Welcome fellow book lovers to autumn and the wonderful month of October! I will admit that I should have posted some reviews earlier, but thanks to being paid for a study that I did over the past two years, I was able to buy 8 new books that I have been waiting to read for a long time. So I wasn't able to post reviews until I'd gotten the books just days ago, and read a couple of them right away. Meanwhile, the weather has been way too hot for this time of year, and there's been lingering ailments in our household, which only adds to the frustrations of not having the time or energy to update my blog. But here we are, and I will start off with a sad tidbit before I get into the reviews.
I read only a couple of Hilary Mantel's books, but the ones I read were superbly written and the characters brought history alive within their pages. Now that Ms Mantel has passed (RIP) they're continuing her legacy with another adaptation of her novels. I will look forward to seeing this.
TV: The Mirror and the Light
The BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel's novel The Mirror and the Light https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscAeMxL4I6almJUxxHw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6jAXsX2poMLg-gVdw, the conclusion to her Tudor trilogy that began with Wolf Hall, will continue as a memorial to the beloved author, who died September 22.
Variety reported that director and screenwriter Peter Kosminsky, who worked closely with Mantel on the first BBC/PBS series (combining the initial books in the trilogy, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies), had known Mantel for "many, many years."
"Quite apart from my personal sadness, I've also lost my main collaborator. So now we will have to continue this as a memorial to [Mantel], but also without the advantage of her guidance and advice," Kosminsky said. "As we were putting that show together, I was constantly in touch with her and met her on a number of occasions asking her for advice. She was encyclopedic on the sources, and spent five years researching the subject before putting pen to paper, so if I needed any detail about a character or an event, or even about details like how they ate or removed their caps with a bow, she was the person to go to. A strong case can be made to say she was the greatest living writer in the English language."
He added that Mantel sent him 100-page installments of The Mirror and the Light as she was writing the 2020 book, with an eye on getting the TV adaptation underway. The BBC confirmed its plans for the new series in 2019, when the book's publication was first announced. Mark Rylance is set to return as Cromwell, while Wolf Hall screenwriter Peter Straughan is also adapting the latest book.
"The script is largely written but now is exactly the moment we would have gone to Hilary to ask her input and thoughts, and from my point of view as a director, I would have sought her advice on certain specifics which would have allowed me to realize [her vision]," said Kosminsky, noting that at the moment the future of the series is a secondary concern: "A great light has gone out. The word 'great' is used very easily these days but nobody could dispute that it's an appropriate epithet for Dame Hilary Mantel. If you look at the scale of her achievements, the impact she's had, the breadth of her knowledge and reading.... She's someone whom people went to for thoughts and opinions on a variety of different novels and nonfiction works. People recognized her for the massive intellect as she was. It's hard to imagine a world without her."
Murder at the Serpentine Bridge by Andrea Penrose is 6th book in her Wrexford and Sloane historical mystery series (and I've read them all). I find Penrose's characters utterly delightful, especially as they are a multigenerational household in which everyone contributes their skills to solving the latest historical mystery. Charlotte and Wrex are a match made in chaos, but their relationship rings much truer than most book romances, where the protagonists can't seem to keep their hands off one another and there's little real romance and not much at stake in the relationship (especially if the female protagonist has a child...said child is always nearly perfect, adorable and biddable and all too ready to accept the new boyfriend as a father figure). Charlotte has adopted two street urchins who are savvy and slippery and smart, but who were starving, and they're anything but biddable. They're messy, mischevious and and very protective of Charlotte who realizes that putting their street skills to use is the pragmatic thing to do. They're not easy to parent, and when Charlotte falls in with Lord Wrexford, they put him to the test, and he succeeds in winning them over. So now they're a family, but one that gets into and out of a lot of trouble for the sake of the common good and justice. Here's the blurb: “[Penrose] mixes well thought out mysteries,
early forensic science, great details of the era and a slow burning
attraction creating a compulsive read.” —The New York Public Library
Charlotte, now the Countess of Wrexford, would like nothing more than a
summer of peace and quiet with her new husband and their unconventional
family and friends. Still, some social obligations must be honored,
especially with the grand Peace Celebrations unfolding throughout London
to honor victory over Napoleon.
