By Benjamin Stevenson.

I'm going to sound like I'm damning this book with faint praise. But honestly its existence was a surprise and a delight to me.

I loved the first two Ernest Cunningham mysteries, which are basically love letters to the Golden Age murder mystery, but set in modern day Australia. (The first one at a family reunion at an isolated ski lodge in the Snowy Mountains, and the second one at a writers' festival on the legendary train the Ghan.)

I'd wondered when the next one would be coming out, but totally missed its release last December, appropriately in time for Christmas. In this book, Stevenson draws not only on the tropes of the murder mystery, but on another classic format - the holiday special.

With only a few days until Christmas, Ernest Cunningham is called upon to solve a murder connected to a stage magician. Which, I have to say, is a great hook.

The story is set in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, with lots of local landmarks and references. It takes place during a heatwave, and I love all the descriptions of what the Christmas season is like during the Australian summer. (Even though the one time I was in the Blue Mountains in summer, it was ridiculously cold and I had to wear a jumper.)

There are no shortage of murder suspects, but my main complaint is that we don't get to know them that well. This is a shorter book than the others, and it feels more lightweight, in part because the characters are more lightly drawn. Maybe it's all you need for a light beach read, or for, well, a holiday special. But it doesn't have the same emotional impact as the other books.

Still, the mystery is engaging enough, and the denouement is satisfying. There was a good balance of clues I could figure out, and clues that came as a clever reveal. The author lays them out as an advent calendar, which was thematically appropriate. As always, there's a lot of meta commentary about murder mysteries (and this time, holiday specials), which was sometimes laid on a bit thick, but whatever, that's what I'm here for.

By Rick Riordan.

This is the series I read all the Percy Jackson books to get to.

(I mean, you could start here, but it has spoilers for the books before it.)

The premise: the god Apollo is punished by Zeus by being turned into a mortal, until he fulfils an almost impossible quest.

Stories I love: (1) An immortal learns what it's like to be mortal. (2) A terrible person learns to be a better person.

This series delivered everything I wanted.

Apollo starts off as the most melodramatic, whiny, and arrogant god ever, who just can't believe he's been humbled this way by Zeus. Namely, being transformed into an ordinary teenager called Lester Papadopoulos. Not even a demigod, like Percy Jackson and friends, but an actual mortal human, with no powers at all.

Apollo is saved from being annoying by being hilarious. His narration is funny because he's so oblivious. He expects worship, but no one takes him seriously. In addition, Zeus magically binds him into the service of a plucky young girl called Meg McCaffrey, kind of like how Monkey was bound to Tripitaka. (Meg definitely doesn't take Apollo seriously.)

Meg also has her own share of secrets and shadows, and during their long quest to save the world, they learn about each other and help each other through all kind of challenges and crises. Watching their unlikely friendship grow into something genuine and powerful is so good.

The story doesn't hold back from holding Apollo accountable for his sins in the myths and legends. (Well, mostly. It's all kept to a PG level, and there are one or two more egregious events that are stated to be not actually true.) Apollo gets confronted by his past misdeeds and starts acknowledging the wrongs he has done, while his demigod allies are also finding out about them and not being shy about judging him.

His character arc is so satisfying. Learning about being human. Learning about courage and sacrifice and loss. Learning how fucked up the gods are. Learning about, yes, the meaning of friendship.

( Spoilers )

I don't really have a name for that feeling you get, when you turn the last page and it's the end of a long journey and you just have to sit for a bit. But after these five books, I felt that feeling.

(I kind of want all the futurefic now.)

Still on the hunt for something to fill the Agatha Christie shaped hole in my heart. Just a few brief notes on two recent reads.

( Killed by Clutter )

( Death by Bubble Tea )

By CJ Cherryh and Jane S Fancher. The first of the Foreigner novels under both their names. (In the foreword, Cherryh says: "Jane is no stranger to this series. She's bounced ideas back and forth with me on no few of Bren's stories. And since she has been co-author with me on the Alliance books, it seems only just that she share credit in this series as well, in which she has definitely had a hand and written many scenes.")

