Darkspell by Katharine Kerr

First sentence:

"Back in the eleventh century, when the far-flung kingdom of Deverry lay sparse and tentative across the lands men claimed in the king's name, Eldidd province was one of the most sparsely settled areas of all."

Description:

"On the long roads of Deverry ride two mercenaries whose fates like hidden deep in that of their own land. But Lord Rhodry, exiled from the dragon court of Aberwyn, has yet to discover his true parentage, and his swordmaster-lover, Jill, has barely glimpsed her awesome powers. Meanwhile, the ancient sorcerer Nevyn, held back by his vows from boldly intervening in their lives, can only watch and wait as Rhodry and Jill move ever closer to danger. For as the two struggle to recover the Great Stone, the mystic jewel that guides the conscience of the kingship of Deverry, malevolent dark masters are weaving terrifying spells against them--and displacing messengers of death.

Katharine Kerr has extensively rewritten Darkspell, incorporating major changes in the text, making this her definitive edition. Here the epic saga that began with the Daggerspell continues--a tale of might and magic, lust and glory, dark danger and poignant desires that echo from Deverry's sapphire waters to its secret mountain caverns. It's a spellbinding story destined to please fantasy lovers everywhere."

My thoughts:

This was a good fantasy with magic, battles and an old herbman named Nevyn who watches as the souls of those he loved are reincarnated again and again. I liked both storylines - one featuring Gweniver, Dannyn and Ricyn and the other, Jill, Rhodry and Cullyn. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, The Bristling Wood.

Date read: 12/31/2007
Book #: 116
Challenge: 2nds Challenge
Series: Deverry, #2
Rating: 3* = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0553568884
ISBN-13: 9780553568882
Publisher: Spectra
Year: 1994
# of Pages: 406
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Design for Murder by Carolyn G. Hart

First sentence:

"The typist nodded."

Description:

"When mystery bookstore owner Annie Laurance is invited to stage a Mystery Night for the annual antebellum house tour of the Historical Preservation Society of Chastain, South Carolina, she instead finds herself the leading lady in a flesh-and-blood drama. The play's the thing wherein the curtain falls on mean-spirited grande dame Corinne Webster. While jeweled fingers point, accusing Annie of murder, the perpetrator lurks within the genteel cast of Murder-Most-Make-Believe...and the murder weapon is one of the props.

In the tight-laced society of Chastain, Annie is guilty until proven innocent. With her fiance, Max Darling, Annie pieces together evidence to clear her name- until her chief witness is murdered. Now it will take all her sleuthing skills to discover the evil in the heart of Chastain's Beautiful People."

My thoughts:

This was a good mystery featuring bookstore owner Annie Laurence and her fiance Max Darling. There were lots of suspects and clues which Annie and Max had to sift through to find the killer. I liked the references to other mystery authors and stories sprinkled throughout the book.

Date read: 12/31/2007
Book #: 115
Challenge: 2nds Challenge
Series: Death on Demand, #2
Rating: 3* = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0553265628
ISBN-13: 9780553265620
Publisher: Crimeline
Year: 1988
# of Pages: 311
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Man from St. Petersburg by Ken Follett

First sentence:

"It was a slow Sunday afternoon, the kind Walden loved."

Description:

"His name was Feliks. He came to London to commit a murder that would change history. A master manipulator, he had many weapons at his command, but against him were ranged the whole of the English police, a brilliant and powerful lord, and the young Winston Churchill himself. These odds would have stopped any man in the world-except the man from St. Petersburg..."

My thoughts:

This book was a good mix of historical fiction and thriller set in the months leading up to World War I. Though the characters at times seemed two-dimensional, the relationships and events made them come alive now and again.

Date read: 12/29/2007
Book #: 114
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2007
Rating: 3* = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0451163516
ISBN-13: 9780451163516
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1983
# of Pages: 342
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny

First sentence:

"Amber: high and bright atop Kolvir in the middle of the day."

Description:

"A universe of many universes united by magical threads, Amber faces final destruction from the world beyond the Shadow world.

The cosmic Pattern that sustains the world of Amber lies in shreds' reality itself is on the verge of disintegration; and Corwin, heroic madman, uncrowned prince of the perfect realm, must face shapeshifting assassins, an alluring woman, and the multi-dimensional terrors of Shadow in his pulse-racing quest to save the kingdom.

Here at last is the crowning finale to the incredible Amber saga, an action-charged adventure that plunges from realm to realm to unlock the mysteries of a breathtakingly imagined world."

