The Outsider's Musical on Stage, Shadow & Bone Cancelled, Percy Jackson and the Olympians on TV, Obituary Note for A.S. Byatt, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light on TV, The Count of Monte Cristo on TV, Murder in the Merton Library by Andrea Penrose, the Study Chronicles: Tales of Ixia and Sitia by Maria Snyder, and Warror Born, A Cinder Spires Novella by Jim Butcher

Happy Holidays to all my fellow book dragons! I've been away from my blog for two weeks, and I know that is too long, but things have gone from terrible to horrific in dealing with my husband's decline in mental and physical health, so I've not been able to do as much reading as I'd like, or even sitting down to think and reflect on what I've read, so that I might write a cogent review. However, some good things are on the horizon, some great books and tomorrow starts the next season of the 60 year old (as of yesterday) Doctor Who TV series, now on Disney Plus. There are also some great books to look forward to in the upcoming month and next year, and I'm looking forward to an exciting new year of books with my library book group. So, focusing on what little light that I can see at the end of the tunnel, allons-y!

I loved this book when I was a teenager, so I'm excited to see what they do with it as a staged musical. I'm hoping that they'll film it so that the rest of us, who don't live in NYC and have a ton of money, can see it.

 On Stage: The Outsiders Musical

Additional casting has been revealed for the upcoming Broadway premiere of The Outsiders https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQPdxukI6agxJhonTg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nED8ehpoMLg-gVdw, a musical adaptation of S.E. Hinton's novel and Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 film, Playbill reported. Previews begin March 16, 2024 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, with opening night set for April 11.

Newly added to the cast are Joshua Boone (Skeleton Crew) as Dallas Winston, Emma Pittman (Chicago) as Cherry Valance, Daryl Tofa (Back to the Future) as Two-Bit Mathews, and Kevin William Paul as Bob Sheldon. They join previously announced stars Brody Grant as Ponyboy, Brent Comer as Darrel, Jason Schmidt as Sodapop, and Sky Lakota-Lynch (Dear Evan Hansen) as Johnny.

BOOO! This  really bums me out. I loved the version of Shadow and Bone that was serialized on Netflix, and I was looking forward to the story continuing with Season 3. But of course, as with many things I love (I'm looking at you, Firefly!), it's cancelled by some corporate bean-counter and leaves fans of the book series bereft.

Shadow & Bone Cancelled after Season 2

The IP apocalypse claims another. As the appetite for money-losing but theoretically platform building properties goes away, this mid-tier, high budget shows are most at risk. Fans of adaptations at least have the books to cherish, and for those new to the series through the show, can at least get those serious cliff hangers taken care of by reading through. I am not sure I would call any fantasy/sci-fi series safe at this point. Maybe House of the Dragon. Maybe.

Meanwhile, this series, which already had a shot and was awful, is being rebooted and will likely get all of the time and money it needs to go for many seasons. The lead role is a white male, after all, and shows like Shadow and Bone that have a female lead which normalizes women being powerful and intelligent, get the ax...misogyny, anyone?! GROW UP, Hollywood!

TV: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 A trailer has been released for the upcoming Percy Jackson and the Olympians https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQKIwuoI6agxcREjTg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nFWsOipoMLg-gVdw series, based on Rick Riordan's bestselling YA book series, Variety reported. The show, which follows a 12-year-old boy named Percy (Walker Scobell) who leads a seemingly normal life until he learns he is a half-blood (half human, half Greek god), is set to premiere December 20 on Disney+.

The cast also features Aryan Simhadri, Leah Sava Jeffries, Virginia Kull, Glynn Turman, Jason Mantzoukas, Megan Mullay, Timm Sharp, Dior Goodjohn, Charlie Bushnell and Adam Copeland. Guest stars include Lin-Manuel Miranda, Toby Stephens, Jay Duplass, Timothy Omundson, Lance Reddick, Olivea Morton, Suzanne Cryer, and Jessica Parker Kennedy.

"Unlike with the divisive film adaptations from the 2010s that strayed from the novels, Riordan has been closely involved in the making of the Disney+ series and serves as co-writer and executive producer," Variety noted. Jon Steinberg co-wrote the pilot with Riordan, and James Bobin directed it. Steinberg and Bobin are also executive producers in addition to Dan Shotz, Bert Salke, Monica Owusu-Breen, Jim Rowe, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, D.J. Goldberg, and Rebecca Riordan.

