But It's a Dry Heat

Archive for February, 2011

The Charmed Sphere by Catherine Asaro

With The Charmed Sphere, award winning SF author, Catherine Asaro makes her first attempt at writing a fantasy novel. Uh, literally, it would seem.

This may be a case of where high expectations doom a book. Given Asaro’s reputation, I would have expected something more; something that didn’t read like My First Fantasy Novel.

It starts off well enough, with Chime Headwind, a farmer’s daughter, hiding from a royal entourage. She knows she has mage power and doesn’t want to be recruited into the king’s service. (I still don’t know why she hides from her magic [abilities]. It is explained, but doesn’t make much sense.) She is soon discovered by the Shape-mage mistress of Suncroft. Chime unhappily agrees to accompany the royal party back to Suncroft, where she will hone her magic abilities and…marry the prince. (It is the custom of this country to match the most powerful female mage in the land with the prince.) Along the way to Suncroft she runs away, only to unwittingly encounter her groom-to-be, Muller Dawnfield. (Ugh, these names.) Neither knows who the other is, and this could have made for the beginnings of a cute and sexy story.

Instead, Muller’s royal guards show up, and the story soon moves to Chime’s struggles with mastering shape magic and courtly manners. Muller and Chime’s relationship turns rather tepid in the face of the trite and tedious approach to sex that goes with this kind of fantasy. Especially irritating is the inevitable slut-shaming heaped on Chime, when she and Muller eventually do the nasty, pre-marriage. (To Chime’s credit, she at least isn’t terribly ashamed.)

But the real problem lies with the simplistic characterization of good and evil and…simplistic characterization. The side of good is represented by Chime, Muller, Muller’s cousin Jarid, and Chime’s rival, Iris. All are beautiful and good. And pure. Whatever that means. The kingdom is bright and sunny and cheerful. Mages in this land never use their power for anything harmful. (Except to turn the army into super-soldiers who can more easily slaughter the enemy.)

The main antagonist, Anvil the Forged, is an evil mage who uses his powers to harm others. Get it? “Harm others,” so you know he must be evil. He’s in league with a power-hungry king from a cold and dark country. Because shoveling snow would make anyone E.V.I.L.

Oy. Even modern day Disney is cranking out more complex stories and characterization.

So is Charmed Sphere really bad? As in, “Nothing, not even waterboarding, could make me read another book by this author?” (I.e., like Nicholas Spark’s, The Choice.) No. In fact, I’m giving one of Asaro’s SF novels a try soon.

But it’s not good.

Fans of old time, Disney-esque plot lines, with pure-as-snow protagonists and antagonists who are evil–just because, will enjoy this book. Those who like their stories a good deal edgier, should look elsewhere.

White Cat by Holly Black

Is it just me (usually is), or do all of Holly Black’s characters love coffee, including, day old, been sittin’ in the pot, stale coffee? In Black’s books, you can almost count on someone slurkin’ down some nasty, black coffee with zeal.

Black’s Tithe is one of my favorite books.  In particular because of Black’s unflinching depiction of the realities of teenage life.  She doesn’t shy away from drugs, alcohol and violence.

In White Cat, Cassel is the youngest son from a family of Curse Workers.  Curse workers can alter a person’s emotions, memories, and in rare cases, their form. Not surprisingly, curse working has been outlawed. Those who still ply the art tend to gravitate toward less-than-legal vocations. Mobsters, con-artists, etc.

Cassel, however, has no power.  He does, however, have a secret, one which could shatter the normal life he’s worked so hard to maintain.  A few year ago, he killed his best friend, Lila.

But, like old bones, secrets have a way of poking through the surface. Dreams of a white cat and sleepwalking, signal the end of his brief time of normalcy.

While it’s obvious, early on, who, or rather, what Casel is, Black’s engaging style and no-punches pulled approach kept me reading. Black doesn’t burden the story with much exposition.  She presents the world, one much like ours but with Curseworkers, and then gets down to business.  Cassel, as with most of Black’s protagonists, is a young/old man, wise beyond his years. He’s pragmatic, but still quite compassionate.  Despite that, he isn’t my favorite Black character, so White Cat isn’t a keeper.

But I’ll definitely be reading the next book.

Excuse the Mess

I must have run out of whatever I was smoking, as I’ve come to senses and realized the cutesy, pink template was unreadable and seizure-inducing.  In the midst of trying out different themes….

The Music of Chaos, Now Available!

I spent the weekend on yet another home improvement project.  Some people tithe at their local house of worship.

We tithe at Home Depot and Lowes.

Anyway, come Monday morning, I find that my debut novel, The Music of Chaos is now available from Decadent Publishing.

****

Here’s the blurb:

Regan O’Connell seems to have it all. She has a PhD and a good paying job as a project manager with a consulting company. Unbeknownst to her co-workers, she’s a one hundred and thirty-year-old demi-human, with a magical pedigree that includes vampires and elven royalty.

Harnessing her magical ability has never been easy. Immature by the standards of immortals, she has little-to-no control over the magic that simmers in her blood. For more than a century, she has worked as a secret operative for the vampire syndicate the Grey Brethren. For just as long, she has hidden her magical disability, struggling with one paranormal misadventure after another. Tired of her shenanigans, the Grey Brethren station her in Albuquerque, far out-of-the-way by paranormal standards.

The arrival of a mysterious user of chaotic magic—a world destroying power—spells the end of Regan’s trouble-free existence. Soon after, her vampire employers issue an ultimatum: find and neutralize the chaotic magic user or find a new job. To make matters worse, she has inadvertently started a war and developed a surprising attraction to a human. Sorting the mess out will require a little help from her friends, some growing up, and acceptance that she will never be a practitioner of conventional magic.

*****

It is available from Decadent Publishing and in Kindle format over at Amazon.  You can also get it at Smashwords.  (Hint: It’s about a buck cheaper if you buy it directly from the publisher.)