My thoughts:

Although it's been a while since I read the Chronicles of Amber, I enjoyed Corwin's adventure as he discovered courage within himself to create a new pattern and to help his family fend off the forces of Chaos.

Date read: 12/26/2007
Book #: 113
Series: Chronicles of Amber, #5
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2007
Rating: 3* = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0380471752
ISBN-13: 9780380471751
Publisher: Avon
Year: 1979
# of Pages: 142
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Blame it on the Rain: How the Weather Has Changed History by Laura Lee

First sentence:

"For years Russia has been home to a secret weapon, more powerful than the nuclear warheads that made it a world superpower."

Description:

"An amazing, enlightening, and endlessly entertaining look at how weather has shaped our world.

Throughout history, great leaders have fallen, the outcomes of mighty battles have been determined, and the tides of earth-shattering events have been turned by a powerful, inscrutable force of nature: the weather. In Blame It on the Rain, author Laura Lee explores the amazing and sometimes bizarre ways in which weather has influenced our history and helped to bring about sweeping cultural change. She also delights us with a plethora of fascinating weather-related facts (Did you know that more Britons die of sunburn every year than Australians?), while offering readers a hilarious overview of humankind's many absurd attempts to control the elements.

• If a weather-produced blight hadn't severely damaged French vineyards, there might never have been a California wine industry. . . .

• What weather phenomenon was responsible for the sound of the Stradivarius?

• If there had been a late autumn in Russia, Hitler could have won World War II. . . .

• Did weather play a part in Truman's victory over Dewey?

Eye-opening, edifying, and totally unexpected, Blame It on the Rain is a fascinating appreciation of the destiny-altering vagaries of mother nature—and it's even more fun than watching the Weather Channel!"

My thoughts:

This was an interesting book of historic weather events around the world. The parts that will stay with me include the chapters about various invasions of Russia, the desert battle of Hattin during the Crusades, and how an El Nino contributed to Robert Falcon Scott's demise in Antarctica.

Date read: 12/24/2007
Book #: 112
Rating: 3* = good
Genre: Nonfiction - Science/History

ISBN-10: 0060839821
ISBN-13: 9780060839826
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Year: 2006
# of Pages: 297
Binding: Paperback
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Psycho Shop by Alfred Bester and Roger Zelazny

First sentence:

"I was looking around desperately when my boss, Jerry Egan, poked his head into my office and in his soft Virginia voice asked, 'May I come in, Alf?'"


Description:

"The Black Place of the Soul-Changer was doing business in Rome six centuries before Christ. It will probably be there on the last day of the cosmos. You might call it a pawnshop, but its sign has three gold infinity symbols instead of the usual balls, and its Latin motto, Res Ullus, translates as "anything." This is the Psychoshop, where you can dump any unwanted aspect of your spirit as long as you exchange it for something else — arcane knowledge, a change of luck, or a sixth sense. Just remember: All sales are final.

In this genuinely mind-boggling novel, two of the most unfettered talents in speculative fiction envision a commercial establishment that attracts customers from Edgar Allan Poe to a sorcerer intent on fabricating the Beast of Revelations. Brimming with wit and imaginative bravado, scandalously sexy, and fabulously strange, Psychoshop is the first-ever collaboration between two winners of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Grandmaster Award."

My thoughts:

Quirky and a bit funny at times, this book reminded me of Twilight Zone episodes "Wong's Lost and Found Emporium" and "The Mind of Simon Foster." I liked the interactions between Glory, Alf, Adam and the patrons - especially the one whose vocal inflections inspired Beethoven to compose his fifth symphony.

Date read: 12/23/2007
Book #: 111
Rating: 3* = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0679767827
ISBN-13: 9780679767824
Publisher: Vintage Books
Year: 1998
# of Pages: 207
Binding: Trade Paperback
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The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley

First sentence:

"A cold wind was whipping the torches into fiery tails."

Description:

"She was Eilan, the daughter of a Druidic warleader and gifted with visions. In a land struggling to survive both Roman conquerors and her own people's enemies, surely fate had marked her to become a priestess of the Forest House. But first Eilan had chosen a different, forbidden path - to love Gaius, a soldier of mixed blood among the legions sent to subdue her country. And so, she must hide a terrible secret when she is anointed as the new High Priestess. With mighty enemies poised to usurp the wealth of magic the Forest House sheltered, Eilan could only trust in the power of the great Goddess to find her destiny amidst the treacherous labyrinth in which fate had placed her."

