Book Fest September 27-28

It's that time of year again! (For some of us anyway). Book Fest is on this weekend in Bundaberg and Caboolture. 

Book Fest, if you're one of those sad unenlightened people who haven't heard of it, is a wonderful event hosted by Lifeline at various places across Australia. They sell second hand books starting at $2 each, with the price going up depending on condition.

Just to clarify that - you get cheap books and help out a worthwhile charity. It's like earning good karma and receiving it all at the same time! 

Here are some tips from my experiences: 

• Make a list. Sure it's fun to stroll around the tables and try to spot something you like, but if you're like me, you're just going to end up dithering over what you want and probably change your mind right at the last minute. If you have a list, you can save energy lugging that pile of books around, and usually get in first before the ditherers have made up their minds. 
• Bring your own bag. Because trust me, your arms are going to ache. You wouldn't believe how heavy those books get after the first hour. If you have something like a recyclable shopping bag you can just sling it over your shoulder and continue on. 
• Arrive on the Saturday. A lot of the good stuff is gone by Sunday. Get first dibs by getting in early. 
• Take a friend (who's into books). You wouldn't think it, but it is way more fun if you have a friend who's into the same sort of genre you are. I had a blast with my mum when we ran around picking out all the Agatha Christie, or with my friend when we went looking for the Margaret Atwood. 
• Do not take a friend (who's not into books). This is related to the above point. Do not, under any circumstances, bring someone along who's not into books. I've done this. It is a mistake. You will be distracted, they will be bored and wanting to leave before you're ready. It will be awkward
• Plan your day. The best way I've found is to go in the morning, preferably with a friend, and go for lunch afterwards. A few hours is all you need and then you can recharge and go home to start reading all those lovely books. 

Alas, I won't be making it to either of the Book Fests this weekend. I'm going to have to wait until January when the Brisbane Book Fest begins. But for anyone that is, start clearing out your bookcases! 

Innocence Lost by Karen Miller

It's been a week and I think I've let Innocence Lost settle enough. Time for a review!

Innocence Lost is the sequel to the Innocent Mage. It pays off on the plotlines started in the first book and references events from it. So, obviously, there will be spoilers.

Innocence Lost begins with the discovery of the deaths of nearly the entire royal family, leaving Prince Gar the only heir. However, as his manifestation of magic is only recent, his position is far from secure, leaving him vulnerable to political monouvering. When his magic fails entirely, he asks his friend Asher to break their most ancient law in order to protect his kingdom and throne.

If I had to pick one theme in this book, it would be consequences. Everything that happens in this book is a consequence of an earlier decision by the characters, be it a year in the past, or twenty years, or a thousand years. There are so many ways that this could have ended more happily; if the Doranen hadn't led Morg to the Olken, if they hadn't asked them to give up their magic, if Durm hadn't looked beyond the wall, if Willer had been more loyal... I don't think there's a single decision these characters make that doesn't come back to bite them.

Gar, as in the first book, is a far more interesting character than Asher. He actually has something he wants, and his efforts to attain or keep this are the driving force of the story. Asher in comparison spends most of the story being pushed one way or another by other people's motives. I do feel sorry for him, and to Millar's credit, his reactions feel real. When he gets screwed over, he reacts with anger and frustration. When a friend lets him down, he's hurt and upset.

The other characters had their moments as well. Conroyd was the usual amorally ambitious politician, who had a moment of near-redemption toward the end, while Darran's absolute dedication to Gar was touchingly demonstrated. In contrast, Dathne whose deceptiveness and ruthlessness was rather interesting in the last book (like when she served up the cakes to the prisoner) was suddenly reduced to the love interest and didn't take any further initiative of her own. I feel if you'd taken Veira out and had Dathne take over her role, you'd have a much more dynamic character.

The ending I was torn about. I felt the final chapter had everything working out too conveniently considering the bloody near-Armageddon that just happened, but this is high fantasy. And in a weird way, it ties in with the books' constant debate regarding qualifications of rulership. All up, it's a good sequel that follows through on everything that was promised to us by the first.

Signed books by Garth Nix

How much do I love Booktopia right now? They're offering copies of Clariel signed by Garth Nix, if ordered before 1st October 2014.

I've already placed my order, along with a bunch of other paperbacks I've been meaning to pick up, so now I get to play the letterbox-watching game for the next two weeks. It's like Christmas... if I had to pay for my own presents.

