Tag: Books

Beside the Shore with L. M. Montgomery

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews5 Comments

L. M. Montgomery Reading ChallengeI’m continuing my wander through L. M. Montgomery for the L. M. Montgomery Reading Challenge, and it’s a good day to remark on a few more short stories and poetry.

I’ve moved over to another collection, Along the Shore, which collects various short stories with a seaside focus.  It can get a little repetitive if you read it straight through, but there are some gems in here.

“A Sandshore Wooing” is a delightful story, told in journal fashion.  Marguerite is at the seashore with her domineering aunt, a man-hater who believes her niece still needs “bringing up.”  Marguerite catches sight of–and catches the eye of–a young man on another part of the shore, who conveniently turns out to be the brother of an old friend.  They carry on a clandestine and unconventional courtship, mostly by way of spyglasses and sign-language.  It all works out rather neatly, but is very fun and sweet.

The story also reminds me of the first part of Rebecca, when the narrator carries on her romance with Maxim behind the back of her domineering employer.  There’s a similar feel of the young girl finding the courage to defy the harpy in her life.  As far as I know, however, Marguerite’s love interest doesn’t have a first wife!

“Fair Exchange and No Robbery” is another fun one.  Katherine bumps into her friend Edith’s fiance while on vacation at the shore, and finds herself in a dreadful mess when she likes him a bit too much.  Meanwhile, Edith meets Katherine’s fiance and…well, it’s not terribly shocking when it all works out.

I’ll defend Montgomery’s conveniently happy endings by noting that they don’t all end so pleasantly.  Just drawing examples from this volume, “The Waking of Helen” and “Mackereling Out in the Gulf” both center around unrequited love, and end tragically.

But anyway, I like Montgomery’s happy endings.  Some dreadful quote somewhere says that a short story should begin with a question and end with a bigger question (which results in stories that make me tear my hair out, figuratively speaking).  I like better Neil Gaiman’s description of short stories as adventures you can have and still be home in time for dinner.  Most of the time Montgomery’s short stories pose a puzzle or a problem for the main character, and resolve it by the end, which I find much more satisfactory than being left with a bigger question.

Perhaps another poem to wind up this post?  And since I’m reading her seaside short stories, here’s a sea-focused poem too, with lovely magical images.

The Voyagers

We shall launch our shallop on waters blue from some dim primrose shore,
We shall sail with the magic of dusk behind and enchanted coasts before,
Over oceans that stretch to the sunset land where lost Atlantis lies,
And our pilot shall be the vesper star that shines in the amber skies.

The sirens will call to us again, all sweet and demon-fair,
And a pale mermaiden will beckon us, with mist on her night-black hair;
We shall see the flash of her ivory arms, her mocking and luring face,
And her guiling laughter will echo through the great, wind-winnowed space.

But we shall not linger for woven spell, or sea-nymph’s sorceries,
It is ours to seek for the fount of youth, and the gold of Hesperides,
Till the harp of the waves in its rhythmic beat keeps time to our pulses’ swing,
And the orient welkin is smit to flame with auroral crimsoning.

And at last, on some white and wondrous dawn, we shall reach the fairy isle
Where our hope and our dream are waiting us, and the to-morrows smile;
With song on our lips and faith in our hearts we sail on our ancient quest,
And each man shall find, at the end of the voyage, the thing he loves the best.

Dragonflight Group Read, Week Two

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction17 Comments

We’re back for the concluding week of the Dragonflight Group Read, put on by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings.  There was a fantastic discussion ranging across several blogs last week (see my post and long comment thread), so I look forward to seeing everyone’s thoughts on the end of the book!

I gave a plot summary last week, so let’s just jump in today…

1.  The Threads are further explored and become very much the focal point in parts 3 and 4 of Dragonflight.  What are your thoughts on the Threads in general and how do you feel these worked as an enemy vs. the traditional enemies you see in SFF novels?

I wish we knew more about the Threads.  They’re generally treated as though they’re malevolent, and yet not sentient, or even properly “alive.”  So I guess the malevolence is mostly metaphorical.  At the same time, I wish I had a clearer picture of whether they are alive in a conventional sense, or have any kind of intelligence.  I think not–but there are just a few hints that make me think it would be fascinating if they were.  But presuming they’re not, I do think they work effectively as the antagonist in a man-versus-nature conflict.  They’re the ultimate natural disaster, capable of destroying all life completely, requiring an equally impressive protagonist in the dragons (and their riders) to fight back against them.