My thoughts:

This book was a good mix of historical fiction and fantasy. I liked learning about the effects of Roman occupation in the British Isles and how local leaders either fought or tried to maintain some tentative peace. Gaius and Eilan's forbidden romance made a good backdrop to the Roman/Briton tensions at the time. I look forward to reading the first book in the series, The Mists of Avalon.

Date read: 12/20/2007
Book #: 110
Series: Avalon, #2
Challenge: 2nds Challenge
Rating: 3* = good
Genre: Historical Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0451454243
ISBN-13: 9780451454249
Publisher: Roc Trade
Year: 1995
# of Pages: 417
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

First sentence:

"Veldt to scrub to fields to farms to these first tumbling houses that rise from the earth."

Description:

"Beneath the towering bleached ribs of a dead, ancient beast lies New Crobuzon, a squalid city where humans, Re-mades, and arcane races live in perpetual fear of Parliament and its brutal militia. The air and rivers are thick with factory pollutants and the strange effluents of alchemy, and the ghettos contain a vast mix of workers, artists, spies, junkies, and whores. In New Crobuzon, the unsavory deal is stranger to none -- not even to Isaac, a brilliant scientist with a penchant for Crisis Theory.

Isaac has spent a lifetime quietly carrying out his unique research. But when a half-bird, half-human creature known as the Garuda comes to him from afar, Isaac is faced with challenges he has never before fathomed. Though the Garuda's request is scientifically daunting, Isaac is sparked by his own curiosity and an uncanny reverence for this curious stranger.

While Isaac's experiments for the Garuda turn into an obsession, one of his lab specimens demands attention: a brilliantly colored caterpillar that feeds on nothing but a hallucinatory drug and grows larger -- and more consuming -- by the day. What finally emerges from the silken cocoon will permeate every fiber of New Crobuzon -- and not even the Ambassador of Hell will challenge the malignant terror it invokes..."

My thoughts:

I have to admit I was nervous about approaching this book again. I had started reading it years ago, but didn't get far. This time, I kept going, and I'm glad I did. Perdido Street Station is a intensely descriptive book filled with so much detail about New Crobuzon and its inhabitants. Woven throughout is the story of Isaac and his quest to help Yagharek fly and what that quest ultimately leads to. It'll be a while before the images of this book leave me and I look forward to reading the next book in the series, The Scar.

Date read: 12/20/2007
Book #: 109
Challenges: Unread Authors Challenge; Fall into Reading Challenge; Book Awards Challenge
Series: New Crobuzon, #1
Awards: Arthur C. Clark Award (2001); British Fantasy Society (2001)
Rating: 4* = great
Genre: Urban Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0345459407
ISBN-13: 9780345459404
Publisher: Del Rey
Year: 2003
# of Pages: 623
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs

First sentence:

"Never fails."

Description:

"Following the tremendous success of Cross Bones, Kathy Reichs explores another high-profile topic in Break No Bones -- a case that lands forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan in the middle of a gruesome international scheme.

Summoned to South Carolina to fill in for a negligent colleague, Tempe is stuck teaching a lackluster archaeology field school in the ruins of a Native American burial ground on the Charleston shore. But when Tempe stumbles upon a fresh skeleton among the ancient bones, her old friend Emma Rousseau, the local coroner, persuades her to stay on and help with the investigation. When Emma reveals a disturbing secret, it becomes more important than ever for Tempe to help her friend close the case.

The body count begins to climb. An unidentified man is found hanging from a tree deep in the woods. Another corpse shows up in a barrel. There are mysterious nicks on bones in several bodies, and signs of strangulation. Tempe follows the trail to a free street clinic with a belligerent staff, a suspicious doctor, and a donor who is a charismatic televangelist. Clues abound in the most unlikely places as Tempe uses her unique knowledge and skills to build her case, even as the local sheriff remains dubious and her own life is threatened.

Tempe's love life is also complicated. Ryan, her current flame, has come down to visit her from Montreal, and Pete, her former husband, is investigating the disappearance of a local woman -- and he and Tempe are staying in the same borrowed beach house. Ryan and Pete compete for her attentions, and Tempe finds herself more distracted by her feelings for both men than she expected."

My thoughts:

This was a good forensic mystery set in Charleston, South Carolina. I liked how Tempe eventually solved the murders by following the smallest detail no matter where it led.