Victoria Event - Damian Perry signing

I was browsing through the Dymocks Events calender, and I noticed that a new author Damian Perry is doing an event down in Victoria this evening. So jealous right now.

His book Dwarves in Space sounds pretty interesting - a mash-up of sci-fi and fantasy. This one is definitely going on the reading list. 

For anyone in Victoria, he'll be at the 34 Collins Street Dymocks at 6.30pm tonight. It's free, but you'll need to book ahead. Follow the Event Calender link for more details. 

Splashdance Silver by Tansy Rayner Roberts

I had some difficulty picking which book to review this week, but I finally decided to go with an old favourite of mine: Splashdance Silver by Tansy Rayner Roberts.

Splashdance Silver is a delicious high fantasy comedy. It's set on the tiny island of Mocklore where high fantasy tropes make everyone's lives more interesting, occasionally by cutting huge swatches of destruction through them. Kassa Daggersharp, the daughter of the infamous Pirate King, has just learned that her father is dead and now she is now expected to take up his responsibilities of terrorizing and looting, and while she's at it, lay claim to the giant pile of treasure he hid somewhere.

This book is written in the style of Terry Pratchett, which is not a bad thing. It has the same joyful randomness and affection for the very things it parodies. Yes, you will laugh yourself silly at its version of chivalrous romance and epic adventure, but at the heart of this story is a deep love for the source material.

Kassa herself has the dangerous potential to be a Mary-Sue (if you don't know what that is, follow this link), being a golden-eyed girl who has two amazing destinies pulling at her, but just wants to be an 'ordinary' tavern dancer. Not to mention having a dead dad, steaming sexual tension with the designated 'bad boy', and a dark secret in her past. Also, she can sing.

She avoids Mary-Sue territory by being immature, bad tempered and fixated on her wardrobe. But not in a jerkass way. She's like the version of you that just got dragged out of bed at five o'clock on a Sunday morning to do chores someone else already promised to do. She's not very enthusiastic, will commit violence if you push her too far, but by god, if she's going to do it, she's going to do it in style. It also helps that when humiliation rains down on her rag-tag crew of misfits (as it does several times) she's not spared in the slightest.

I won't say too much on the crew, to avoid spoilers. However, I did enjoy her cousin Daggar's unapologetic cowardice and vague concern about her antics, while Aragorn was most fun when he and Kassa were snarking at each other. The antagonist, Talle, is the villain we all wish we could be. Self-possessed, scheming, with an excellent PR manager, she enjoys the perks of villainy to their fullest.

Splashdance Silver is a wonderful romp and I highly recommend it. It's difficult to find in bookstores, but it is available online through Amazon.

The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller

Because I just started Innocence Lost, I decided to review the first book of the series The Innocent Mage. 

The Innocent Mage takes place in a kingdom protected from the horrific outside world by a magical wall. To protect this wall, magic is forbidden to all but to a minority upper class. A young fisherman accidentally befriends Prince Gar and becomes a reluctant witness to the politics surrounding this policy. 

Because this is the first book in the series (the prequel Blight of Mages is set several thousand years prior, but isn't required reading) the focus is on set up. Miller explores how the use of magic is regulated; who should use it, who should not, and the consequences if these two categories ever overlap. Because make no mistake, your relationship with magic is everything in this world. Even those forbidden to wield it, like the main character Asher, are still protected by the magically sustained wall. 

There isn't much action (though I have the feeling this will change in the sequel) but there is tension and fatal consequences to decisions. It feels like Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice, where the focus is on where the main character sits in a tangled web of allegiances. Innocence is also a recurring theme. Both Gar and Asher could arguably be called the titular 'innocent mage', as both of them are being manipulated from various sides toward both benign and malicious goals. The consequences of innocence are explored, from the kingdom that exists in blissful ignorance of the horrors outside its borders, to the sheltered princess unable to perceive the hurt she's doing to her brother, to the well-meaning mage who accidentally invites an abomination into the royal household. Innocence is an imperfect defense.

Asher takes a while to warm up to; I found him irritating at first and Gar's interest in him to be a little too fortuitous. The author explicitly states that Gar wants someone who's not impressed by royalty, but Asher's attitude comes off as rude. He feels very much like a young Luke Skywalker before he gets the pride knocked out of him and becomes a better Jedi for it. Asher in comparison never has to face any negative consequences for the fights he picks and is actually rewarded for them.