This is not really a review, because this is Book 22 of the series and a terrible place to start. It's more my reactions and musings, since there are so many books to keep track of and I want to get down some notes while I remember.

( Spoilery musings )

The thing about this series is, the early books are incredibly eventful and focused, and then the later books progress at a much slower rate, and feel a lot more diffuse. But when they get into it, they really get into it. And I'm still here for that.

Also published as The Steel Seraglio. By Mike Carey, Linda Carey and Louise Carey (a husband, wife and daughter writing team).

When the sultan of Bessa is overthrown, his wives and their children are put to death, as threats to the new regime. But his concubines and their children are spared, for a brief window of time. They escape into the desert - facing many obstacles, fending off enemies, and gaining allies - and eventually make a city of their own.

I love stories where people have to figure out one problem after another, often in clever and creative ways. I love how there are so many different women, with different backgrounds and personalities. There's also a lovely F/F romance between the librarian Rem and the assassin Zuleika.

It has a One Thousand and One Nights feel, with the main narrative containing stories within stories. Parts of it also reminded me of Guy Gavriel Kay, in its sense of the epic and the fantastic, delving into the stories of side characters, and intense feelings about a beloved city.

The lives of women in this world are not easy. And even when they achieve their freedom, they still face the threat of destruction by their enemies. But I love what the book says about how making the dream real matters, whatever happens after, because it makes it possible in all the futures to come. Inspiring, poignant, and hopeful.

***

No one said it would be easy, and it wasn't. We did it anyway. - Zuleika

***

By Kim Stanley Robinson.

I haven't read World War Z, but from osmosis I would compare this to World War Z. Except instead of being a history of the zombie war, it's a future history of climate change.

( Review )

( Quotes )

By Sara Paretsky. Audiobook read by Susan Ericksen.

The latest in the VI Warshawski series. (Now up to book 20!) Also one of the last things I borrowed from the library before lockdown started. (Three long months ago. One day I will get to visit a library again...)

A classic trope in detective fiction is the extremely suspicious property development. (Is there ever a fictional property development that is not hiding something shady?) VI gets involved when her goddaughter drags her to a community meeting about a proposed development on the lakefront of Chicago. That same night, they encounter a homeless woman who used to be a brilliant singer, until the devastating death of her lover in a mass shooting. VI is reluctantly drawn into these seemingly unconnected incidents, and ends up digging into secrets that people are willing to kill to protect.

This is the first book Sara Paretsky wrote after the death of her husband. I only found out after finishing it, but in retrospect, themes of grief and mourning clearly pervade the story.

It's a solid mystery as always, mixed in with current events and sociopolitical issues, and the burning rage against injustice that is a hallmark of this series. Some of the plot points were guessable, so at times I was a little impatient with the pace. But my personal highlight was seeing so many favourite characters appear. One thing I love about long series like this, is the wonderful ensemble cast that has grown over the years.

I'm grateful that Sara Paretsky has said she won't ever kill off the supporting characters for angst and drama, because that's not the kind of story she wants to tell. So VI's neighbour, Mr Contreras, is in his nineties but as protective of her as ever. And VI's dog Peppy, adopted in 1987, must be the oldest golden retriever in the world. (I would riot if anything ever happened to her.)

Reflecting on time, the first book came out in 1982, when VI was in her thirties, so she ought to be in her seventies now. I assume she's aging in slow motion, the way James Bond and other eternal heroes do. While VI acknowledges that she's not as spry as she used to be, she still manages to hike up mountains and tackle bad guys, and generally show a level of physical fitness I can only envy. And I like how the series has introduced younger characters like her cousin Petra and her goddaughter Bernie, to show the voice and viewpoint of a new generation.

