Books – Good, Bad, Scary, Funny

  

Peace Talks
Jim Butcher

First of all – I have read all the Harry Dresden books (and to date there are 17 of them).  I absolutely love them.  And, while the early ones can be read as independent stand-alone books, as the popularity and character development has come along, it’s less confusing and much more enjoyable if you have an understanding of who and what Dresden is.  In other words, you need to read some of the earlier books.  After a long drought (Skin Game published in 2014), author Jim Butcher released not one but two books within a few months of one another this year.  I reread Skin Game to remind myself what was happening with Harry and then started on

 

Peace Talks.
When the Supernatural nations of the world meet up to negotiate an end to ongoing hostilities, Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, joins the White Council's security team to make sure the talks stay civil. But can he succeed? Dark political manipulations threaten the very existence of Chicago and all Harry holds dear.

 It's good.  It is Harry Dresden in his prime. 

 

Battle Ground
Jim Butcher

 

Then, I read Battle Ground.  It came out a few months after Peace Talks and page one of the new book, literally, takes up where page 300-odd of the other, ends.  It seems to me, author Jim Butcher wrote one huge Harry Dresden story and then divided it into two books. 

 

 

Battle Ground
Harry has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting enemies - The Red Court of vampires, The fallen angels of the Order of the Blackened Denarius, The Outsiders. But this time it’s different. A being more powerful and dangerous beyond what the world has seen in a millennium is coming. And she’s bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating any who stand in her way. Harry’s mission is simple but impossible: Save the city by killing a Titan. And the attempt will change Harry’s life, Chicago, and the mortal world forever.

 This one was harder for me to read because, I think, it is one massive battle – for 300 pages.  It was made even harder since one of Harry’s long-time allies is lost.  I don’t know that I enjoyed this one as much as some of his other books but, it was the next in line, so . . . .  Hopefully it won’t be another six years before Harry Dresden takes on the next catastrophe.

 

The Passage Trilogy
Justin Cronin

 

This is the story of the end of the world.  I had actually read The Passage not long after it came out in 2010.  But, the second book didn’t come out until 2012 and the third not until 2016.  So, I never got around to finishing the entire trilogy.  Since being more “home-bound” these days than usual, I decided to try again.  And, FYI – if you want to read these, be aware they are huge books --- 600-700 pages each.

  

The Passage
An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.

 

The Twelve
In the present day, as the man-made apocalypse unfolds, three strangers navigate the chaos. Lila, a doctor and an expectant mother, is so shattered by the spread of violence and infection that she continues to plan for her child’s arrival even as society dissolves around her. Kittridge, known to the world as “Last Stand in Denver,” has been forced to flee his stronghold and is now on the road, dodging the infected, armed but alone and well aware that a tank of gas will get him only so far. April is a teenager fighting to guide her little brother safely through a landscape of death and ruin. These three will learn that they have not been fully abandoned—and that in connection lies hope, even on the darkest of nights. One hundred years in the future, Amy and the others fight on for humankind’s salvation...unaware that the rules have changed. The enemy has evolved, and a dark new order has arisen with a vision of the future infinitely more horrifying than man’s extinction. If the Twelve are to fall, one of those united to vanquish them will have to pay the ultimate price.

 

City of Mirrors
The world we knew is gone. What world will rise in its place? The Twelve have been destroyed and the terrifying hundred-year reign of darkness that descended upon the world has ended. The survivors are stepping outside their walls, determined to build society anew—and daring to dream of a hopeful future. But far from them, in a dead metropolis, he waits: Zero. The First. Father of the Twelve. The anguish that shattered his human life haunts him, and the hatred spawned by his transformation burns bright. His fury will be quenched only when he destroys Amy—humanity’s only hope, the Girl from Nowhere who grew up to rise against him.

 Honestly, I don’t know what to tell you.  This is certainly a “one time only read” for me.  It’s a story about monsters.  The monsters are terrible and unfortunately a bunch of the monsters are 100% human.  In my opinion, of the three books, the first one – The Passage – is the best.  Yes, terrible things happen but it was a comfortable read.  The hardest to read was The Twelve.  The cruelty, death, destruction was constant.  The third book, City of Mirrors was mostly tedious.  I was glad to be finished with it.

 And a couple for fun –

 

He Shall Thunder in the Sky
Elizabeth Peters

 

I love the Amelia Peabody books.  I was truly sad when Elizabeth Peters died, knowing there would be no more “found journals and letters” to be turned into an excellent, fun, historical mystery.

 

He Shall Thunder in the Sky
Egypt and her hoary secrets are no match for the indomitable archaeologist sleuth Amelia Peabody. The close of 1914 finds Amelia Peabody and her husband Radcliffe Emerson back in Egypt for another season of archaeological excavation--despite the increasing danger of an attack on the Suez Canal and on Egypt itself. Trouble is brewing in Cairo and the defiantly pacifist stance of Amelia and Emerson's headstrong son Ramses is earning the young man the derision, and much worse, of the British expatriate community. Unknown to his family, Ramses' strange secret role as a spy could truly bring ruin down upon all their heads. However, there is more than intrigue and espionage, plots and counterplots, at work here. For an artifact uncovered at a Giza dig--an exquisite sculpture found where it ought not to be confirms Amelia's most unsettling suspicion: that the chaos consuming Cairo has masked the nefarious re-emergence of Amelia's villainous archnemesis, Sethos, the Master Criminal.

 Great, great, great.  Excellent.  Somehow I missed reading this book before now.  Great, great, great!

 And, last but not least –

 

Terns of Endearment
Donna Andrews

 

I’ve mentioned other Meg Langslow Mysteries by Donna Andrews before.  This one is just as good as all the others.  A bit more fanciful – remember, you are reading fiction that was never “ripped from the headlines”.

 

Terns of Endearment
Meg's grandfather has been booked to give lectures on a cruise as part of the education/entertainment itinerary, and he's arranged for a passel of family members to join him. The passengers' vacation quickly becomes a nightmare when they wake up to find themselves broken down and in need of repairs. Things get even worse when a crew member announces to all that a woman has jumped overboard. The captain decides not to investigate, saying he'll notify American authorities when they reach their destination. But Meg's father decides they need to look into whether there was possible foul play while the prime suspects are all stuck on board. It'll be a race against the clock to solve this mystery before they make the necessary repairs and return to shore.

 Need a light fluffy, entertaining read?  This is it!

 

 

13 Nov 2020