Prince Gar is way more interesting. As the only member of the upper class without magic, he is known disparagingly as a cripple and cannot inherit the throne he was born to. He accepts this as necessary, understanding his duty, but shows real moments of poignant hurt and bewilderment at the rejection by his people. The contradictions of his character - how he both does and doesn't want his birthright - are complex and human, and far more compelling than Asher's blunt instrument approach to life. 

At first I couldn't understand what on earth drove these two characters into each other's orbit, or why they stuck around. Then about a quarter of the way in, there's a time-skip, and we can see Asher and Gar once they're past their initial rocky beginning. That's when their relationship suddenly clicked for me, and I could see why Gar needed Asher so much, and why Asher felt such loyalty to him. I'm wary of using time-skips to jump-start character development, but in this instance I think it was necessary. I did not want to sit through six months of them getting to know each other. From this point on, their friendship was the strongest, most interesting relationship in the book and also one of the driving sources of tension. 

Other characters - the conniving adviser, the spoiled princess, the aging king - were clearly recognizable archetypes, but managed to surprise me with their outcome or motives. While many of them make stupid or malicious mistakes, it's never as simple as good or evil. The people are clearly people with their own weaknesses and failings. Perhaps the only person I outright disliked was Dathne, and this was ironically because of the time-skip. I much preferred her vaguely antagonistic role in the beginning and found the sudden switch to romantic interest disorienting. If there'd been foreshadowing or build up toward it, I might have accepted it better, but with the time-skip it seemed to come out of nowhere. With all the development put into Asher and Gar's relationship, I'd have been less surprised to see them get together. 

Miller's put a lot of effort into exploring the cultural and legal complexities of this world, but I didn't get a sense of the color and life that I would from, say, Sara Douglass. It seemed a generic medieval European setting, which was a shame because it would only take a little tweaking to hint at a more unusual cultural background. The upper class originated elsewhere, so throw in a little bit of old-world Japan or a hint of Egyptian civilization, or a sprinkle of the Ottoman Empire. Occasionally there was some really lovely imagery, like Fane's display of magic or even Asher's first impression of Gar (there's a reason I ship these two), and I wanted to see more of that. 

All up, this is a well above average high fantasy story. I usually judge the success of a first book by whether the author makes me want to pick up the second, and she definitely did so here. Miller is fairly popular in Australia so you should be able to find her series at a local bookstore (I picked this one up at a publishing outlet down the street). Otherwise it's available online, including Booktopia, Amazon and Book Depository. 

Threshold by Sara Douglass

If you're reading this blog, you'll work this out sooner rather than later - I am a huge Sara Douglass fan. 

Threshold is a good place to start for newcomers to her work. It's not part of a larger series and gives you an indication of what you can expect, being strong in the elements that Douglass is typically good at, and weak in the areas she typically isn't. 

It's set in Ashbod, a world similar to Egypt about three thousand years ago. The protagonist, Tirzah, is a glassmaker sold into slavery to cover her father's debts. Her talent with 'caging' glass sees her bought by the brutally oppressive Magi who are completing construction on a pyramid called Threshold. This creation demonstrates a terrifying intelligence and only Tirzah's charged relationship with the Magus Boaz may be able to stop it. 

What I love abut this book is the mix of genres. On the one hand you have an epic romance. On the other you have an Eldritch Abomination. And over there is an oppressed culture forced into hiding, social revolution, and a rollicking adventure story with plenty of action. It all weaves together into a riveting tale that doesn't leaving anything feeling forced or tagged on. 

That said, it does amply demonstrate one of my biggest criticisms of Sara Douglass' work. 

While Douglass has created female characters who take a strong hand in determining their own future (Azhure from the Axis Trilogy comes to mind, as does the surprisingly resourceful Ravenna from Darkglass Mountain), many more are simply passive recipients of their fate.( Margaret from The Crucible, Zenith from The Wayfarer Redemption and Maeb from the Devil's Diadem are all indecisive women who rarely fight as their choices are stripped from them.)

This is perhaps an oversimplification - these women all had different circumstances and cultures that rendered them powerless - but they are examples of a trend in Douglass' work which I don't enjoy. 

In Threshold, Tirzah is initially horrified and repulsed by Boaz's interest in her. However, their relationship quickly develops into something uncomfortably close to that old cliche; a bad man turned good by the love of a woman. While I get the feeling that Douglass is attempting to navigate around this trope, she doesn't quite succeed. Whenever Boaz lashes out at Tirzah, it doesn't feel like a deconstruction of 'maybe I can save him!' but another logical step in a horrific relationship where lying, manipulation, death threats and physical abuse are the norm. 

