Review: Matterhorn

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars






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Review: All Souls' Rising

All Souls' Rising by Madison Smartt Bell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Perfect balance of character/story/setting, this is a book that tackles a big event (Haitian slave rebellion) and brings it down to a very human size. The story is told through all the various points of view that brought about an incredibly bloody and deadly event, which in a lesser writer's hand would feel like padding. But Bell takes the time to let each character not only establish their link to history, he also makes them three dimensional enough that even the "villains" of the story have their sympathetic moments. In light of how the current nation of Haiti is so often in the news, this is a timely and very good background read.



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Review: The Witch's Trinity: A Novel

The Witch's Trinity: A Novel by Erika Mailman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Basic damned if you do, damned if you don't Christianity vs. paganism witch story. The setting is a little different than most (16th century Germany, with no mention of the Reformation) and the accused woman does</> see some pretty strange things, and just when the ending seems to be going the way most of these stories go, there's a slight twist back to the hysterics that made these events possible. The epigraphical use of the Catholic church's Malleus Maleficarum as well as having the investigating friar use the book adds some historical weight.



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Review: You

You by Charles Benoit

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The first few pages in I thought I was going to hate this book. I didn't think that the story would support the second person POV, I thought that the main character wouldn't hold my interest, and I expected the supporting characters to be one dimensional because that's what usually happens in second person POV. I was wrong on all accounts. Fifteen year old Kyle has failed on so many of the levels that he others have set for him that he has almost failed himself. It is the "almost" that provides an opportunity for the intriquing new kid in school to open a window (literally and metaphorically) for Kyle to escape his downward spiral. To say any more would spoil a tremendously good dark story.



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Review: Scaramouche

Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I am truly ashamed that I had never heard of Sabatini before I went looking for a historical fiction about the French Revolution. I had no idea that "The Sea Hawk" "Captain Blood" were books before they were two of the best 1)Pirate, 2)Sword Fight, and 3)Errol Flynn movies of all time. Now I have discovered that the man who came up with those ideas also wrote a book that at least equals Dumas' "The Three Musketeers" in every way.



Andre-Louis, our hero in every way (and that is perhaps one of the few weaknesses of this book, as another reviewer points out, he's too perfect at everything he turns his hand to) starts life as a cynical young lawyer, raised to be a gentleman. Circumstances force him to see that the class system in late 18th century France isn't the way he wants to live, his wit and bravado put him in danger, and soon he is living a life incognito as Scaramouche, the actor (to live on forever in Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", no less). The Revolution rolls on, and Andre-Louis rolls with it, now reinventing himself as a fencing teacher. A very, very good fencing teacher, which leads him back into confrontation with the one man who caused his first run from the status quo. Along each of his lives, Andre-Louis runs across a woman he thinks of as his cousin, but only someone who's never read a historical romance can't see where that's going to end up. The ending is cliche for this genre, but the path to that finish is pure fantastic escapism.



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Review: The Tailor of Panama

The Tailor of Panama by John le Carré

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


My first le Carré, and although I understand that it's not his typical work, I can still understand why he's not only popular but well respected. This is a writer who is a master of the slow but never boring reveal. The setting is incredibly detailed without ever resorting to information dump, and every character breaths. If only the satire hadn't become so predictable, this would have been a really good book.



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