Date read: 12/15/2007
Book #: 108
Series: Tempe Brennan, #9
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0743453034
ISBN-13: 9780743453035
Publisher: Pocket
Year: 2007
# of Pages: 439
Binding: Paperback
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The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving

First sentence:

"The summer my father bought the bear, none of us was born--we weren't even conceived: not Frank, the oldest; not Franny, the loudest; not me, the next; and not the youngest of us, Lilly and Egg."

Description:

"'The first of my father's illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels.'

So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings, and chronicler of the lives lived, the loves experienced, the deaths met, and the myriad strange and wonderful times encountered by the family Berry. Hoteliers, pet-bear owners, friends of Freud (the animal trainer and vaudevillian, that is), and playthings of mad fate, they "dream on" in a funny, sad, outrageous, and moving novel by the remarkable author of A Son of the Circus and A Prayer for Owen Meany."

My thoughts:

Like other Irving books I've read, this one was both funny and sad as well as quirky at times. The story kept me engaged as I wanted to find out what happens next to Franny, John, Frank, Lilly, Egg, etc.

Date read: 12/2/2007
Book #: 107
Rating: 4* = great
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 034540047X
ISBN-13: 9780345400475
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Year: 1995
# of Pages: 419
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

First sentence:

"Ba-room, ba-room, ba-room, baripity, baripity, baripity, baripty--Good."

Description:

"'We need a place,' she said, 'just for us. It would be so secret that we would never tell anyone in the whole world about it.' She lowered her voice almost to a whisper. 'It might be a whole secret country, and you and I would be the rulers of it.'

It was Leslie's idea to create Terabithia, their secret kingdom in the woods where she and Jess reigned as queen and king. There no enemy -- not their teacher, 'Monster Mouth' Meyers, their bullying schoolmates, Jess's four sisters, or even Jess's own fears and Leslie's imaginary foes -- could defeat them. Jess's friendship with Leslie and the worlds of imagination and learning that she opens up to him change him forever and enable him to cope with the unexpected tragedy that touches them all."

My thoughts:

This was a beautifully written book on friendship, imagination, and courage as both Jess and Leslie learn to take risks. I felt I got to know the characters well in a short amount of time.

Date read: 12/2/2007
Book #: 106
Rating: 4* = great
Genre: Children's Literature

ISBN-10: 0590132008
ISBN-13: 978-0590132008
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 1995
# of Pages: 128
Binding: Paperback
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The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein

First sentence:

"Were they truly intelligent?"

Description:

"Earth was being invaded by aliens and the top security agencies were helpless: the aliens were controlling the mind of every person they encountered. So it was up to Sam Cavanaugh, secret agent for a powerful and deadly spy network, to find a way to stop them--which meant he had to be invaded himself!"

My thoughts:

This was a good story featuring alien invasion mixed with espionage. I liked the characters Sam, Mary and the Old Man.

Date read: 12/1/2007
Book #: 105
Chalenges: Book to Movie Challenge, Fall into Reading Challenge
Rating: 3* = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0345330145
ISBN-13: 9780345330147
Publisher: Del Rey
Year: 1986
# of Pages: 347
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Children of the Company by Kage Baker

First sentence:

"The man has an air of authority."

Description:


"Take a ride through time with the devil. In the sixth book of the Company series, we meet Executive Facilitator General Labienus. Hes used his immortal centuries to plot a complete takeover of the world since he was a young god-figure in Sumeria. In a meditative mood, he reviews his interesting career. He muses on his subversion of the Company black project ADONAI. He considers also Aegeus, his despised rival for power, who has discovered and captured a useful race of mortals known as Homo sapiens umbratilis. Their unique talents may enable him to seize ultimate power. Labienus plans a double cross that will kill two birds with one stone: he will woo away Aegeus promising protege, the Facilitator Victor, and at the same time dispose of a ghost from his own past who has become inconvenient."

My thoughts:

While a bit long a times, this was a fascinating look at the Company through the eyes of Labineus and Victor. I especially liked the sections featuring Victor in San Francisco just before the 1906 earthquake and the one featuring Kalugin in the sunken ship telling his story to a worm.

Date read: 11/24/2007
Book #: 104
Rating: 3* = good
Series: The Company, #6
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 076531455X
ISBN-13: 9780765314550
Publisher: Tor Books
Year: 2005
# of Pages: 304
Binding: Hardcover
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Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

First sentence:

"My sweater was new, stinging red and ugly."