2. The science fictional concept of time travel becomes an important device in the later half of Dragonflight, how do you feel McCaffrey did in working time travel into the plot?

I really enjoyed the way the time travel played in, particularly the way Lessa and F’lar went back into their own pasts.  The circular nature of the way events played out will make my head hurt if I think about it too much, but ultimately I think it worked.  I would be skeptical about no other dragonriders stumbling on this–but I know in Moreta it’s revealed that other dragonriders did know in the past, so I’ll let that one go by.

3.  Of the new characters introduced in this second half of Dragonflight, who did you like/not like and why? 

I’m glad we have this question, because I really wanted to talk about some of the characters who came in later in the book.

Mostly I wanted to mention that I LOVE Masterharper Robinton!  He just has a small part here, but he’s one of my absolute favorite characters in all of Pern.  He’s so splendidly charming and just a truly good person and character.  Plus the harpers are really the storytellers of Pern, so how can I not love the Master Storyteller?  He has a much bigger part in The Harper Hall Trilogy, but his character comes through in Dragonflight too.

I also think Fandarel, the Mastersmith, is just wonderful.  He reminds me of Scotty, with his dedication to his craft.  He’s such a striking character too.  I can see him so vividly, physically looming and so entertaining in his mannerisms.

4.  We talked about it in the first discussion and there is no way we can get away from it in Part 2: What are your feelings on the progression of the relationship between F’lar and Lessa throughout this second half of the book?

I read the whole book before answering last week’s question, so the entire course of their relationship was influencing my earlier discussion on this subject.  I do think things get better in the second half of the book.  F’lar starts treating Lessa with more respect, and there’s more of a sense of the two of them working together on their problems.  And then, it becomes clearer that they really both care about each other.  I think I can ultimately like F’lar because he’s so devastated when Lessa disappears between times.  He does have a heart!

5.  And finally, what is your overall assessment of Dragonflight?  How does it measure up against other classic science fiction you’ve read?  Would you recommend it to modern readers, why or why not?

We talked some last week about this being influenced by its time of writing, but it doesn’t really feel like old science fiction to me, the way Burroughs or Asimov do.  I don’t know if it’s the style or the writing or something else, but it doesn’t feel particularly like it’s from another time in writing.

As to a recommendation, I probably would have recommended this before rereading…now I think if I want someone to read Pern, I’m going to push the Harper Hall Trilogy on them, and if they like that, then Dragonflight would be a good follow-up.  It’s not anything to do with whether it’s classic or not, but I think the Trilogy is a better introduction to the world, even though it’s set chronologically later (and I think I recall spoilers for Dragonflight).  Pern is a pleasanter place in the Trilogy, and I feel like I remember clearer explanations on some of the worldbuilding elements.

So I guess the conclusion for this question is that I’m recommending to all in the group-read that they should go on to read Dragonsong!

That actually segues nicely into the one other element I wanted to mention–the poetry!  I’m not a big poetry fan, but there are bits and pieces of Pernese Harper songs that have somehow worked into my mental landscape.  I really enjoy the peek it gives us into Pernese literature and culture.  And it’s often stirring or beautiful poetry!  Of course, part of the appeal of the Harper Hall Trilogy is that we get to explore life in amongst the people who write all that poetry.

I think that wraps things up…I really enjoyed revisiting Pern with the group, and I’m going to try to go back to a few other books throughout the year.

A big thanks to Carl for hosting, and to everyone who joined in–I’ve loved reading your thoughts. 🙂  Go here for everyone else’s posts!

The Callista Trilogy: Children of the Jedi

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction5 Comments

Children of the Jedi 1I’ve been having a delightful time in recent months, revisiting “a galaxy far, far away.”  For the Sci Fi Experience this year, I decided to revisit the Callista Trilogy.  The first book is Children of the Jedi by Barbara Hambly.  This book seems to get very little love from reviewers (based on some brief Googling) but while I don’t claim it’s perfect, I did have a wonderful time with it.

As usual for me, I remembered some details with absolute precision, while most of the book was full of surprises in things I’ve forgotten.  The story follows two plotlines that link up at the end.  And despite the title, it’s not at all about Han and Leia’s children.