But when Wrexford and their
two young wards, Raven and Hawk, discover a body floating in Hyde Park’s
famous lake, that newfound peace looks to be at risk. The late Jeremiah
Willis was the engineering genius behind a new design for a top-secret
weapon, and the prototype is missing from the Royal Armory’s laboratory.
Wrexford is tasked with retrieving it before it falls into the wrong
hands. But there are unsettling complications to the case—including a
family connection.
Soon, old secrets are tangling with new
betrayals, and as Charlotte and Wrexford spin through a web of
international intrigue and sumptuous parties, they must race against
time to save their loved ones from harm—and keep the weapon from
igniting a new war.
Penrose's prose is finely wrought and seasoned with great historical moments and characters that are woven into the plot in such a way that they don't weigh it down at all. Speaking of plots, the plot of this book is so intricate and yet swift and breathtaking that you're halfway through the book before you realize it. I agree with the NYPL that this is a compulsive read...you will not be able to put it down! Therefore I'd give this latest addition to the Wrex and Sloane books a solid A, and recommend it highly to anyone else who has read the previous books in the series.
Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat is a magic and military YA fantasy that I found riveting reading. There's so many twists and turns in the plot that you have to hang on to your metaphorical hat while you careen around with the clear but sturdy prose through this weird but fascinating story arc...and beware the bomb drop of an ending! Here's the blurb:
In this stunning new fantasy novel from international bestselling author C. S. Pacat, heroes and villains of a long-forgotten war are reborn and begin to draw new battle lines. This epic fantasy with high-stakes romance will sit perfectly on shelves next to beloved fantasy novels like the Infernal Devices series, the Shadow and Bone trilogy, and the Red Queen series.
Sixteen-year-old dock boy Will is on the run, pursued by the men who killed his mother. Then an old servant tells him of his destiny to fight beside the Stewards, who have sworn to protect humanity if the Dark King ever returns. Will is thrust into a world of magic, where he starts training for a vital role in the oncoming battle against the Dark.
As London is threatened and old enmities are awakened, Will must stand with the last heroes of the Light to prevent the fate that destroyed their world from returning to destroy his own.
Like V.E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic and Shelby Mahurin’s Serpent & Dove, Dark Rise is more than just high intrigue fantasy—it’s fast-paced, action-packed, and completely surprising. Readers will love exploring the rich setting of nineteenth-century London. This thrilling story of friendship, deception, loyalty, and betrayal is sure to find a passionate audience of readers.
I find it odd that Violet, who is just as much of a main character as Will, isn't mentioned in the blurb and it would seem that the whole book focuses on Will's journey, when that is just not the case. Violet plays an equally important role to Will, and Violet is more of the reader's "eyes and ears" in the book than Will is, but somehow she's seen as nobody or invisible or a pest because she's the half sister of the Villain's second in command, a "lion" who apparently requires a blood sacrifice to come into his full dark magical powers (and guess who they have lined up to be that sacrifice?) But Violet flouts convention and works with Will to try to thwart the powers of darkness and keep the Light from being extinguished. And while the actual descendants of the Lady of Light were not who I thought they would be, I was startled by those dedicated to the dark, because in the end they seemed blinded by their own ambitions. The prose in this book is clear and sturdy and it works well in keeping all the twists and turns of the plot from being confusing. Though this book was a bit too long (450 pages? Really?) and could have used an editor to slash about 75 pages out of it, I'd still give it an A-, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in "light vs dark" stories in a historical setting.
Starry-Eyed Love by Helena Hunting is the second contemporary romance in the Spark Sisters trilogy, and because I'd read the first, and enjoyed it, I figured the second book would be just as charming. I was, unfortunately, wrong. While the book had the usual "reluctant" young career woman with damage in her past and a ton of self esteem issues who decides she will not date, but of course finds the man of her dreams immediately after said decision, I found London's waffling to be rather childish for a professional woman, and her nearly autistic anxiety, which causes her to loathe crowds and create origami stars constantly, to be equally odd and off putting. Her two sisters pushing her and trying to control her decisions all the time also didn't sit well with me. Bullying people by saying "I only want what's best for you! or I only want you to be happy!" doesn't wash anymore, and I would have clouted both her sisters and left the business at the first opportunity I got, if I were London. Here's the blurb:
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