![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
genre-hopping reading
Feb. 2nd, 2009 06:11 pmNo Future For You by Brian K. Vaughan* - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Eight, Volume 2, graphic novel. Buffy herself is a bit more in the background in this one. Giles has a problem with an upperclass British slayer gone rogue and, so, recruits the one person best able to deal with someone like that - Faith. Faith goes undercover as a high class bitchy Brit to get inside the British debutante's life - only to find out that the woman's main target is Buffy. Really good series, excellent art. Need to order volume 3.
The Outfit* by Richard Stark - hardboiled crime by the master of the criminal caper - Donald Westlake(R.I.P.), under the pseudonym of Stark. Reprint of a long out-of-print book (whole series is being reprinted). First, Parker got his money back from the Outfit (The Hunter) and then he got a new face (The Man With the Getaway Face). But he was betrayed and the Outfit has sent someone to kill him. Well, it didn't work and now he's out to teach them that they should just leave him alone. Good stuff.
Without Warning by John Birmingham* - alternate history/science fiction. Set now, a mysterious energy wave hits the continental US, Canada, and Mexico, wiping out 99% of the US population. All that's left of the US are Seattle, Alaska, and Hawaii - plus the military and citizens abroad and asea. While the affected areas try to deal with the Disappearance, the rest of the world must learn to deal with the sudden elimination of one of the globe's greatest powers. Cool. Very interesting premise and speculations on the world reaction. Moved along speedily, though I wasn't as interested in the undercover agent in Paris, though the reactions of the French were interesting. This was a Advanced Reader's Copy I got from Library Thing's Early Reader group = a large paperbound version - I'll probably end up getting a regular copy, though I might wait for regular paperback. Sequel planned for 2010. (Pub challenge, S/T: disaster thriller)
The Bell At Sealey Head* by Patricia McKillip - There's an unseen bell that rings in the coastal town of Sealey Head, and an old manor house, whose owner is slowly dying, where chambermaid Emma can open a closet door and see piles of linen - or a lonely princess who's existence is controlled by rituals involving knights and crows. Then a vacationing academic hints at the secrets behind the doors and things start getting interesting in the quiet village. McKillip's writing, as always, is just... lovely and lyrical. Light romance, good characterization. (Patricia McKillip challenge)
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch* - Many, many thanks to the friend who bought me this off of my wishlist :) Excellent fantasy - interesting society, good characters. Locke is a thief - an extraordinary thief, but he and his small band try to stay fairly unnoticed by the thieves' hierarchy, so as to remain independent. Convoluted plot, excellent dialogue - kind of "Oliver Twist meets Ocean's Eleven" (I stole that from somewhere). Need to read sequel now!
Wyrd Sisters* by Terry Pratchett - Shakespeare's "Hamlet" as done by Terry Pratchett, with the witches as the main characters (Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and... forgot her name). All the world's a stage, but sometimes the characters (even Death) are real. But I'm still more of a Vetinari fangirl :) (TBR challenge)
Running Hot* by Jayne Ann Krentz - paranormal romantic suspense. One of my favorite 'beach read' authors :) 5th in the Arcane Society series, which is split between Krentz and her alter ego Amanda Quick - so far 3 for Krentz and 2 for Quick, but a 3rd by Quick is also due out this year. Grace and Luther are thrown together on Maui, working for J&J, the independent investigative wing of the Arcane Society to try to determine if a member is a murderer. But things go awry when Grace picks up unusual patterns in several hotel guests' auras, they find out they've stumbled into a meeting of Nightshade operatives, sensitives whose powers have been boosted by a dangerous drug.
(all books part of the A to Z challenge - * indicates author list or title list depending on placement, all part of 100 books challenge)
The Outfit* by Richard Stark - hardboiled crime by the master of the criminal caper - Donald Westlake(R.I.P.), under the pseudonym of Stark. Reprint of a long out-of-print book (whole series is being reprinted). First, Parker got his money back from the Outfit (The Hunter) and then he got a new face (The Man With the Getaway Face). But he was betrayed and the Outfit has sent someone to kill him. Well, it didn't work and now he's out to teach them that they should just leave him alone. Good stuff.
Without Warning by John Birmingham* - alternate history/science fiction. Set now, a mysterious energy wave hits the continental US, Canada, and Mexico, wiping out 99% of the US population. All that's left of the US are Seattle, Alaska, and Hawaii - plus the military and citizens abroad and asea. While the affected areas try to deal with the Disappearance, the rest of the world must learn to deal with the sudden elimination of one of the globe's greatest powers. Cool. Very interesting premise and speculations on the world reaction. Moved along speedily, though I wasn't as interested in the undercover agent in Paris, though the reactions of the French were interesting. This was a Advanced Reader's Copy I got from Library Thing's Early Reader group = a large paperbound version - I'll probably end up getting a regular copy, though I might wait for regular paperback. Sequel planned for 2010. (Pub challenge, S/T: disaster thriller)
The Bell At Sealey Head* by Patricia McKillip - There's an unseen bell that rings in the coastal town of Sealey Head, and an old manor house, whose owner is slowly dying, where chambermaid Emma can open a closet door and see piles of linen - or a lonely princess who's existence is controlled by rituals involving knights and crows. Then a vacationing academic hints at the secrets behind the doors and things start getting interesting in the quiet village. McKillip's writing, as always, is just... lovely and lyrical. Light romance, good characterization. (Patricia McKillip challenge)
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch* - Many, many thanks to the friend who bought me this off of my wishlist :) Excellent fantasy - interesting society, good characters. Locke is a thief - an extraordinary thief, but he and his small band try to stay fairly unnoticed by the thieves' hierarchy, so as to remain independent. Convoluted plot, excellent dialogue - kind of "Oliver Twist meets Ocean's Eleven" (I stole that from somewhere). Need to read sequel now!
Wyrd Sisters* by Terry Pratchett - Shakespeare's "Hamlet" as done by Terry Pratchett, with the witches as the main characters (Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and... forgot her name). All the world's a stage, but sometimes the characters (even Death) are real. But I'm still more of a Vetinari fangirl :) (TBR challenge)
Running Hot* by Jayne Ann Krentz - paranormal romantic suspense. One of my favorite 'beach read' authors :) 5th in the Arcane Society series, which is split between Krentz and her alter ego Amanda Quick - so far 3 for Krentz and 2 for Quick, but a 3rd by Quick is also due out this year. Grace and Luther are thrown together on Maui, working for J&J, the independent investigative wing of the Arcane Society to try to determine if a member is a murderer. But things go awry when Grace picks up unusual patterns in several hotel guests' auras, they find out they've stumbled into a meeting of Nightshade operatives, sensitives whose powers have been boosted by a dangerous drug.
(all books part of the A to Z challenge - * indicates author list or title list depending on placement, all part of 100 books challenge)