Luke, C-3PO and two other friends set out to investigate a disturbance in the Force, ending up aboard the Eye of Palpatine.  It’s a massive battleship that has been hibernating in deep space for thirty years, and now has been mysteriously reactivated, intent on following its original programming to attack the planet of Belsavis.  Part of its programming involves picking up groups of Stormtroopers that were supposed to be waiting–but failing to find Stormtroopers, the ship picks up any sentient lifeforms it encounters, including Jawas, Tusken Raiders, a pig-like warrior race, and some even stranger creatures.  But the Eye of Palpatine also has another inhabitant–the spirit of a long-dead Jedi named Callista.

Meanwhile, Leia and Han are pursuing a rumor about a community where Jedi children were raised in the past.  It just happens to be on the planet of Belsavis…and there’s also intrigue and plots afoot.

This book has just about everything I could want in a Star Wars novel.  There are crazy-weird aliens–including a group that apparently resemble flowers, but have been indoctrinated to think they’re Stormtroopers, with hilarious consequences.  There’s an interesting enemy to fight–and in this case, mopping up traces of the Empire works, because it’s made personal and intriguing.  Leia gets to be awesome.  And Luke gets a girl!

We all know things really didn’t work out for Luke romantically in the movie trilogy, and most of the books seem not to have gone the direction of giving him much romance.  I actually like that–I think a “girl of the week” direction would have become old very fast.  So I think it makes it meaningful when there’s a romance here.  I don’t normally like stories where people fall in love very quickly, but somehow this one worked for me.  We get enough details on Callista and enough reflection from Luke that I felt fine with it.

I picked this one up again because I remembered the Luke-storyline, but I also found myself really enjoying Han and Leia.  Their storyline is good, but it’s mostly the two of them being together that I enjoy.  They’re a happily married romantic couple–how often do you see that in a book?  It seems like authors more often write about people who are falling in love, or people who are experiencing marital problems.  I love that there’s conflict in the story, but not between Han and Leia.

I’m very glad that the Star Wars novel universe at some point made the decision to have Han and Leia be together.  My guess is I have Timothy Zahn to thank for this, considering his landmark Thrawn trilogy has them married and expecting twins.  Of course the original film trilogy shows them falling in love–but it would have been so easy (maybe easier than not) to complicate things in the books, in order to create endless plotlines of falling in and out of love, bringing in triangles, and so on.  You know, the soap opera route.  The novels do have occasional bumps in the road (The Courtship of Princess Leia comes to mind), but on the whole, they seem to just be together.  And if they break up at some point later in the chronology than I’ve read, don’t tell me.  I don’t want to know!

Besides the Han and Leia pairing…every so often, I have these revelatory moments where it strikes me anew just how awesome Leia really is.  It’s not that I ever forget exactly–but now and then it just comes to me all over again.  It happened here when she had an opportunity to trail an enemy…and sets off to do it.  There’s no hesitation, there’s no moment of thinking maybe she should get one of the guys.  She just handles the situation.  Trouble ensues and, at the risk of a slight spoiler (but it’s not something surprising), Han and Chewie do eventually show up, more or less intending a rescue.  But when Han tells Leia to run, instead she comes up and hits the guy Han’s fighting with over the head.

There are other strong women in sci fi–but maybe I particularly love Leia in part because I love that she’s a cultural icon.  And she’s amazing.  She’s not amazing because she can hit a villain over the head.  She’s amazing because she’s married with three kids, leads the New Republic, doesn’t run around in revealing clothing most of the time (occasionally), can use the Force, is smart, capable and confident–and she can hit a villain over the head.  This is a fantastic woman to have as a cultural icon.  Love it.

This book also gives us some hints and bits about Leia’s life before the Rebellion, and now I want to read a prequel about Leia growing up.

If I have a criticism of the book, it’s that Luke is injured early on, and spends a lot of time dragging around fighting pain and fatigue.  The point gets a bit belabored.  I want to mentioned one other criticism I’ve seen elsewhere, which I would consider completely invalid–some of the references to the pre-trilogy time aren’t consistent with the new movie prequels.  But the book was written first, so you can’t blame the author for that.  And I’d just as soon pretend the prequels never happened, so I’m really not going to be bothered by something contradicting them.

Children of the Jedi 2One other fun and random note: a planet is referenced here named Neelgaimon.  I actually looked up the timeline on Neil Gaiman’s career, and while there was plenty he hadn’t done yet when this was written, he was active in some areas…  Coincidence?  Or incredibly cool tribute? 🙂

So all in all, I look forward to finishing the rest of the Callista trilogy.  And then I need to finally track down the books where Luke gets together with Mara Jade…because I’m intrigued by that too!

