Here there be monsters

Book Review:  Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant

An excerpt from the 2017 fictional documentary, Modern Ghost Ships:  The Atargatis, introduces this novella.  It states that the Atargatis was found adrift, two hundred miles from its last reported location -- minus its passengers and crew.  None have been found in the two years since the Atargatis was located and the Ghost Ships documentary was made.  What happened?  

After the introduction, the reader is taken back to 2015, to the beginning of the Atargatis expedition.  The cruise ship has been hired to take a crew of scientists and entertainment personnel to the Mariana Trench to search for mermaids.  No one expects to find the mythical creatures, but the "documentary" provides an opportunity to conduct some groundbreaking research on the Imagine Network's dime.  From this point on, we experience the events as they happen, with brief excerpts from the Ghost Ships documentary appearing before chapters.  The transcripts make it all too clear that the horror is coming to all of those aboard the ship.

Loved this book!!!  It's short but compelling.  Mira Grant, aka Seanan McGuire, writes monsters incredibly well (I've also read Feed which makes zombies entirely believable).

Book Review:  Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

It's been seven years since the Atargatis was found adrift, not a single person aboard.  Film footage of an apparent assault on the ship's occupants was leaked but many dismiss it as a hoax.  Marine Biologist Tory Stewart knows that it was not -- her sister was one of those aboard the vessel.  So, when Imagine invites her to participate in a second expedition, she accepts.  She wants to find the creatures responsible for her sister's death.

The Imagine Network also knows that the footage was real -- if possible, they would have kept it from the public, but it was leaked as soon as the Atargatis was found.  Profits are down but the CEO has a plan to turn things around.  The ship he sends on this expedition was designed with the mermaids in mind.  And, he's sending along a couple of big game hunters as an added precaution.

Despite my irritation with some of the characters, I enjoyed this sequel.  As with Rolling in the Deep, the reader knows that the characters are sailing into danger.  We have new characters, making new mistakes -- costly, but mostly believable mistakes.  We again have that slow creep of horror the longer the ship remains in the area of the Mariana Trench.  And we learn more about the mermaids -- their biology, their intelligence, and something of their culture.
 
It seems likely that Grant will continue this as a series.  I hope she does.
 

Jury, judge, and executioner

Book Review:  Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

After solving a case in Syria, detective Hercule Poirot boards the Orient Express to return to London.  The train is uncharacteristically full for the time of year and the mix of passengers is surprising as well: a Princess, a governess, a Colonel, and a salesman are among the 15 passengers.

One of the passengers, a wealthy American, asks for Poirot's help -- he believes that his life is in danger.  Poirot does not like the look of the man, however, and declines.  The next morning, the man is discovered in his locked compartment, dead, having been stabbed 12 times.  And the train is stopped in its tracks, indefinitely -- a large snowdrift bars the way.  With no outside resources available, Poirot relies on his intuition and his deductive reasoning to solve the murder.

Despite some stereotyping, I thought this was a fascinating read.  There are a couple of details Poirot doesn't reveal until the end but the reader has everything needed to solve the mystery.  I was angry at myself that I didn't.  The same things bothered me that bothered Poirot -- I just didn't make the same connection.  
 

One small colony for earth, one harsh but awe-inspiring frontier for mankind

Book Review:  Artemis by Andy Weir

Established by the Kenya Space Corporation, the city of Artemis sustains itself by smelting the anorthite ore found on the lunar surface.  Smelting breaks the rock into aluminum, calcium, oxygen, and silicon.  The aluminum, calcium, and silicon are sold -- the oxygen supplies the city's five habitable domes with breathable air.   Enough is produced that there's a regular surplus and that's sold as well.

Jazz Bashara came to live on Artemis when she was six years old.  She's now in her twenties, legally working as a delivery person and illegally working on the side as a smuggler.  She makes enough money to rent a bunk-sized space to sleep in and to afford a daily diet of flavored algae.  She'd planned to earn her EVA license, allowing her to lead tours outside the domes and earn a decent wage, enabling her to pay off her debt and rent a place with its own bathroom.  She failed the test however, so when one of the wealthy businessmen she regularly smuggles for offers her a huge amount of currency to sabotage a competitor, she accepts.  Things do not go according to plan.

