Well, the third week really hit my bingo experience out of the ballpark this year -- and not only because it finished with my first completed bingo; that was actually just the icing on the cake.  But it included no less than three absolutely knock-out fabulous books, plus a fourth that was almost as good -- and the remaining three, though not quite reaching this level, were at least mostly enjoyable, all in their own particular way.  So without any further ado:

 

The Books

 

Sofi Oksanen: Fegefeuer (The Purge)

Based on everything I'd previously heard about this book, it took me quite a while to get up my nerve to read it, because I knew I'd be in for a fairly merciless game of psychological hares and foxes -- which however, of course, meant that it would be a natural choice for the "Psych" bingo square.

 

Sofi Oksanen's The Purge contrasts the early 1990s' post-Soviet Union independent Estonia with that of the WWII and post-WWII era which had led to the country's being swallowed up by the Soviet Union.  The setting in which this happens is the isolated farm where one of the novel's protagonists, has been living almost all her life, and where at the beginning of the book the other protagonist -- a young woman who is obviously on the run -- suddenly appears, seeking refuge.  Although the two women have never seen each other in their entire lives (and the young refugee for all practical purposes is Russian rather than Estonian), it soon becomes clear that it is by no means an accident for her to show up in this place and none other.  What follows is a dance macabre style exploration of death, guilt, betrayal, running away from versus accepting responsibility for one's own actions, and one (or two?) families' entanglement with Estonia's and the Soviet Union's brutal social and political order in the second half of the 20th century.  This is an uncomfortable read, but it perfectly encapsulates the mental, psychological, political and social purge that every society will embark on both upon slipping into and upon freeing itself from a dictatorial system; and particularly in today's political climate it comes highly recommended.

 

 

Terry Pratchett: Guards! Guards!

And talking about books that ought to be read, today more than ever, this turned out to be yet another one, right on the heels of Oksanen's.  The eighth Discworld novel and the first book of the Night Watch subseries -- but first and foremost, an exploration of just how a political system can fail and slip into dictatorships right before everybody's eyes. Whatever it was that motivated Pratchett to write this book exactly 30 years ago, in the waning days of the Cold War, it is eerily prescient and feels as if it were written this or last year; so exactly does it foretell recent events (particularly in the UK and the U.S., but by far not merely there).  There is, of course, also plenty of Pratchett's trademark pith and humor, and plenty of lines that, at least in the first part of the book, will make you laugh out loud; but in the second half, more often than not your laughter is going to get stuck right in your throat.

 

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering about my bingo square attribution, it features dragons.  Plural -- but one in particular.

 

 

Margery Allingham: The White Cottage Mystery

Allingham's first mystery, and it clearly shows off her talent as a writer from the start.  As in the first Albert Campion book (The Crime at Black Dudley) and several of the subsequent Campion mysteries, there's an international "detour" -- here: literally so -- that is not in any way, shape and form necessary to the plot and that I could therefore have done without, and it's no particular surprise that Allingham later chose a somewhat more flamboyant hero for the series she would come to write.  But for an afternoon's (or in my case, morning's) worth of entertainment this works very nicely indeed.

 

 

BBC Audio: The Lady Detectives

See separate post HERE.

 

 

Trudi Canavan: The Magicians' Guild

The first book of Canavan's Black Magician trilogy and, while it started out enjoyable enough, another book that ultimately failed to live up to my expectations.  (It's by no means awful, but it also didn't entice me to continue with the series, however much the ending may have be trying to do just that.) 

 

The book concerns a teenage girl from the slums who in the course of an anti-magician rally with fatal consequences -- though not for herself -- accidentally discovers that (drumroll ...) she has magical powers herself and is henceforth sought out by the Magicians' Guild who (1) want to make her one of their own and (2) even if she should refuse that rather unexpeted honor -- all things magical ordinarily being perceived as something restricted to the country's ruling families -- have decided that in her own interest as well as for the common good, a clamp must be put on her magical abilities, which indeed quickly turn out to be destructive and beyond her own control (a control she can only be taught by a fully-trained magician).  The first part of the book, which essentially concerns the hide and seek game involving the magicians' hunt for the protagonist, is sprightly enough -- though even there the book is displaying its first unnecessary lengths --, but the second part, instead of kicking things into a higher gear, is riddled with lengthy and largely unnecessary exposition, and from the book's mid-point onwards the plot is entirely predictable.  The world-building, too, is only so-so: hardly original -- and it doesn't become anymore so just by giving fancy names to ordinary everyday creatures such as farm animals, crops, or certain types of city buildings such as boarding houses, taverns and brothels --, and I am seriously sick of fantasy novels that believe they're doing something clever by slightly altering the spelling and pronunciation of ordinary everyday names.  (The heroine's first name is Sonea -- pronounced Son-EE-a --; one of the magicians is called Dannyl (pronounced DANNyl.) 