I read Possession, like most of the world, and was awed by the excellent prose and the spicy storyline. I don't think I read any of her other works, and I wasn't aware that Margaret Drabble was her sister and rival. At any rate, she lead a fascinating life, and leaves a legacy of excellent fiction.

Obituary Note: A.S. Byatt

British author, critic, and Booker winner A.S. Byatt https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQKKxO0I6a9nIRkgGA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nFWMWlpoMLg-gVdw (Dame Antonia Susan Duffy), "one of the most significant writers and critics of our time," died November 16. She was 87. Born Antonia Drabble, Byatt studied English at Cambridge, Bryn Mawr College, and Oxford. She began teaching at University College London in 1962. The Guardian noted that her first novel The Shadow of the Sun, was published in 1964, just a year after A Summer Bird-Cage, the first novel by her sister, Margaret Drabble, "thus establishing the notorious and possibly exaggerated rivalry between them."

Byatt's reputation grew as she embarked on the Frederica Quartet, charting the changing nature of the female experience in the 20th century with the novels The Virgin in the Garden (1978), Still Life (1985), Babel Tower (1996), and A Whistling Woman (2002). "When she broke off in the middle of this project to write Possession, Byatt found both critical acclaim and a new audience," the Guardian noted. Possession won the Booker prize in 1990, becoming a bestseller both in the U.K. and U.S. The Children's Book (2009) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

The recipient of many awards, Byatt became a CBE in 1990 and a DBE in 1999. In 2014, a coleopterist working in Central and South America named a species of iridescent beetle in her honor (Euhylaeogena byattae Hespenheide), inspired by her portrayal of naturalists in the novella "Morpho Eugenia" in Angels and Insects (1992). Byatt received the Erasmus Prize in 2016, awarded by the King of the Netherlands.

"She was also remarkable for her generosity to younger writers," the Guardian noted. "At a stage of her career when she might well have been excused for finding her own professional commitments a sufficiently heavy workload, she read new work voraciously. Her floorboards cracked under the load of novels and poems sent to her by writers and publishers who valued her approval far above that of reviewers. She could not possibly have read all of them, but she read an astonishing number."

Writing in the Guardian, Lisa Allardice observed: "She loved Europe, tennis, science, art and languages. 'I think the virtue I prize above all others is curiosity,' she told an interviewer. It is this rapacious curiosity that she brought to her 10 novels, many works of criticism and essays, and in so doing she helped change the British novel into something far more intellectually capacious and outward-looking. Hers was a life defined by literature. 'I'm more interested in books than people, and I always expect everybody else to be, but they're not.' The Dame will be greatly missed."

"Antonia's books are the most wonderful jewel-boxes of stories and ideas," Clara Farmer, her publisher at Chatto & Windus, observed. "Her compulsion to write (A4 blue notebook always to hand) and her ability to create intricate skeins of narrative was remarkable. It was always a treat to see her, to hear updates about her evolving literary characters and indulge in delicious titbits of literary gossip. Like all Chatto's publishers before me, I was devoted to her and her writing. 2024 would have been her sixtieth (Diamond) anniversary as a Chatto author. We mourn her loss but it's a comfort to know that her penetrating works will dazzle, shine and refract in the minds of readers for generations to come."

Jenny Uglow, Byatt's longtime editor, said: "Working with Antonia Byatt was full of surprises.... Like many writers, she could hold the germ of a story in her head for a long time, sometimes for years, but when it emerged she would work on it assiduously in her notebooks and in conversations, reading widely to clarify the background of intellectual movements and artistic ideas, and mapping every scene in detail in her head, from the colors of clothes and the names of minor characters--which were often bizarre--to the complexity of train timetables. Finally, the shape was fully formed in her mind. Then it would flow on to the page, with not a change to be made."

 Wolf Hall was ground breaking, so I'm delighted to see that they've decided to continue through the final novel in Mantel's trilogy. Mark Rylance is a wonder as Thomas Cromwell. He plays the role with quiet menace and stringent competency and intelligence.

TV: Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQKLkLoI6a9nJxt3Hw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nFWZHypoMLg-gVdw, based on the final novel in Hilary Mantel's award-winning trilogy (Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies), will begin filming shortly, according to Masterpiece PBS and the BBC. Reuniting the creative team from the BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning first series, the project will be directed by Peter Kosminsky (The Undeclared War, The State) and adapted for TV by Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Frank).

Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis will reprise their roles as Thomas Cromwell and King Henry VIII, respectively. The cast also includes Jonathan Pryce (Cardinal Wolsey), Kate Phillips (Jane Seymour), and Lilit Lesser (Princess Mary). Other returning and new cast members will be announced at a later date. 

"The Mirror and the Light picks up exactly where Wolf Hall ended, with the execution of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn," said Kosminsky. "I'm overjoyed to be able to reunite the extraordinary cast we were lucky enough to assemble for Wolf Hall, led by the brilliant Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis, with the original creative team of Gavin Finney (DOP), Pat Campbell (designer) and Joanna Eatwell (costume designer). We are all determined to complete what we started--and to honor the final novel written by one of the greatest literary figures of our age, Hilary Mantel."

This was another classic tale that I loved, and I'm looking forward to seeing it on TV or whatever streaming service picks it up.

TV: The Count of Monte Cristo

Jeremy Irons has joined the cast of Palme d'Or award-winning director Bille August's (The Best Intentions, Pelle the Conqueror) limited series, The Count of Monte Cristo: https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQKMwu4I6a9nKhpyTg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nFXsOmpoMLg-gVdw, a "sprawling adaptation" of the classic novel by Alexandre Dumas, Variety reported. Irons portrays Abbe Faria.

The English-language project is produced by Italian company Palomar (That Dirty Black Bag, The Name of the Rose), in collaboration with French banner DEMD Productions. The five-month shoot will wrap in Malta in December, after having filmed in France and Italy. This marks Irons's third collaboration with Danish filmmaker August, who directed him in Night Train to Lisbon and The House of Spirits.

Starring Sam Claflin as Edmond Dantes, The Count of Monte Cristo's cast also includes Ana Girardot, Mikkel Boe Fasgaard, Blake Ritson, Karla-Simone Spence, Michele Riondino, Lino Guanciale, Gabriella Pession, and Nicolas Maupas.

Noting that the journey to make the series "started five or six years ago," Carlo Degli Esposti, Palomar's co-founder and veteran producer, said, "The Count of Monte Cristo was my bedside book and it's been my lifelong dream to adapt it into a film or a series," adding that project will have "a modern edge while remaining faithful to the legacy of Alexandre Dumas's work." 

Murder in the Merton Library by Andrea Penrose is a historical mystery/romance novel, and the 7th book in the wonderful Wrexford & Sloane series, all of which I've read and enjoyed. Though the books take place in the early 19th century, the lives of Wrexford and Sloane and their adoptive family is quite delightfully modern and progressive. Of course, the romance of the two main characters is also remarkably balanced and equal, and their adoption of street urchins is heartwarming as ever. Here's the blurb: 

For fans of Miss Scarlet and the Duke and Bridgerton—a masterfully plotted mystery that combines engaging protagonists with rich historical detail, plus a touch of romance that readers of Amanda Quick and Deanna Raybourn will savor.

Responding to an urgent plea from a troubled family friend, the Earl of Wrexford journeys to Oxford only to find the reclusive university librarian has been murdered and a rare manuscript has gone missing. The only clue is that someone overheard an argument in which Wrexford’s name was mentioned.
 
At the same time, Charlotte—working under her pen name, A. J. Quill—must determine whether a laboratory fire was arson and if it’s connected to the race between competing consortiums to build a new type of ship—one that can cross the ocean powered by steam rather than sails—with the potential to revolutionize military power and world commerce. That the race involves new innovations in finance and entrepreneurship only adds to the high stakes—especially as their good friend Kit Sheffield may be an investor in one of the competitors.
 
As they delve deeper into the baffling clues, Wrexford and Charlotte begin to realize that things are not what they seem. An evil conspiracy is lurking in the shadows and threatens all they hold dear—unless they can tie the loose threads together before it’s too late.

Penrose's prose is, as usual, evocative and fascinating, if a bit too fussy with extraneous detail. The plot proceeds apace, however, and doesn't slow down much, even when in the midst of an info-dump about the engineering and production of steam engines, a subject that I found tremendously dull and uninteresting. Still, the bad guys were brought to justice and everyone's involvement proved that this extraordinary family can work wonders when they work together. So I'd give the book an A, and recommend it to anyone who has read any of the other Wrexford and Sloane mysteries.

