I Speak of Dreams

Kate Elliott's Cold Magic

I am a fan of alternate history, so when I saw Kate Elliott's Cold Magic I picked it up.  I wanted to like it, really I did.  As Jia says at Dear Author

an Afro-Celtic post-Roman icepunk Regency novel with airships, Phoenician spies, and the intelligent descendants of troodons.

what's not to like?  The world-building was very believable.

But the novel never hooked me.  I lost interest in the protagonist's problems and couldn't keep the characters straight.

Despite my lack of interest, I'm passing it on to a newly twelve-year-old ardent reader.  I'll be interested in hearing what she thinks.

James Patterson's Witch and Wizard

I enjoy a lot of young adult fiction, especially in the science-fiction/fantasy genre, so when I was without a book at the airport, I picked up Witch and Wizard

James Patterson must have some kind of young adult fantasy machine-assembly plant going on.  I didn't notice he had a co-author, Gabrielle Charbonnet.

It's set in an alternate universe where "The New Order" has seized political power, and the "witch and wizard" of the title -- a brother and sister -- are taken from their home and charged with sorcery.

The writing is terrible and the plot is confusing.  No thanks.

Vaccines in the Undeveloped World

The autism vaccine link--actually, the lack of linkage  and the cost to public health--waddles on. (It has been particularly well covered in Spiked by Michael FitzPatrick, M.D.).   Preventable diseases such as measles kill millions each year.   New technology makes vaccination--especially in developing countries where refrigeration is not easily available--safer and more available.

Memoirs of a Bookbat

So you are born into a itinerant missionary family, and your parents slowly come under the sway of a fundamentalist preacher. What do you do? In Memoirs of a Bookbat Harper Jessup has to figure out what to do.

I dithered about putting this in the "not for me" category...but finally plumped down on "No" because of the unidimensionality of Jessup's parents and the preacher. As one reviewer on Amazon said,

The religious zealots in the book are portrayed in such a way that you are nearly forced to dislike and disagree with them. But that's precisely the issue. The right-wing characters of the book fit all the stereotypes, and even exaggerate them. The author seemed so intent on pushing her message that she did not put much effort into making them human, rather than the cardboard, two-dimensional 'villians' they are.

Not a good way to make the case against censorship. Katheryn Lasky's homepage is here.

Shadowmancer

I really wanted to like Shadowmancer. I wanted it to be good. I wanted a new author to savor. I wanted G.P. Taylor to be an unexpected genius.

Well, I was put off by the wooden writing and the two dimensional characters. Save your money.

House of Gaian

Anne Bishop's House of Gaian is competently written and worth reading--but I couldn't get into it. Your mileage may vary.

Unhinged by Sarah Graves

I really enjoyed The Dead Cat Bounce but the charm started to wear thin. Jacobia's life story is getting less and less plausible.

She has a home page

The Woad to Wuin: Sir Apropos of Nothing Book 2

Author: Peter David: The Woad to Wuin: Sir Apropos of Nothing Book 2; The second adventure of Sir Apropos of Nothing. He strives for a light, Prachett-esque touch and to my mind doesn't quite make it.

Confessions of a Deathmaiden

by Ruth Francisco. Nothing much wrong with this, just I lost interest in the characters. Deathmaidens are like midwives, but at the other end of life. The heroine's patient, a young boy, isn't dying, just in a coma--and he dies while in her care. The plot is a discovery of why.

Aimee and David Thurlo, Authors; Ella Clah, Heroine.

I wrote this about The Enemy Way, but it seems to be true of all the Thurlo-authored novels.

I enjoy the Hillerman novels, so I bought this one. A few pages in I remembered that I'd read one of the earlier ones and quit in disgust. Well, several books on, Mr. and Mrs. Thurlo still haven't learned to write adequate fiction.

The dialog is wooden and unconvincing--especially between the heroine, Ella Clah, and her brother, Clifford, who is a Navajo healer. The plotting seems to be straight from the Plot-O-Matic. Characterization is equally weak, especially for the set-piece bad guys, Navajo witches or skinwalkers. On the other hand, I didn't have a clear sense of Ella's character either...

Feh. People buy this crap, again and again. Oh, well, now that I've written this review, I hope I will be able to remember, at the bookstore or the airport, that Thurlo = hideous writing.