 

In summary, I miight have enjoyed this a good deal more if (1) it had been only about half (or at most, 2 /3) of its actual length and (2) the second half of the book had lived up to the promise of the first half, instead of delving into banal predictability.

 

 

Joy Ellis: The Guilty Ones

Aaah, but what a joy to move from the week's last so-so book to another absolute stunner!  I had every faith this was going to be the case, and Ellis delivers in spades -- in a mystery that this time comes calling so close to DI Jackman's home that in reality he would probably have had to recuse himself from the investigation.  (Obviously we can't have such a thing in a mystery, but to give Ellis her due, at least she doesn't duck the issue; and by and large she handles it more successfully here than a similar -- albeit slightly less weighty -- situation in an earlier book.)  I know that at least one other bingo participant is still looking to read this book, so I won't say a word about the plot -- and I only mentioned Jackman's personal involvement because this is essentially the setup of the entire thing and we're being told about it right from the start -- but what I will say is that this book came very, very close to competing with Their Lost Daughters for the spot of my favorite installment in the entire series; and just when I thought I had figured it all out, Ellis kicked things onto a whole new level.  Brava!

 

 

Toni Morrison: Beloved

... and finally: The book that accompanied me throughout the week, bit by bit, in both audio and the print version.  And oh, what a writer the world lost when Toni Morrison died.  This wasn't my first book by her, but it brought home her extraordinary qualities as a writer all over again: There isn't a word wasted here; Morrison even makes every single sillable stand up and be counted, and each and every one of them comes from a place deep inside her and reaches out right to the reader.  The narration is not linear; every fact unveiled simultaneously shrouds two more in allusion and "rememory" too painful to be allowed to come to the surface; and both this and the changing viewpoints make for a canvas that requires time, patience, and the reader's full attention to pull it out from its multiple layers of protection -- and the complete picture, when it is finally out in the open, is one crying out with unbearable heartbreak.

 

Much as I enjoyed listening to Toni Morrison's narration as a companion experience to the book, I would join those who counsel against relying on the audiobook alone if this is your first experience with the book: Morrison's vocal performance essentially does the same as her writing, coaxing forth and simultaneously shushing bits and pieces of the story as they come up in the text, so it adds yet another layer of complexity to a book that, based on its story alone, already calls on the full engagement of the reader's senses and awareness.

 

Whichever way you choose to experience this book, though -- if you only read one book by Toni Morrison, by all means let it be this one.  She deserved the Nobel Prize in Literature for Beloved alone.

 

 

The Card

... as of today; with my "virgin" card below for reference:

Der erste Band der „Black Magician Trilogy“, „The Magician’s Guild”, basiert auf einem Traum der Autorin Trudi Canavan. Nachdem sie mitten in der Nacht einen Bericht über die Olympiade in Barcelona sah, der behauptete, die Regierung habe Obdachlose umsiedeln lassen, träumte sie, sie sei Teil einer Gruppe, die aus einer Stadt vertrieben wurde. Die Übeltäter waren in ihrem Traum allerdings keine Regierungsbeamte, sondern Magier. Quizfrage: wann fanden die olympischen Sommerspiele in Barcelona statt? Ich recherchierte, dass die spanische Stadt 1992 Austragungsort war. „The Magician’s Guild“ wurde 2001 erstveröffentlicht. Da sieht man mal, wie viel Zeit von der ersten Idee bis zum fertigen Buch vergehen kann.

