root, former head of the LEPrecon force (that's short for Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance Unit). Turnball is supposed to be safely ensconced in the Atlantis prison deep under the ocean, but he has turned his jailer into an unwitting accomplice and been able to mastermind a plan of his own--one that will free him from the prison and destroy his "enemies."
Adding to the problems created by Turnball--who has sent minions to destroy not only Artemis, LEPrecon police captain Holly Short, and Artemis' bodyguard Butler--is the fact that Artemis' close association with fairy magic has triggered a psychosis called the "Atlantis Complex." He is paranoid of everyone, counts everything in units of five, is afraid of anything associated with "4's", and has even developed a split personality. It is only through the combined efforts of Foaly the centaur, Holly, Butler and his sister, and dwarf Mulch Diggums with his unique talents, that the end of the world as we know it is averted. So much fun!

The Darkest Road

This is the final installment in Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry trilogy (see blogs re Book One and Book Two). Action packed and relentlessly paced, I dove in and did not surface except for absolutely necessary chores. The big unknown remains the child born as a result of Jennifer's rape by Rakoth Maugrim, the Unraveller. Jennifer refuses to try and determine the Darien's path, although everyone else is trying to steer him toward the Light and away from the Dark. The child, now in an adolescent's body, interprets her hands off approach as rejection and so decides to go to this father and find acceptance there, taking a magic dagger crafted in ancient times by the Dwarves.
Saved by the chanting of the Paraiko when she descended into Maugrim's dark thoughts, Kim has gone to free them from their captors in the caves at Kath Maigol. She calls upon Tabor and his flying unicorn to decimate the dark hordes that imprison them. Then Kim hurries west to try and intervene with Darien and then on to Lisen's tower to warn Jennifer/Guinevere of what she has done. Everything with Darien seems to drive him further toward Rakoth. Diarmuid, Arthur, Paul, Loren, Matt, and now Lancelot are saved from a watery death when Paul once again calls on the sea god, and then they are ferried to the front lines of battle by a ghost ship captained by the original First Mage of Fionavar, Amairgen. Meanwhile, Kim has taken Matt and Loren to the realm of the Dwarves to try and reassert Matt's sovereignty as King and bring them back to the side of the Light. They succeed in the nick of time, turning potential enemies into allies. Rakoth pulls out all the stops and throws every evil being he can command at the united forces of the High Kingdom. In spite of several powerful mortal and magical interventions, it truly seems that all is lost, until Darien gains audience with his father, and uses the lore of the dagger to stop Rakoth. Loves as well as lives are lost and gained. In the end, only two of the original five will return to this world. There is a summary of books one and two at the beginning of this 3rd volume, but don't even think of not reading the first two books.

The Wandering Fire: The Fionavar Tapestry: Book Two

So much happens that I won't even try to summarize this second installment in the The Fionavar Tapestry Trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay (see also the blog for Book One). Let me just say I am well and truly hooked and having a hard time tearing myself out of this book to go do the mundane tasks of life--like fix dinner!
When Book One closes, Kim has used her power to pull all five of them out of Fionavar and back to present day Canada, primarily to save Jennifer, who was being raped and tortured by Rakoth Maugrim and his minion,  Blöd , one of the dwarves who betrayed Fionavar and freed Rakoth from under the mountain. Seven months later, Jennifer is carrying Rakoth's child in defiance of his last order, which was that she not be allowed to live; she believes he knew of the child and that it would be a threat to him. Kim is awaiting the Seer's dream that will take them back to Fionavar and the war between Rakoth and the rest of Fionavar. Finally it comes and she recalls The Warrior, King Arthur, from the grave. Paul and Jennifer have already returned to Fionavar because Galadan has crossed over and is hunting them. The passage brings on Jennifer's labor and the baby, Darien, is born and given up to a woman in the village whose son, Finn, has been called to the Longest Road.
Fionavar has been paralyzed and is beginning to starve under the weight of a bitter and unnatural winter, even though it is approaching Midsummer. Loren has made it his task to find out how the winter is being created, but Kevin, the member of the original group who has felt most useless in all the events up to now, beats him to the punch but pays the highest price of all. Loren, Matt, Paul and Diarmuid set out across the sea to find the treacherous former First Mage and stop his machinations. In the final battle between the two mages, Magren is killed but Loren and Matt's bond is irretrievably broken, leaving Fionavar with only a single Mage. With winter gone, Rakoth looses his dark armies and victory is barely snatched from defeat by the release of The Wild Hunt, a group of ghostly dead Kings led by Finn.

Califia's Daughters

Boy I do not know how I missed this for so many years, but am grateful once again to the book blog from Powell's Bookstore in Portland for bringing it to my attention! This is Laurie R. King, writing as Leigh Richards, and she is simply a wonderful story teller, whether it is the slightly fanciful Mary Russell/ Sherlock Holmes mysteries, or her darker contemporary novels. The title is taken from the name of the Amazon queen, Califia, in Garci  Rodríguez de Montalvo's multi-volume tale, translated as The Labors of a Very Brave Knight  Esplandián.

In the latter part of the 21st century, the population has been decimated by the inadvertent release of bio-agents when terrorist groups opposed to technology started burning libraries and bombing labs. Another unexpected consequence is that one of the viral pathogens attaches itself to men only and is passed along generation to generation. As the book opens, 90% of the population is women. Men are protected and hidden like precious commodities. Outside of a few recreated cities, people live largely as they did in the 1900's with very basic machines (wind mills, etc.) and rely on farming and trading to survive. It is a largely lawless country and you travel at your peril and are always wary of strangers. So when a couple of covered wagons, accompanied by a guard of a dozen women, and carrying the "gift" of a man and boy come to the secluded Valley in south central California, they are initially greeted by just a few of the 100+ people living there. The travelers are asking permission to move their community south from Oregon because the radiation is poisoning the rivers, and an aggressive woman named Queen Bess is moving relentlessly south from Portland to take over every community that cannot fend off her army.
Dian, head of security for the Valley, begins to fall in love with their newest arrival, Isaac, and so it is harder than expected when she leaves to covertly investigate the group from Oregon before the Valley community offers final acceptance. The journey north is full of surprises starting with an abandoned female infant found at a crossroads. She is ambushed, badly wounded, loses her beloved wolfhound Culum, but is rescued by a man, Robin, living alone in the woods, disguised as a woman. When he is kidnapped by Destroyers, she is forced to go to Ashtown to find him and repay the debt of life she owes. This tale is realistically wrought, fast-moving and so well-developed that you will be looking for these characters after you close the book.