Another in the urban fantasy sub-genre, “Good Fairies of New York” is better (IMHO) than “Tithe”, but I can honestly say I don’t like the style. Urban fantasy blends stories of “the fey” with gritty realism. The thing is, I don’t really want my fairy stories blended with gritty realism. In this tale, Morag and Heather, two pseudo-lesbian Scottish fairies who have a penchant for getting in trouble, land in the apartment of a ne’er-do-well New Yorker named Dinnie after a binge of alcohol and magic mushrooms. They crash through Dinnie’s window, throw up, fight and pass out. Dinnie is an overweight, unemployed squatter who likes porn and has an unrequited crush on the girl across the street, a bohemian named Kerry who is seriously ill with Crohn’s Disease. The story zig-zags across New York and overseas, adding in fairy groups of all kinds as a kind of a “war” builds up, although in the end that becomes very secondary to the other plotlines. Where it works: The introduction by Neil Gaiman compares Millar to Vonnegut and there are similarities. Dark humor is well blended with stark social satire (homeless people die in doorways each day and no one seems to notice, much less care). The “good fairies” are anything but. These anti-hero protagonists are so self-absorbed that every good deed ends up deepening their troubles and causing grief for others. The best line in the book came on page 205, “They are just under the thrall of an evil King. Much like the United States.” Where it doesn’t work: The wild swings from one scene to the next with little or no natural flow was present in “Tithe” as it is here, and I don’t know if it is a hallmark of this type of literature, but it makes reading the jagged text very challenging. Random use of sexuality seems designed for no other purpose than to titillate (and makes it completely inappropriate for younger readers) and the copy I read was in great need of an editor, as it had blatant typos. Although this novel was stronger than my first attempt, I can’t say this most recent urban fantasy has made me like the genre any better. I’m told Charles de Lint is the master here, so I may try one of his books before giving it up entirely. Maybe. If it’s really short.
Monday, October 29, 2007
The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar
Another in the urban fantasy sub-genre, “Good Fairies of New York” is better (IMHO) than “Tithe”, but I can honestly say I don’t like the style. Urban fantasy blends stories of “the fey” with gritty realism. The thing is, I don’t really want my fairy stories blended with gritty realism. In this tale, Morag and Heather, two pseudo-lesbian Scottish fairies who have a penchant for getting in trouble, land in the apartment of a ne’er-do-well New Yorker named Dinnie after a binge of alcohol and magic mushrooms. They crash through Dinnie’s window, throw up, fight and pass out. Dinnie is an overweight, unemployed squatter who likes porn and has an unrequited crush on the girl across the street, a bohemian named Kerry who is seriously ill with Crohn’s Disease. The story zig-zags across New York and overseas, adding in fairy groups of all kinds as a kind of a “war” builds up, although in the end that becomes very secondary to the other plotlines. Where it works: The introduction by Neil Gaiman compares Millar to Vonnegut and there are similarities. Dark humor is well blended with stark social satire (homeless people die in doorways each day and no one seems to notice, much less care). The “good fairies” are anything but. These anti-hero protagonists are so self-absorbed that every good deed ends up deepening their troubles and causing grief for others. The best line in the book came on page 205, “They are just under the thrall of an evil King. Much like the United States.” Where it doesn’t work: The wild swings from one scene to the next with little or no natural flow was present in “Tithe” as it is here, and I don’t know if it is a hallmark of this type of literature, but it makes reading the jagged text very challenging. Random use of sexuality seems designed for no other purpose than to titillate (and makes it completely inappropriate for younger readers) and the copy I read was in great need of an editor, as it had blatant typos. Although this novel was stronger than my first attempt, I can’t say this most recent urban fantasy has made me like the genre any better. I’m told Charles de Lint is the master here, so I may try one of his books before giving it up entirely. Maybe. If it’s really short.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
TAB Reviews!
Welcome to the new TAB year. Bookclub members review the following…
MJ writes:
“The Dark is Rising” by Susan Cooper. The best thing about this book is that it’s so full of adventure and it is almost like a puzzle.
CM writes:
“Pirate Emperor” by Kai Meyer. I really like his writing style. I love the characters (especially Jolly). It’s an interesting book. There aren’t really any others like it. Be warned it is a cliff hanger!
“Blaze of Silver” by K.M. Grant. It was action packed, plus it wasn’t the type of book where you can guess every sentence before you read it. It didn’t have a cliff hanger ending, and I really liked the way all the characters turned out.
“Titan’s Curse” by Rick Riordan. I love this book! I really liked the plot and the new characters introduced.
“Charlie Bone and the Beast” by Jenny Nimmo. I liked it as a continuation of the series with the same characters but it was a huge cliff hanger.
SB writes:
“Epic” by Conor Kostick. I think it deserves to be a TAB book because it is an interesting “epic” story full of action and adventure. I liked the author’s style and the development of the characters. This book is especially interesting because the topic is very distinct and unique.