Magie ist den oberen Schichten vorbehalten. Dies ist ein eisernes Gesetz in Imardin, Hauptstadt des Landes Kyralia. In der klaustrophobischen Enge der Slums gedeiht kein magisches Talent, dort sprießen Armut, Hunger und Kriminalität. Deshalb führt die Magier-Gilde einmal im Jahr auf Befehl des Königs eine Säuberung durch und jagt „Gesetzlose“ aus der Stadt. Die Säuberung ist ungerecht, brutal und herzlos. Wie viele andere Bewohner_innen der Slums demonstriert die junge Sonea gegen das unbarmherzige Vorrücken der Gilde. Sie lässt sich von der aufgepeitschten Stimmung tragen und als ihre Wut sie überwältigt, wirft sie einen Stein – und trifft. Wie ist das möglich? Nichts sollte die Schutzbarriere der Magier durchdringen können. Geschockt von ihrer eigenen Tat flüchtet Sonea. Mithilfe ihres Freundes Cery und den Dieben, einer kriminellen Untergrundorganisation, versteckt sie sich vor der Gilde, die fieberhaft nach ihr sucht. Doch ihre neuen, unkontrollierten Kräfte sind gefährlich. Schon bald kann Sonea nicht mehr garantieren, niemanden zu verletzen. Kann sie der Gilde entkommen, ohne ganz Imardin zu zerstören?

„The Magician’s Guild“ erforderte von mir einige Geduld. Zeitweise war ich wirklich besorgt, dass es in diesem Trilogieauftakt ausschließlich um die Flucht der magisch begabten Protagonistin Sonea vor der Magier-Gilde geht. Dieser Part, der mehr als die Hälfte des Buches einnimmt, erschien mir ausschweifend und langgezogen, da ich sicher war, den Ausgang des Handlungsstrangs zu kennen. Ich hatte niemals Zweifel daran, dass die Magier Sonea am Ende kriegen. Deshalb wünschte ich mir, Trudi Canavan würde schneller zum Punkt kommen. Ich brauchte eine Weile, um die Vorteile dieses ausgedehnten Vorlaufs zu erkennen: Soneas Flucht ermöglichte es Canavan, die spezifischen sozialen, politischen und ökonomischen Strukturen Imardins ausführlich vorzustellen. Die Stadt ist tief gespalten; die Gesellschaft ist streng nach Klassen unterteilt, nicht nur baulich, sondern auch ideologisch. In den Slums herrscht starkes Misstrauen der Oberschicht gegenüber. Die Magier der Gilde werden aufgrund der jährlichen Säuberung argwöhnisch oder gar hasserfüllt betrachtet. Niemand kann sich die Dienste eines Heilers oder einer Heilerin leisten. Kinder niederer Klassen werden nicht auf magisches Talent getestet, weshalb ich davon ausgehe, dass Sonea nicht die einzige mit unentdeckten Kräften ist. Die Menschen fühlen sich abgelehnt und allein gelassen. Daher ist es nicht verwunderlich, dass sie sich selbst umeinander kümmern. Slumbewohner_innen wenden sich mit ihren Problemen an die Diebe, ein kriminelles Kollektiv mit einer losen, mafiaähnlichen Hierarchie. Sie vertrauen den Dieben mehr als den Wachen, dem König oder der Gilde. Folglich sorgen Kriminelle in den armen Bezirken Imardins für ein Mindestmaß an Ordnung und daher ist es für Sonea naheliegend, eher bei ihnen um Hilfe zu bitten, als sich der Gilde zu unterwerfen. Canavan erläutert das Verhältnis der Bevölkerung der Armutsviertel zur Gilde sehr gewissenhaft, sodass alle Ereignisse in „The Magician’s Guild“, speziell Soneas ablehnende Haltung den Magiern und ihre ihren eigenen Kräften gegenüber, nachvollziehbar und logisch wirken. Es dauerte, bis ich mit Sonea warm wurde, weil ich sie während ihrer Flucht unvernünftig fand. Ihre mangelnde Kontrolle über ihre Fähigkeiten ist jedoch vollkommen natürlich. Canavan entschied sich für ein gradliniges, klassisches Magiesystem, in dem Menschen mit angeborenem magischem Talent in der Gilde ausgebildet werden müssen und sich später auf einen von drei Pfaden spezialisieren können. Magie ist nicht nur in Kyralia bekannt, sondern auch in den angrenzenden Nationen. Es gefiel mir sehr, dass Canavan ihr Setting und die Gilde sofort in einen internationalen Kontext integriert und fand das schlichte, elegante Magiesystem für den ersten Band einer Trilogie bereits sehr gut ausgearbeitet. Die Gilde in Imardin ist ein interessanter Haufen exzentrischer Persönlichkeiten, wodurch interne Spannungen vorprogrammiert sind. Es überraschte mich demzufolge nicht, dass der mutmaßliche Hauptkonflikt der übergreifenden Geschichte ihren Reihen entspringt. Genie und Wahnsinn liegen sehr dicht beisammen.

