Librarian Picks
- Princeps Fury by Jim Butcher
- Turn Coat by Jim Butcher
For anyone who follows this page, you know that I am a huge fan of Jim Butcher. So it should not come as a surprise that I am about to suggest his latest book in the Dresden Files series Turn Coat . As it so happened the book was released while I was on vacation so I got to enjoy reading the book in uninterrupted bliss. It has all the characters magic and intrigue that makes this series a great read.
This is the 11th book in the series and Butcher brings back some old characters to help Harry fight a new and old enemies. No Longer is Harry just fighting monsters, though there are those, but he is finally able to investigate who may be a member of the Black Council. The twist to this is that he is doing so to save the life of Morgan, a fanatical Warden that has been after Harry's head since the series began.
The Dresden Files series has always had a lot to offer in the way of action, adventure, strong male and female characters, and plot twists and turns, that keep people like me interested. I sat down and devoured this book in 14 hours of straight reading. So yes I suggest that people that like the mixture of modern world with fantasy elements this is a great read.
(Publishers Weekly) The search for a traitor in the highest circles of power forms the main plot thread of Butcher's 11th hard-boiled fantasy novel featuring Chicago's wizard detective Harry Dresden (last seen in 2008's Small Favor). Harry, a warden of the magic-governing White Council, finds himself in an unusual position when Morgan, his fellow warden and frequent antagonist, asks for his help. One of the White Council's leaders has been murdered, and Morgan was found at the scene of the crime holding the murder weapon. If he has been framed, then another senior wizard is behind the killing and may be trying to destroy the council entirely. Aided by werewolf and vampire allies, Dresden investigates with his trademark sardonic noir flair. Despite the sprawling plot, both fans and newcomers will get into the fast-paced action.
Oh wait a minute, there are two books listed above, since I was on vacation, I had the opportunity to read many books, and since two of them were written by Jim Butcher, I figured I should do them both at the same time.
Princeps' Fury is a return to the world of Alera, where Young Tavi has grown into manhood and has been proclaimed Princep of the Empire. Though he is not as strong in the use of Furies (magical entities of the elements) he uses his brains to defeat, befriend and ally himself with enemies. I have also talked about this series in the past as well, and it too gets better and better.
This is a more traditional fantasy book that takes place on a distant world where the elements are controlled by magical furies, and to survive humans adapted and started to manifest strong relations with the the elements on their own. The series is also more traditional in that it focuses on big battles and political maneuvering for power.
Both of these books are great reads, I suggest them and the series they belong to, for anyone that likes great characters, magic, monsters and intelligent/sarcastic writing.
From the Publisher
Tavi of Calderon, now recognized as Princeps Gaius Octavian and heir to the crown, has achieved a fragile alliance with Alera's oldest foes, the savage Canim. But when Tavi and his legions guide the Canim safely to their lands, his worst fears are realized.
The dreaded Vord-the enemy of Aleran and Cane alike-have spent the last three years laying waste to the Canim homeland. And when the Alerans are cut off from their ships, they find themselves with no choice but to fight shoulder to shoulder if they are to survive.
For a thousand years, Alera and her furies have withstood every enemy, and survived every foe.
The thousand years are over . . .
- The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran
In ancient Egypt, a forgotten princess must overcome her family's past and remake history.
The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the Eighteenth Dynasty's royal family—all with the exception of Nefertari, the niece of the reviled former queen, Nefertiti. The girl's deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. A relic of a previous reign, Nefertari is pushed aside, an unimportant princess left to run wild in the palace. But this changes when she is taken under the wing of the Pharaoh's aunt, then brought to the Temple of Hathor, where she is educated in a manner befitting a future queen.
Soon Nefertari catches the eye of the Crown Prince, and despite her family's history, they fall in love and wish to marry. Yet all of Egypt opposes this union between the rising star of a new dynasty and the fading star of an old, heretical one. While political adversity sets the country on edge, Nefertari becomes the wife of Ramesses the Great. Destined to be the most powerful Pharaoh in Egypt, he is also the man who must confront the most famous exodus in history.
Sweeping in scope and meticulous in detail, The Heretic Queen is a novel of passion and power, heartbreak and redemption.
- The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
“The book of Negroes” is a well researched, poignant, historical novel. An exciting and pleasurable read, it takes the reader from Africa to America to Canada and back to Africa. It is the story of Aminata Diallo stolen as a child from her village in Africa but who against all odds survives and grows up to become a strong, compassionate woman who never forgets her roots and involves herself in anyway to help the plight of slaves.
From Publisher's Weekly
Stunning, wrenching and inspiring, the fourth novel by Canadian novelist Hill (Any Known Blood ) spans the life of Aminata Diallo, born in Bayo, West Africa, in 1745. The novel opens in 1802, as Aminata is wooed in London to the cause of British abolitionists, and begins reflecting on her life. Kidnapped at the age of 11 by British slavers, Aminata survives the Middle Passage and is reunited in South Carolina with Chekura, a boy from a village near hers. Her story gets entwined with his, and with those of her owners: nasty indigo producer Robinson Appleby and, later, Jewish duty inspector Solomon Lindo. During her long life of struggle, she does what she can to free herself and others from slavery, including learning to read and teaching others to, and befriending anyone who can help her, black or white. Hill handles the pacing and tension masterfully, particularly during the beginnings of the American revolution, when the British promise to free Blacks who fight for the British: Aminata's related, eventful travels to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone follow. In depicting a woman who survives history's most trying conditions through force of intelligence and personality, Hill's book is a harrowing, breathtaking tour de force.
- Diary of Interrupted Days by Dragan Todorovic
On April 22, 1999, one month into the NATO offensive against Serbia, Boris Bulic stands on the last barely functioning bridge over the Danube into Belgrade, watching bombs fall on the city he used to call home. His hired car has broken down on the bridge, and though his instincts command him to run to one side of the river or the other to escape the NATO jets, he stands transfixed by the surreal power of the scene. He is also transfixed by the waves of painful and bittersweet memories that brought him to his current impasse.
Many novels would quickly wilt under the load of such a dramatically symbolic opening, but debut novelist Dragan Todorovic (author of the non-fiction work The Book of Revenge) wisely returns the action to a more human scale, moving the story back in time to the first of several interconnecting narratives that will, by the novel's equally powerful ending, return the reader to Boris's vigil above the Danube.
Grainger, James. Quill & Quire, April 2009.
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