Description:

"WICKED above her hipbone, GIRL across her heart
Words are like a road map to reporter Camille Preaker’s troubled past. Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille’s first assignment from the second-rate daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls.

NASTY on her kneecap, BABYDOLL on her leg
Since she left town eight years ago, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed again in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille is haunted by the childhood tragedy she has spent her whole life trying to cut from her memory.

HARMFUL on her wrist, WHORE on her ankle
As Camille works to uncover the truth about these violent crimes, she finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Clues keep leading to dead ends, forcing Camille to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past to get at the story. Dogged by her own demons, Camille will have to confront what happened to her years before if she wants to survive this homecoming."

My thoughts:

This was a beautifully written book - both disturbing and poignant. The character Camille certainly made me think as she discovers the truth about herself and her family.

Date read: 11/22/2007
Book #: 103
Rating: 4* = great
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0307341542
ISBN-13: 9780307341549
Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books
Year: 2006
# of Pages: 252
Binding: Hardcover
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A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

First sentence:

"Charlie Asher walked the earth like an ant walks on the surface of water, as if the slightest misstep might send him plummeting through the surface to be sucked to the depths below."

Description:

"Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy. A little hapless, somewhat neurotic, sort of a hypochondriac. He's what's known as a Beta Male: the kind of fellow who makes his way through life by being careful and constant -- you know, the one who's always there to pick up the pieces when the girl gets dumped by the bigger/taller/stronger Alpha Male.

But Charlie's been lucky. He owns a building in the heart of San Francisco, and runs a secondhand store with the help of a couple of loyal, if marginally insane, employees. He's married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. And she, Rachel, is about to have their first child.

Yes, Charlie's doing okay for a Beta. That is, until the day his daughter, Sophie, is born. Just as Charlie -- exhausted from the birth -- turns to go home, he sees a strange man in mint-green golf wear at Rachel's hospital bedside, a man who claims that no one should be able to see him. But see him Charlie does, and from here on out, things get really weird. . . .

People start dropping dead around him, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death. It's a dirty job. But hey, somebody's gotta do it."

My thoughts:

This was a funny and poignant novel about finding life in death. I liked the characters Charlie Asher, Sophie, Minty Fresh, and the Emperor of San Francisco. I especially liked how Charlie finds courage to face his fears as he both confronts the "sewer harpies" and learns how to be a good father to Sophie.

Date read: 11/19/2007
Book #: 102
Rating: 3* = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0060590270
ISBN-13: 978-0060590277
Publisher: William Morrow
Year: 2006
# of Pages: 384
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Shakespeare's Counselor by Charlaine Harris

First sentence:

"I connected with a hard blow to the nose, rolled on top of him, gripped his neck, and started to squeeze."

Description:

"Welcome back to the sleepy little town of Shakespeare, Arkansas, where secrets "come to hide.

Lily Bard has joined a group therapy session, determined finally to face her past. It sounds positively enlightening, until the murder of a fellow member sends a warning. But who was the message meant for? Why? And who's next to fall victim to a killer's head games?"

My thoughts:

This was another good mystery featuring housecleaner/karate expert Lily Bard. I liked how she and Jack worked together as private investigators to figure out the mystery stalker/murderer.

Date read: 11/17/2007
Book #: 101
Series: Lily Bard, #5
Rating: 3* = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0425201147
ISBN-13: 978-0425201145
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Year: 2005
# of Pages: 243
Binding: Paperback
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Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore

First sentence:

"Amy called the whale punkin."

Description:

"Just why do humpback whales sing? That's the question that has marine behavioral biologist Nate Quinn and his crew poking, charting, recording, and photographing very big, wet, gray marine mammals. Until the extraordinary day when a whale lifts its tail into the air to display a cryptic message spelled out in foot-high letters: Bite me.

Trouble is, Nate's beginning to wonder if he hasn't spent just a little too much time in the sun. `Cause no one else on his team saw a thing—not his longtime partner, Clay Demodocus; not their saucy young research assistant; not even the spliff-puffing white-boy Rastaman Kona (né Preston Applebaum). But later, when a roll of film returns from the lab missing the crucial tail shot—and his research facility is trashed—Nate realizes something very fishy indeed is going on."

My thoughts:

This was a very funny and sometimes poignant book about whales, friendship, loyalty and discovering wonder in unexpected places. I liked the characters Nate, Amy, Kona, Clay and the Old Broad.