Ich freue mich auf die Fortsetzungen der „Black Magician Trilogy“. Obwohl ich „The Magician’s Guild“ inhaltlich etwas langatmig fand, schätze ich Trudi Canavans sorgfältigen Aufbau ihres Universums. Ich bin gespannt auf Soneas magische Ausbildung, die ich hoffentlich intensiv erleben darf und brenne darauf, zu erfahren, wie sie das sensible Gleichgewicht ihrer Welt zwischen Krone, Dieben und Gilde beeinflussen wird. Meiner Meinung nach wird ihre bloße Existenz die Machtverhältnisse verschieben, da sie als Bewohnerin der Slums eigentlich kein magisches Talent besitzen dürfte und die herrschende Elite somit zum Umdenken zwingt. Trotz dessen hoffe ich auch, dass Canavan zukünftig zügiger zur Sache kommt. Sollte die Handlung im nächsten Band Fahrt aufnehmen, steht einer durchweg positiven Leseerfahrung mit traditioneller High Fantasy nichts mehr im Wege. Ich bin optimistisch und halte schon mal zusätzliche Sterne parat.

I enjoyed this book. Very much epic fantasy, with the feared magicians on one side and the impoverished slum-dwellers on the other. Our protagonist is a girl from the slums who happens to have untapped magical powers. One day, she accidentally lets her powers be shown, and the magicians want to chase her down and recruit her before her powers grow out of control.

I enjoyed the pacing of this book and the characters were quite well-written. The magicians themselves are not the "villain", I should mention - there are many of them, good and bad, and I really thought some of them are quite quirky and made me smile just reading about them.

Of course, there are bad magicians among them who feel that a girl from the slums should not be allowed to join them, and one of them tries to blackmail her into leaving the Guild and so on. Lots of intrigue and suspense, I found.

I don't know how I felt that in this book's world, child/teen prostitution was almost normal and that most girls in the slums would have to resort to this. That's...kinda heavy content for this age group, don't you think?...Considering it doesn't really play a part in the plot and there isn't actually anything graphic.

I thought the book would end on a cliffhanger, to be honest. There was an unresolved villainous plot going on near the end and it got pretty tense. Thankfully, they managed to resolve in the nick of time only to bring forth ANOTHER villain to light. But that's what the sequel's for, I guess.

All in all it was a good book to read, though you can pretty much tell that the protagonist IS going to join the magicians. I mean they spend the entire book going on about whether she's going to leave them or join them. There's 2 more books as sequels. Obviously she joins them or nothing will happen, lol.

November was a surprisingly good month for me (reading wise) I think i read more books in November than i had in any month this year, and possibly last! On top of that nearly all the books i read this month i adored!!

I suppose thats one of the side benefits of quitting your job.

My Favorite read was Vision in Silver which i rated 5 stars.

The Coolest book was definitely The Girl King which is based on a real character from history. I highly recommend checking her out, she's pretty amazing.
(I love this page personally but you can also check out this one, which while has good information, people would probably take this person more seriously if they didn't swear so much and stuck to actual quotes, and there's always Wiki, though i usually don't rely on wiki cause of previous fabrications problems. and you can also do your own research. either way she's awesome and you should check her out)
The book i Disliked the most has to be The Life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher and i still managed to rate the book 3 stars, so all in all a great month.

Here's hoping December will be just as good!
I already have a series (Cassie Palmer) buddy read lined up, and I'm hoping to finish some other library books in the time period as well. Happy Days.

Not as good as the prequel in my opinion (which makes sense, she wrote the prequel last, so her skill had much improved over the years) but still a very enjoyable book. Very much looking forward to reading the others in this series..... and the rest of the books written by this talented authors

MUST READ ALL HER BOOKS!!!