The Study Chronicles: Tales of Ixia and Sitia by Maria V Snyder was a delightful compendium of novellas and short stories inspired by and in the world of her wonderful "Poison Study" series, begun decades ago, and with many books to it's credit. There's something for everyone in this compendium, from hilarious stories of Janco babysitting to more serious tales of kidnapping and skulduggery in the Study world and in the Glass series world. Here's the blurb: 

“Then what were you waiting for?”
He turned to her. “You.”

New York Times bestselling author, Maria V. Snyder, presents a complete collection of short stories and novellas from the dynamic and complex world of Ixia & Sitia. These stories delve into and expand the critically acclaimed Chronicles of Ixia series, featuring readers’ favorite characters: Yelena, Valek, Opal, Ari, Janco, and Commander Ambrose.

This comprehensive collection includes familiar stories: Assassin Study, Power Study, Ice Study, Shattered Glass, and Diaper Study, along with three exciting and never before seen additions: Diamond Study, Wedding Study, and After Study. Readers will also find bonus content with introductions to all the stories, detailed maps, character timelines, and amazing artwork by talented fans. For Snyder’s fans and Soulfinders, this is a must have compilation and guide for all things Ixia & Sitia. 

The illustrations and bonus content are utterly sublime, and the expanded stories are delightful fun, because there are things that those of us who read the series when it came out years ago didn't know about the worlds of these characters, and now we have this guide to the rich background that they inhabit. There's lots of thrilling and exciting moments interspersed with sweet reunions and lovely family moments that are heartwarming. I didn't even realize, as I was reading the books initially, that Commander Ambrose is a trans male character. Kudos to Ms Snyder for being ahead of the curve on that one. Hence, I'd give this collection a solid A, and recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the "Study" or "Glass" series. You won't be disappointed.

Warrior Born, A Cinder Spires Novella by Jim Butcher, is a steampunk fantasy novella set in the Cinder Spires universe, which I've not read since the first book came out years ago. I'm a huge fan of Butcher's Dresden Files series, however, and I had always hoped that the Cinder Spires books would be as exciting and endearing as the world of Harry Dresden. Unfortunately, though the first book proved interesting, it didn't have a main character that rocked my world like Harry Dresden, and therefore I was able to adopt a 'take it or leave it' attitude to the Cinder Spires novels. This novella was cheap and looked interesting enough to fork over a few dollars, however, so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the thrilling mystery of the Warrior Born attempting an extraction on a planet overrun by giant acidic devouring slugs and a dragon. Here's the blurb:

From the New York Times–bestselling author of the Dresden Files comes an all-new, action-packed fantasy adventure set in the Cinder Spires universe.

Benedict Sorellin-Lancaster hasn’t even broken in his lieutenant’s insignia when he’s summoned to meet with the Spirearch of Spire Albion himself for a very special—and very secret—purpose. The Spirearch needs Benedict to retrieve a bag he’s “misplaced” on the Colony Spire known as Dependence, which has strangely cut off all contact with the outside world. It’s a delicate mission at best, a potential bloodbath at worst.

To this end, the Spirearch has supplied Benedict with backup in the form of three Warriorborn. But unlike the courageous lieutenant, this trio has formerly used its special gifts for crime, carnage, and outright bloody murder. And all of them were caught and imprisoned because of Benedict. Now, if they behave—and make it back alive—they’ll go free.

But when the odd squad reaches Dependence, they soon discover something waiting for them: a horrific weapon that could shatter the balance of power among the Spires. And Benedict will have to bring his own Warriorborn skills to bear if he, his team, and Spire Albion are to have any hope of survival . . .

“While readers familiar with the series will have a better understanding of the ins and outs of the Cinder Spires world, this is mostly a stand-alone story that, despite its brevity, packs a lot of punch in an engaging, fast-paced read with well-defined characters . . . Add Steampunk vibes, terrifying monsters, charming talking cats, and an open ending that tantalizes readers into reading the series—this is a recipe for success. A delectable slice of SF adventure.” —Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus Reviews got it right, in that this was an engrossing story with slick prose that advances the lightening-quick plot all the way through to the shocking ending. It's a stand alone story, so those not familiar with the Cinder Spires world can pick it up and read it without fear of getting lost, or not knowing any of the back story of the characters. I also loved that there was a pack of kitty cats who managed to make it to safety when their larger Warrior Born counterparts did not. They were so adorable, yet dignified, that they were perfectly drawn characters. I'd give this sizziling thriller an A, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys steampunk stories, cats and dragons.