Date read: 11/15/2007
Book #: 100
Rating: 3* = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 006056668X
ISBN-13: 9780060566685
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Year: 2004
# of Pages: 311
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Shakespeare's Trollop by Charlaine Harris

First sentence:

"By the time I opened my eyes and yawned that morning, she had been sitting in the car in the woods for seven hours."

Description:

"Shakespeare, Arkansas, is home to endless back roads, historic buildings, colorful residents--and the occasional murder. It is also home to Lily Bard, the local karate expert/cleaning woman with a particular knack for finding skeletons in closets.

But when the local woman of ill repute is found murdered, being familiar with her dirty laundry could make Lily the next Shakespearean to die."

My thoughts:

This was a good mystery. I liked Lily's observations about various townspeople and how she comes to terms with her preconceived notions about the victim. There was also a nice twist at the end as not everything is as it seems.

Date read: 11/13/2007
Book #: 99
Series: Lily Bard, #4
Rating: 3* = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0425196992
ISBN-13: 9780425196991
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Year: 2004
# of Pages: 194
Binding: Paperback
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The Haunted Mesa by Louis L'Amour

First sentence:

"It was night, and he was alone upon the desert."

Description:

"The Navajo called them the Anasazi: an enigmatic race of southwestern cliff dwellers. For centuries, the sudden disappearance of this proud and noble people has baffled historians. Summoned to a dark desert plateau by a desperate letter form an old friend, renowned investigator Mike Raglan is drawn into a world of mystery, violence, and explosive revaltion. Crossing the border beyond the laws of man and nature, he will learn the astonishing legacy of the Anasazi -- but not without a price. Set in the contemporary Southwest, The Haunted Mesa draws on Louis L'Amour's extensive knowledge of Indian lore and mysticism. In this extraordinary book L'Amour tells a tale of epic adventure that takes his readers across the most extraordinary frontier they have ever encountered."

My thoughts:

This book was a good mix of western and science fiction as it looked at southwest Native American culture and offered a parallel world explanation on the disappearance of the Anasazi people. I liked the characters and the story, but I sometimes found the plot repetitive, especially Mike's indecision about what he should do. I also would have liked more storyline set in the other world.

Date read: 11/13/2007
Book #: 98
Rating: 3* = good
Genre: Western/SF

ISBN-10: 0553051822
ISBN-13: 978-0553051827
Publisher: Bantam
Year: 1987
# of Pages: 357
Binding: Hardcover
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The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen

First sentence:

"The sun poked out briefly, evidence of a universe above them, of infinite knowledge--and just as suddenly it retreated behind the clouds."

Description:

"Set against the backdrop of one of the most virulent epidemics that America ever experienced–the 1918 flu epidemic–Thomas Mullen’s powerful, sweeping first novel is a tale of morality in a time of upheaval.

Deep in the mist-shrouded forests of the Pacific Northwest is a small mill town called Commonwealth, conceived as a haven for workers weary of exploitation. For Philip Worthy, the adopted son of the town’s founder, it is a haven in another sense–as the first place in his life he’s had a loving family to call his own.

And yet, the ideals that define this outpost are being threatened from all sides. A world war is raging, and with the fear of spies rampant, the loyalty of all Americans is coming under scrutiny. Meanwhile, another shadow has fallen across the region in the form of a deadly illness striking down vast swaths of surrounding communities.

When Commonwealth votes to quarantine itself against contagion, guards are posted at the single road leading in and out of town, and Philip Worthy is among them. He will be unlucky enough to be on duty when a cold, hungry, tired–and apparently ill–soldier presents himself at the town’s doorstep begging for sanctuary. The encounter that ensues, and the shots that are fired, will have deafening reverberations throughout Commonwealth, escalating until every human value–love, patriotism, community, family, friendship–not to mention the town’s very survival, is imperiled.

Inspired by a little-known historical footnote regarding towns that quarantined themselves during the 1918 epidemic, The Last Town on Earth is a remarkably moving and accomplished debut."

My thoughts:

It's days later, and I'm still thinking about this book. Choices people make, even with the best intentions, don't always work in the long run. This book is a compelling look at how an epidemic during wartime affects a small town in early 20th century America in ways both large and small.

Date read: 11/8/2007
Book #: 97
Rating: 4* = great
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 1400065208
ISBN-13: 9781400065202
Publisher: Random House
Year: 2006
# of Pages: 387
Binding: Hardcover
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