I've been on a bit of a CJ Cherryh binge the last few months. (The benefits of reading an author with an extensive backlist!) I've been getting more into audiobooks in recent years, so where the library was missing some books in a series, I picked up the audiobook instead. Pleasantly surprised that so many are available, even for older works, and pretty happy that the quality is high.

( The Morgaine Saga #4 )

( The Chanur Series #4 and #5 )

( The Foreigner Series #2 )

Posted 9 August 2010:

GRAPHIC

Everyone I knew who was going to GRAPHIC - and a few who weren't - wanted to attend the Neil Gaiman reading. But The Arrival is my favourite Shaun Tan book, and possible my favourite graphic novel ever, so for me the must see event of the festival was Ben Walsh's Orkestra of the Underground performing a live score to projected images from the story.

---

Ten years on, Shaun Tan continues to make amazing art. The animated film of his book The Lost Thing won an Oscar. And The Arrival is still my favourite graphic novel ever.

"What drives so many to leave everything behind and journey to a mysterious country; a place without family or friends, where everything is nameless and the future is unknown? This silent graphic novel is the story of every migrant, every refugee, every displaced person, and a tribute to those who have made the journey."

As I said in my original post: "Shaun Tan dedicated this book to his parents. It is also the story of my parents, and the story of my friends' parents. And in The Arrival, it is the story of one man who makes this journey to a bewildering and fantastical city, and all those who have made the journey before and after him."

The artwork is gorgeous. The story does things to my heart. I love the city of wonders and hope, the strangeness of the new language and new foods, the cute bizarre creatures everyone has as pets, and the stories shared by the other immigrants to this place. I love the feeling of connection and belonging and building a new future. Every time I read it, it makes me teary and it makes me smile. It really feels like something beautiful and meaningful added to the world.

(Someday, I'd like to own one of these gorgeous prints to hang on my wall. Maybe Flight or City of Birds or The Place of Nests.)

CJ Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe is one of the greatest creations in science fiction.

Downbelow Station is the Hugo Award winning first novel in the series. Even the opening chapter is a sweeping epic, covering three centuries of humanity's expansion into space - and how it goes wrong, leading to the crisis point of the novel. The rest of the books in the series show people on different sides of the great conflict: merchanters, soldiers, scientists, and renegades. Notably, Finity's End feels like a bookend, dealing with the aftermath of the war and the fragile new era of peace.

Alliance Rising is the first new Alliance-Union book in 10 years, by Cherryh and her co-author Jane Fancher. It feels like the other bookend, at the very beginning of events, long before Downbelow Station. It's a time and place as yet unexplored, and the light the authors shine on it is fascinating. It really feels like a window to the future: people with very different mindsets and psychology, and the nitty-gritty detail of how everything operates. Immersive and convincing.

In switching viewpoints to different sides, the Alliance-Union books are excellent at turning our preconceptions on their heads. This one focuses on Alpha Station, which remains loyal to Sol despite severe neglect, and its ships, primarily Galway, where young Ross Monahan is third navigator. Their fortunes are declining, while the new planets Pell and Cyteen are establishing power bases. Alpha Station and its kindred call themselves the First Stars and the others the Farther Stars. They resent that the others call them the Hinder Stars and themselves the Beyond.

It's a slow build with an explosive ending, as tensions grow between the Earth Company forces, the Beyond ships, and the Alpha ships. The characters are sitting on the cusp of history and making decisions that will tip the balance irrevocably.

(As a side note, I love the haunting mystery of Beta Station, where the entire population vanished without a trace. I love that the slower-than-light pusher-ships, with their 10 year voyages, have very different crew cultures because of this. Atlantis is a party ship, its crew letting off steam at the end of each long trip. But Santa Maria, which discovered the abandoned Beta Station, is a paranoid ship, keeping close tabs on its crew when on shore leave.)

( Spoilery musings on the Alliance-Union series )