A Mother’s Quest

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews, Young AdultLeave a comment

Lowry SonLast week, I reviewed the first three books in Lois Lowry’s Giver quartet.  Today, I’m turning to book four, the recently-released Son.  Lowry does a wonderful job bringing together threads from all three of the previous books, and giving us a final conclusion.

This last book takes us back to the beginning of The Giver, and we see familiar events play out from a new point of view.  Jonas’ story in The Giver also involves Gabe, a baby boy whose future is in grave danger due to his “failure to thrive.”  In Jonas’ restrictive community, there’s no place for anyone who doesn’t perfectly fit the standards.

Son shifts the point of view to Claire, a girl who has been selected to be a Birthmother.  This is an assigned job like any other, and not an honored one.  Girls who are selected as Birthmothers spend a few years in the role, giving birth to three Products, and then going on to low-level labor for the rest of their lives.  Something goes wrong with Claire’s delivery, and she is shunted into a new role at the fish hatchery.  But she can’t stop thinking about her Product–her son.  Claire finds her way to the Nurturing center, and there she meets Jonas’ father, who is caring for her son, Gabe.

I’ve been trying to avoid spoilers, but I don’t think I can at this point–at the end of The Giver, Jonas escapes the community and takes Gabe with him.  In Son, Claire is devastated by this, and sets out on a desperate search to find her son.  She ends up in a shipwreck, washing ashore in a small, isolated village with no memories.  When her memories return, she resumes her quest, sacrificing everything to find Gabe.

It’s fascinating to go back to Jonas’ community, and to see it through Claire’s eyes.  I did spot a few inconsistencies, but considering the books were written 18 years apart, I’m impressed by how well Lowry did with the return.  The Giver showed us the community through the eyes of a twelve-year-old, while Son is from the perspective of independent young adults.  We learn more about life in the community, and there are extra details that add to what was already a brilliantly-painted picture.  There were comforting notes–I was relieved to see Jonas’ father expressing more concern over Gabe.  There were horrifying notes–we find out even more just how little bond there is between family members.

In some ways, Claire seemed a little too aware.  Part of the brilliance of Jonas’ character was that he simply didn’t know anything different, down to the level of not having the vocabulary to explain things he’s feeling.  Claire at times thinks about things that I don’t feel like she should even be aware of.  There’s some explanation for why Claire is different from the others around her, so mostly I believe it…but it was just a tiny bit off at times.

Son gives us a fourth community when Claire washes ashore.  This one felt like a medieval fishing village, maybe in Scotland or Ireland.  The community is close-knit and kind, for the most part.  They do turn judgmental when it becomes known that unmarried-Claire had given birth to a son.  Which is rather ironic, considering.  It didn’t occur to me reading The Giver, but the community has basically made an institution out of virgin birth–all the Birthmothers are impregnated using science.

One of my favorite characters in the book is in the fishing village–and it’s annoying me to no end that I can’t remember his name!  I already sent the book back to the library, and Google is not helping me here.  I’m bad at character names, so anyone out there want to help me out?  He has his own horrible past, and his attempt to climb out of the cliffs surrounding the village has left him crippled–but given him the knowledge to become Claire’s mentor as she continues her own quest.  I’m a big fan of gruff, antisocial characters who turn out to have unexpected depth and hearts of gold.  That part of the story is ultimately very bittersweet.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the story does take us eventually to the village from Messenger, where we get to see Jonas, Kira and Gabe, as well as the return of an old villain.  The one thing in this book that makes me happiest may be a relatively small plot thread that confirms happy endings for Jonas and Kira.  Messenger gives us some hints, and it’s so nice to have a definite conclusion!  I usually hate ambiguous endings in books.

I won’t tell you the end of Claire’s story, of course, but I just want to comment that she does undergo incredible struggles.  As heartbreaking as it often is, it feels right somehow too–the world is so thoroughly messed up, I wouldn’t have believed that it could be easily solved.

The first three books have a definite theme around the things that can dehumanize us.  I think Son is about keeping your humanity in the face of those threats.  Claire loves her son despite living in a society that barely understands the word; the people in the fishing village care for one another despite their relative poverty; and certain characters manage to resist greed in favor of things that are more important.

Thematically and plotwise, Son is an immensely satisfying conclusion.  Before I read it, I wondered if it would really be the end–after all, Messenger was supposed to be the end too.  But Son feels much more like The End.  The one plot thread that didn’t feel resolved relates back to Jonas’ community.  There are hints that things changed drastically after Jonas (and Claire) left, but we don’t find out details.  I could imagine a fifth book relating to those event, but it would be much more removed from the others in the series.

