Ok, so I really liked keeping track of the books I was reading last year. I didn’t read much for the first couple of months of this year, and then even when I did I didn’t get around to mentioning them. So, here they are.
Flesh and Fire by Laura Anne Gilman (![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
suricattus), Book One of the Vineart War. I ordered a copy from Amazon as soon as it came out, because I’ve liked her books before and this one sounded different-and-interesting. And then before it arrived, I went to World Fantasy Con and got a free copy in my book bag. Which I then had to keep, so I could get her to sign it, because I didn’t have my copy yet. *facepalm* I started reading it immediately, and enjoyed it immensely, but then got distracted (as I do) and didn’t finish it until this year. And now I’m sad that I did, because the next book isn’t out yet, and I want to know what happens next.
The awesome premise is that magic comes from wine. Or from grapes, but isn’t usable until it’s made into wine and then the wine is turned into magical wine. The Vinearts are the men who have this ability, basically they’re vintners with extra magic. (Can’t tell me there isn’t already magic in turning fruit into the strange thing that wine is.) The main character, Jerzy, is a new apprentice, and in this book we follow him learning how the magics work, as Weird Dangerous Things start happening in the world, affecting him and his master.
The main thing is that I just wanted to follow Jerzy and find out what happens next. He’s an adorable character. I read a review somewhere (of course I forget which one now) that complained that nothing happens in this book, and while I can see where they got that opinion, I don’t quite agree. Things build in this book, and they’re just starting to come apart at the end. This is clearly the first part of a multi-book story arc, not a series of standalone novels, and while I wouldn’t have minded a little more resolution at the end of this one, it stopped at a good breathing point.
Quatrain by Sharon Shinn. Ok, you may have noticed that I read all of her books, and generally like them all. Yep, it’s true, and this is no exception. This one is four novellas (hence the title), each one set in one of her worlds.
The one set in the world of Archangel was wonderful and satisfying, with a middle-aged main character who has already messed up her life and learned better, long before the story starts. It takes place just a year or two before Archangel, and while the main characters aren’t mentioned in Archangel (that I recall), another character is key in that one.
Then I skipped to the last story, which is set in the world of the Thirteen Houses, because I remember that series well. This story takes place before the first book (Mystic and Rider), but doesn’t quite cover the chapter that I think is missing from the beginning of that book. :-/ Still, it was fun and interesting, showing Senneth before the whole group get together.
Summers at Castle Auburn and Heart of Gold were both standalone novels, and I read them years ago and never re-read them. So, I vaguely rememeber that Summers was about a girl and is fantastical, while Gold is about a world with gold-skinned people and blue-skinned people who have serious issues with each other, set in a city where the two races both live and must interact, and is sci fi. And that’s about all I remember. (If I’d been keeping track of what I read back then, maybe I would’ve written more here to jog my memory. Alas.) Still, my mom convinced me that I should read the two stories set in those worlds, even though I didn’t remember the original books well enough.
She was right. The stories totally stand on their own, explain just as much of the world as they need to to be very readable. I’m reasonably certain that if I remembered any character names I would get references to the characters from the original novels, but the main characters in these stories are new to these stories. The story set in the world of Heart of Gold was wonderful and powerful, about a man in a difficult society who has grown up to be strong and well-mannered despite his childhood, who meets a woman who completely changes his idea of how people are or should be. Or can be. I didn’t want it to end, but I was satisfied by the ending.
The story set in the world of Summers at Castle Auburn is about a teen-aged girl who goes through an experience that ought to mature her, yet somehow doesn’t. At the end she is just as self-centered and flighty as at the beginning, and she comes out on top through no fault of her own. Now, it’s not her fault that she can’t save herself, but … it just wasn’t as gripping of a story because the character does things that aren’t the right things, over and over. She doesn’t learn anything, and at the end I felt like she wasn’t deserving of what she got. :-/
So the stories I liked best were about grown-ups dealing with grown-up issues. The one about the girl dealing with girlish issues just didn’t do anything for me. And the one about Senneth… it wasn’t a bad story, but it wasn’t as gripping as the others. (No characters fell in love in that one, so maybe that’s the issue. Also, it’s about a main character we already know, whereas the others are all about new characters. Maybe *that’s* the issue. I’m not sure.)
Finally, I read a manuscript by one of the people in my writing group. It’s the second in a series, and the first has been published recently. Since I can’t tell you about the new one (except that it was great fun 
, I’ll tell you a bit about the first. Frost Moon by Anthony Francis is about Dakota Frost, the best magical tattoo artist in the southeast. She’s tall and imposing, with a mohawk and long leather vest, sleeveless to show off the tattoos all over her body, which she can set in motion and even detach from her body. Dakota is both edgy and normal–her childhood and early adulthood aren’t that different from any real person’s life. It’s set in Atlanta, a city I don’t know at all, but where Anthony lived for many years, and he’s written it as a period piece set in 2006. Every detail is as accurate for that city in that year (and month, even) as he could make it. Except, of course, that magical tattoos, were-creatures and vampires didn’t really exist in Atlanta in 2006. (Or did they…? :p ) There is a serial killer who’s been killing magical people, and Dakota gets pulled into the investigation. It’s Urban Fantasy, along the lines of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, but Dakota starts out less experienced in death and mayhem than Anita, but she feels more worldly and down-to-earth.
Ok, this has gone on forever, and I’m going to make sure it’s behind a cut (or two or three). But hey, I’m caught up now. 
(I have started several other books since then, but haven’t finished any of them yet. Because I’m like that.)
