The theme for my book club this month is joy and when I googled joyful books this one came up.
Here’s the blurb …
A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.
When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.
But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.
An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.
I would call this a ‘romantasy’. It is very warm and cozy, and the characters are charming. I don’t think I am the target audience for it, I found it a bit didactic (a bit too much respect everyone, include everyone, etc.) I think I needed a bit more conflict.
This is How You Lose The Time War – Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
The theme for my book club this month is ‘letters’. I wanted to read an epistolary novel and this one seemed to come up in everyone’s list. (I’m also reading Dictionary People by Sarah Ogilvie – more on that another time).
Here’s the blurb …
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.
Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.
I loved this novel. The writing is beautiful, poetic and moving. The plot is a confusing at first, but stick with it, it will all come together and make sense.
When we were in London, we visited The Forbidden Planet book store. While waiting for the other members of my family to browse, get excited, etc. I picked up this one.
Here’s the blurb …
If the whole of History lay before you, where would you go?
When Dr Madeleine Maxwell is recruited by the St Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, she discovers the historians there don’t just study the past – they revisit it.
But one wrong move and History will fight back – to the death. And Max soon discovers it’s not just History she’s fighting…
This was my second time travelling novel in a short period of time (the other being The Ministry of Time), so I am hoping I don’t mix up plots.
I enjoyed this, the writing was good – I never got dragged out of the story by a clunky sentence. Who hasn’t wanted to travel back in time and see things first hand? I am not sure I would choose to go back to the time of the dinosaurs, but seeing the library definitely. I also appreciated how all of the space-time continuum issues were solved. Plus there was a bit of romance, comradery, and a bit of an ethical conundrum.
This is a good entry point into fantasy for someone.
This is the first of my holiday reading (I went to the UK and France). This book was everywhere, so I decided to give it a go.
Here’s the blurb …
A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley.
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.
She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.
Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.
An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks: What does it mean to defy history, when history is living in your house? Kaliane Bradley’s answer is a blazing, unforgettable testament to what we owe each other in a changing world.
I enjoyed this novel. The writing, the world-building, and the characters were all magnificent. It made me think about time travel in a new way – how hard would it be to travel to the future (particularly the one who came from the 16th century – although she didn’t seem to find it difficult) and then have to acclimatise and fit in?
When I was in London, I went to the maritime museum and there was a whole section on Franklin’s Lost Expedition – they have the Victory Point Note and many artifacts from the doomed expedition. It was very interesting.
While this is science fiction – there is time travel after all, it’s probably more crime, thriller or adventure. It could also be called a romantasy (but I think it has more to say than a typical romantasy). There is something mysterious going on at the Ministry of Time – strange people and weapons. So if SciFi is not your thing, don’t be put off you will still enjoy this novel. It has things to say about the strength of the human spirit, and about climate change, and about selfishness or self-repservation.
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England – Brandon Sanderson
My daughter loves Brandon Sanderson novels and when I saw that this was a stand-alone novel and not too thick, I decided to give it a go.
Here’s the blurb …
A man awakens in a clearing in what appears to be medieval England with no memory of who he is, where he came from, or why he is there. Chased by a group from his own time, his sole hope for survival lies in regaining his missing memories, making allies among the locals, and perhaps even trusting in their superstitious boasts. His only help from the “real world” should have been a guidebook entitled The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, except his copy exploded during transit. The few fragments he managed to save provide clues to his situation, but can he figure them out in time to survive?
This was lots of fun to read – witty and a bit tongue in cheek. In fact, it reminded me of Jasper FForde’s The Last Dragonslayer (the style or the humour not the plot). I think it would make a great movie or TV series.
Originally published in 1998, this shockingly prescient novel’s timely message of hope and resistance in the face of fanaticism is more relevant than ever.
In 2032, Lauren Olamina has survived the destruction of her home and family, and realized her vision of a peaceful community in northern California based on her newly founded faith, Earthseed. The fledgling community provides refuge for outcasts facing persecution after the election of an ultra-conservative president who vows to “make America great again.” In an increasingly divided and dangerous nation, Lauren’s subversive colony–a minority religious faction led by a young black woman–becomes a target for President Jarret’s reign of terror and oppression.
Years later, Asha Vere reads the journals of a mother she never knew, Lauren Olamina. As she searches for answers about her own past, she also struggles to reconcile with the legacy of a mother caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future.
Like the first one, this is told through Lauren’s journals, but there are other voices (or written testaments) as well. Bankole, Marc and Asha all tell part of the story from their perspective. These books are eerily prescient; global warming, communities breaking down, democracy breaking down, survival of the fittest and the rise of right-wing christian groups. There’s violence and despair, but hope too.
I am not sure where I first heard about this author, but we took Miss P to visit Stefan’s books (definitely worth a visit) and there it was on the shelf.
It was very prescient. My copy has it first being published in 1993 and here it is 2021 and the US is retreating into chaos and madness.
Here’s the blurb …
When global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos in the early 2020s, California becomes full of dangers, from pervasive water shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day.
Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarchy. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others’ pain.
Precocious and clear-eyed, Lauren must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith…and a startling vision of human destiny.
I found it compelling and I am looking forward to another trip to Stefan’s to pick up the next book The Parable of the Talents.