Barring that, I think we can pretty safely put the end onto the story.  So if I find a nice set of four, I’m buying it!

Author’s Site: http://loislowry.com/

Other reviews:
Literary Treats
Waking Brain Cells
Slatebreakers
And many more.  Tell me about yours!

Buy it here: Son by Lois Lowry

January in Prince Edward Island

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews1 Comment

L. M. Montgomery Reading ChallengeI am racing about in a flurry of science fiction this month, but in between the aliens and the dinosaurs and the superheroes, I’m also visiting beautiful Prince Edward Island for the L. M. Montgomery Reading Challenge.  So far I’ve been wandering through short stories and a bit of poetry, so this Friday I thought I’d remark on a few of the ones I’ve visited.

I have a funny relationship with L. M. Montgomery.  More than any other, she’s the writer I feel like I’m always reading.  Not literally, but with two books of poetry, 199 short stories, and five enormous journals, it’s always easy to pick up a bit of Montgomery.  And that’s not even counting more concentrated reading in a novel.  But I dip in and out of her short stories on a fairly regular basis.  I own every available collection, so rather than reading any one straight through, I’m spending this month bouncing to whatever story strikes my fancy.  And whichever poem I have a hankering for.

“Old Man Shaw’s Girl” in The Chronicles of Avonlea is a lovely story, quite sentimental but very sweet.  Old Man Shaw’s neighbors think he’s a bit shiftless and lazy and has never made much of his farm, and maybe that’s true–but he also knows how to enjoy life and value what’s really important.  His only family is his beloved daughter, who has been away for three years at school.  He is eagerly anticipating her return–until a meddling neighbor points out how much the girl may have changed.

“A Dinner of Herbs” in At the Altar is one of my very favorites of LMM’s short stories.  Very little happens but it’s delightful and romantic.  Old maid Robin must choose between marrying a widower she doesn’t much like, or continuing to put up with her domineering sister-in-law and chattering niece.  And she’s terribly fascinated by Michael, the shell-shocked war veteran next door, with his two cats (First Peter and Second Peter) and love of natural beauty.  This story is rich in its simplicity, and the dialogue between Robin and Michael brings them to life as much as any characters I’ve met.  It occurred to me rereading this that there are definite echoes of this story in The Blue Castle–or the other way around, I don’t know which came first.  And I LOVE The Blue Castle.

This story also provides one of my favorite quotes from anywhere: “They had laughed together the first time they had talked, and when two people have laughed–really laughed–together, they are good friends for life.”

I keep Montgomery’s poetry collections by my bed and occasionally read a poem or two.  I’m not even a fan of poetry, but I love her poems for some of the same reasons I love her books–she makes the world so much more beautiful than anything my eyes can see.

So I thought I’d end by sharing one of my favorites.  I’ve no idea if it’s great poetry, and I do know occasionally the rhyme or the meter jangles.  But the concept–and the images!  Lovely.

And having read her journals, well…even though she wrote this before her beloved friend Frede died, it’s still about Frede.  It just is.  If Montgomery ever looked at this one again later, I KNOW she was thinking of Frede.

As the Heart Hopes

It is a year, dear one, since you afar
Went out beyond my yearning mortal sight­
A wondrous year! perchance in many a star
You have sojourned, or basked within the light
Of mightier suns; it may be you have trod
The glittering pathways of the Pleiades,
And through the Milky Way’s white mysteries
Have walked at will, fire-shod.

You may have gazed in the immortal eyes
Of prophets and of martyrs; talked with seers
Learned in all the lore of Paradise,
The infinite wisdom of eternal years;
To you the Sons of Morning may have sung,
The impassioned strophes of their matin hymn,
For you the choirs of the seraphim
Their harpings wild out-flung.

But still I think at eve you come to me
For old, delightsome speech of eye and lip,
Deeming our mutual converse thus to be
Fairer than archangelic comradeship;
Dearer our close communings fondly given
Than all the rainbow dreams a spirit knows,
Sweeter my gathered violets than the rose
Upon the hills of heaven.

Can any exquisite, unearthly morn,
Silverly breaking o’er a starry plain,
Give to your soul the poignant pleasure born
Of virgin moon and sunset’s lustrous stain
When we together watch them ? Oh, apart
A hundred universes you may roam,
But still I know–­I know­–your only home
Is here within my heart!