CK writes:
“Twisted” by Laurie Halse Anderson. It was a great book about a guy who’s having a very “twisted” life and I like how he learns to “untwist” it and make peace with his family. Some parts I think could have been taken out, but overall it was a good book.
“Harlem Summer” by Walter Dean Myers. It gave me a look at how some people felt during the Harlem Renaissance and how not everyone wanted to be really famous. I also liked how there were historical facts in the book and that most of the characters were real people.
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney. I chose yes (for this as a TAB book) because it was funny and I liked how it wasn’t a “Dear Diary” type of book. So it was a nice change from the standard diary.
DK writes:
“The Titan’s Curse” by Rick Riordan. It’s heartstopping, just as good as the first two.
KS writes:
“The White Darkness” by Geraldine McCaughrean. This is the story of a girl in love with an Antarctic explorer who’s been dead for 90 years. Her “uncle” then grants her favorite wish – to go to Antarctica. I can’t say much more, because that would give away the plot – which is AMAZING. Everything in this story is unexpected, it doesn’t feel like a copy cat. The descriptions are wonderful, and the characters seem like they could exist. Not too pretty or perfect.
“The Invisible” by Mats Wahl. This book is about a boy who becomes invisible. No one can hear him, he can’t lift anything, he can hardly move. The writing is better than most, but the ending is very predictable. I could put it down whenever, and the plot wasn’t great.
“Getting Air” by Dan Gutman. This story tells of the hijacking by terrorists of a like … forty minute flight. One of the many reasons it sucked. Who hijacks a plane 3 hours from anything important, on only 45 minutes fuel? (***SPOILER ALERT***) Then it crashes, after three 13 year olds kill terrorists along with 30 knitting granny ladies. It moves too quickly, with hardly any description, only dialogue and 1st grader descriptions of actions. It’s a rip-off of Hatchet and Lost, and the plot is predictable.
MJ writes:
“The Dark is Rising” by Susan Cooper. The best thing about this book is that it’s so full of adventure and it is almost like a puzzle.
CM writes:
“Pirate Emperor” by Kai Meyer. I really like his writing style. I love the characters (especially Jolly). It’s an interesting book. There aren’t really any others like it. Be warned it is a cliff hanger!
“Blaze of Silver” by K.M. Grant. It was action packed, plus it wasn’t the type of book where you can guess every sentence before you read it. It didn’t have a cliff hanger ending, and I really liked the way all the characters turned out.
“Titan’s Curse” by Rick Riordan. I love this book! I really liked the plot and the new characters introduced.
“Charlie Bone and the Beast” by Jenny Nimmo. I liked it as a continuation of the series with the same characters but it was a huge cliff hanger.
SB writes:
“Epic” by Conor Kostick. I think it deserves to be a TAB book because it is an interesting “epic” story full of action and adventure. I liked the author’s style and the development of the characters. This book is especially interesting because the topic is very distinct and unique.
CK writes:
“Twisted” by Laurie Halse Anderson. It was a great book about a guy who’s having a very “twisted” life and I like how he learns to “untwist” it and make peace with his family. Some parts I think could have been taken out, but overall it was a good book.
“Harlem Summer” by Walter Dean Myers. It gave me a look at how some people felt during the Harlem Renaissance and how not everyone wanted to be really famous. I also liked how there were historical facts in the book and that most of the characters were real people.
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney. I chose yes (for this as a TAB book) because it was funny and I liked how it wasn’t a “Dear Diary” type of book. So it was a nice change from the standard diary.
DK writes:
“The Titan’s Curse” by Rick Riordan. It’s heartstopping, just as good as the first two.
KS writes:
“The White Darkness” by Geraldine McCaughrean. This is the story of a girl in love with an Antarctic explorer who’s been dead for 90 years. Her “uncle” then grants her favorite wish – to go to Antarctica. I can’t say much more, because that would give away the plot – which is AMAZING. Everything in this story is unexpected, it doesn’t feel like a copy cat. The descriptions are wonderful, and the characters seem like they could exist. Not too pretty or perfect.
“The Invisible” by Mats Wahl. This book is about a boy who becomes invisible. No one can hear him, he can’t lift anything, he can hardly move. The writing is better than most, but the ending is very predictable. I could put it down whenever, and the plot wasn’t great.
“Getting Air” by Dan Gutman. This story tells of the hijacking by terrorists of a like … forty minute flight. One of the many reasons it sucked. Who hijacks a plane 3 hours from anything important, on only 45 minutes fuel? (***SPOILER ALERT***) Then it crashes, after three 13 year olds kill terrorists along with 30 knitting granny ladies. It moves too quickly, with hardly any description, only dialogue and 1st grader descriptions of actions. It’s a rip-off of Hatchet and Lost, and the plot is predictable.
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