Which, if tackled head on, would actually be pretty interesting. But played as a forbidden romance, it comes off as disturbing. 

Worldbuilding is where Douglass really shines, and her work here is phenomenal. She has captured the dry, oppressive atmosphere of Ashadod and the looming threat of Threshold. Even the places we only catch glimpses of, like Tirzah's homeland Viland and the mysterious Place Beyond, have their own flavour and imagery. The two competing cultures - that of the imposing Magi and the secretive Elementals - are very interesting in their opposing ideologies, and I was only sorry we didn't get to see their clash more thoroughly explored. The source of the Elemental's magic and the 'talking to glass' is very original and though it doesn't have many clearly defined rules or limitations like most magic systems in high fantasy, it fits well into the overall theme of the book, of the organic and natural versus the impersonal and technological. 

Regarding the characters themselves, nearly everyone apart from Boaz and Tirzah, feels slightly two-dimensional. You know immediately upon meeting them what role they are going to play, but they play them so well you just don't care. No one is walking through the motions here; they're deeply passionate in their goals and even when they're making horrible (so horrible!) mistakes they keep you glued to the page. The antagonist, the One, is absolutely terrifying. Very little is known about it, but that is part of the horror. It is a malevolent force that can't be predicted or stopped, and it's own desires and goals are utterly opaque, possibly incomprehensible. It makes the more human villains, the Magi, appear utterly petty in comparison and considering what the Magus Ta'uz does in his first appearance, that takes effort. 

Speaking of Ta'uz, I should warn that Threshold, like all Sara Douglass' work, contains a lot of violence. It is not explicit - there is no blow by blow description of each drop of blood - but a lot of what goes on is very nasty and even children aren't spared. In all honesty this is part of the draw for me, but not everyone will enjoy it. 

Threshold is by no means a perfect book, but it is a hugely entertaining one and the positives outweigh the negatives. It's memorable and it makes me want to re-read it, which I think is a good measure of success. Most bookstores don't keep it in stock, but they can order it in and a Kindle version is available online at Amazon.com. 

Sabriel by Garth Nix

Welcome to Fossick Book Reviews!

To celebrate my first post - and to prepare myself for Garth Nix's new book coming out on the 24th of September - I've decided to review an old favorite of mine; the classic young adult novel Sabriel. Adult readers, don't be frightened off by the 'young adult' label. Sabriel is one of those rare novels that is accessible to teenagers and adults alike.

The story takes place in the Old Kingdom where the outlaw of necromancy is enforced by the Abhorsen, the guardian between life and death. Sabriel, the daughter and heir to the current Abhorsen, is summoned home to assist her father who has become trapped by an ancient evil. She is guided by the ambiguous Moggett and the mysterious Touchstone, each of whom with their own agendas that may or may not align with her own.

In many ways this book is the classic hero's quest; the protagonist is summoned out of the safe non-magical land she grew up in and must journey through a dangerous world to reach her father, developing her skills and knowledge as she goes. However, this relatively simple storyline works perfectly, giving Nix room to expand on the other story elements. He fleshes out a grim world that has its own bleak beauty, with an oppressive atmosphere of ever-present danger. You'll really believe this is a world where the dead can rise and kill you in your sleep.

The character Sabriel is an engaging heroine; uncertain in her experience, but determined to follow through regardless. Her mistakes, when she does make them, are usually based on lack of knowledge and she doesn't waste time angsting over them, just jumps straight to fixing them. This may be a deliberate contrast to Touchstone, who is haunted by a terrible past mistake, and Moggett, who is hinted to have negligible knowledge of regret, if any. The repulsive villain, Kerrigor, is slightly one-dimensional in his drive for power, but this is explitely attributed to the effect of Free Magic and actually works as a reminder of why the Abhorsen's role is necessary.

Teenagers will love this book and adults will enjoy it as well. As it does involve what are essentially zombies there is some violence but it's not over the top gore. Sex is discussed but not explicitly so. While the central theme could be best described as dealing with loss and growing up, this is not a depressing story. It's a thoroughly enjoyable read and ends on quite a hopeful note.

This is still a fairly popular book, so most bookstores should stock it in the young adult section. It's also available online, including Amazon, Booktopia, and Book Depository.