I loved The Martian.  I enjoyed Artemis, in spite of a few details.  If it's made into a movie, I will watch it.  And, if there's a sequel, I will read it.

The story starts off a bit slow, but once the second sabotage attempt was enacted, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.  Weir makes a lunar colony believable.  He even makes it someplace I'd think about visiting, if I were wealthy enough to afford a vacation there.  He's at his best when he's describing the colony and its inner workings.  And if you like nitty-gritty details about welding, hull pressure etc, you'll be in heaven.  (I skimmed over the nitty-gritty details.  I just wanted to know what happened next.) 

His character development needs work I think, especially if he's going to continue this as a series with Jazz as the protagonist.  I like that the story is told as if she's having a conversation with the reader.  I like that's she's snarky.  That said, there were a few times I was taken out of the story by a particularly crude reference.  I watched Sex and the City when it was on HBO and Weir wrote statements/reactions for Jazz that I think would have been out of bounds for Samantha.  Yes, women talk about sex and women joke about sex, but the instances I'm referring to just didn't seem believable, even for a character completely comfortable with her sexuality.  I don't know a single woman who would find it funny if a man implied that she regularly received shots to the face (I'm not talking about botox).  Basically, scenes like this felt more in context with Beavis & Butthead than the perspective of an adult woman.

There were other character development problems as well.  Once the history between Dale and Jazz was revealed, their first scene together in the book didn't ring true either.  And Svoboda is more cartoonish than awkward.    

My only other quibble is that the resolution seemed a bit too easy.  Maybe appearances are deceiving, however.  There's speculation that Weir may turn this into a series.  Things may not be wrapped up as neatly as we think.  

Things will go wrong. Be prepared.

 Book Review:  The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

In a world of parallel universes, the Library exists in its own space and time, and collects unique books from all realities. Irene literally grew up in the library and she’s now a junior grade librarian. She’s accustomed to traveling between universes to retrieve important items. She’s not accustomed to being sent on missions with students however. Nothing about this mission is typical: not the secrecy, not the student partner, not the quarantined alternate London they must infiltrate in order to get the book.

I love this book!!! I've already read it twice and I purchased my own copy so that I can re-read it whenever I like. Which I expect to be often, despite the fact that my To Read List is currently 10 pages long. It's a brilliant beginning to a series.

The story begins as Irene is attempting to retrieve an elusive copy of a famous necromancer's book. This particular alternate world is filled with magic and she finds herself pursued by the security systems set in place by Prince Mordred's Private Academy for Boys.

"There was no time for her to pause and feel smug, so she ran. Then the howling started. It was either hellhounds or teenagers, and she suspected the former."

Irene escapes but that's the last spoiler I'm offering. It's what happens next that drives the story. Within minutes of returning to the Library, her supervisor gives Irene a new assignment. That's unusual in itself. The lack of detail, the inexperienced trainee she's partnered with, and the urgency are unsettling. This is one assignment Irene isn't looking forward to.

Steampunk typically isn’t my thing, and there are steampunk elements in this story, but they are simply characteristics of this particular London. This particular London also features fae, vampires, and werewolves, so it’s definitely a happening place. While Irene and Kai encounter trouble from a variety of sources, it’s the Chaos that’s the real challenge. Chaos throws all of the rules -- natural, magical, and technological -- out of the window. Everything tends to work in unexpected ways.

Lots of action, lots of adventure. Intriguing mysteries. Interesting characters. This is simply the most fun book I've read since The Spellman Files. I’ve also read (and purchased) the next two books in the series, The Masked City and The Burning Page -- LOVE them!!! The fourth book in this entertaining series, The Lost Plot, comes out January 2018 and guess who has already pre-ordered it?