The bookwench returns!
For a moment I feared this project would fail before it even got off the ground, but then I recalled my determination to remain positive. And besides, it's really not all that difficult to hop on over and write when I'm already sitting here at the computer anyway.
In the past couple of days I've already digested a couple of new titles, unsurprisingly. In the book world, much as with most DVDs, CDs, software, and video games (though not movies in the theaters), new product hits the shelves on Tuesdays. Some things get shifted to more prominent dates (such as Harry Potter, which was conveniently on a Friday night/Saturday morning so that those lucky enough to have weekends off had plenty of time to dig right in without suffering much from their late-night adventures in Rowling's world) but the majority of new titles release on that one special day.
A quick bit of Googling (you'll find that Google is one of my best friends as I continue to seek out and absorb new and usually irrelevant information) seems to suggest that Monday is just too 'blah' for getting the interest of consumers, and by Friday (and through the weekend) people are more interested in going out and taking care of all they've put off during the week. This mindset, apparently, leaves people receptive on those three middle days, and Tuesday is just the earliest opportunity to get all the new and exciting things out there for buying and selling and, of course, tracking sales trends.
But I digress (hah).
Tuesday rolled around, and as I waited for the steady stream of regular coffee junkies to start streaming in for their morning hit, I browsed the cart of books that were set for release that day. One I was already aware of, Kate Mosse's Sepulchre; I'd actually started a stealth-read from the same new release cart a couple of days previous while taking a lunch break in the back room. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much given my lukewarm reception of her previous effort, Labyrinth. But I'm a sucker for those historical thrillers that parallel stories in the past and present, and there was an element of mysticism as well (a French Tarot deck features prominently in the plot) that appealed to me, so I figured I would give it a chance.
My plans for getting back to Sepulchre were immediately diverted, however, when I spotted a new Jim Butcher title on the other side of the cart. Could it be? A new Dresden Files book? It was! I generally try to keep on top of release dates for series that I've enjoyed, but I'd managed to miss this one completely. We'd only gotten five copies, as opposed to the rather formdiable quantity of Mosse's book, so I reasoned that I would get it out of the way first and then move on to the thicker book which was much less likely to sell out before I could get my hands on it. So I claimed a copy of Small Favor for myself, going so far as to sneak it over to the cafe, peeking inside and getting through the first couple of chapters rather furtively, between lattes.
There were a few other titles that caught my eye which I'll probably go searching after now that I've finished both of these other titles.
Yes, I've actually managed to get through both of them already; Sepulchre just this morning.
I can't say that either book was so compelling that I'll feel obliged to recommend it to friends or customers, but neither was a total disappointment, at that.
Both were, admittedly, fluff sort of reading. Nothing serious, just read for the sheer pleasure of reading, meeting new characters and spending time with old friendly ones.
Small Favor is going to be well-received by anyone who's a fan of the books already. My husband snagged it out of my bag while he was waiting for me to finish up a hair cut and he seemed interested even though he's never read any of the other books and has only seen a few minutes of the show, at most.
The plot might have been a bit crowded, as it seemed like a push to get all the story's threads woven together by the end of the book, but the universe that Butcher has created is a diverse and demanding one, and I didn't enjoy the book any less because of it. You wouldn't expect wizards, holy paladins, faerie minions, and vampires to adapt so well to modern-day Chicago, but as always, I'm entertained by the translation.
I did, however, finish it off in almost no time at all, and was ready to get going on Sepulchre by Wednesday morning.
The general opinion, after finishing, is a resounding 'meh.' Which...isn't at all unlike my reaction to Labyrinth. I think my own point of view is a bit less receptive, if only because I started out in the genre with Katherine Neville's The Eight, which, while not a perfect manuscript by any means, has always been my first true love. In fact, as I began reading Sepulchre, I couldn't help but to wonder if Mosse had spent some time reading Neville herself, as some of the settings and "gambits" of the story seemed to echo the earlier novel.
Some Googling (see, there it is again) turned up a lot of matches for people who were fans of both authors or had both on their reading lists, but that's to be expected when they inhabit the same story-space.
Anyway--the story is entertaining enough. Female protagonist seeking clues to a fogged past spends time in a new place, becomes entangled in multiple mysterious circumstances that eventually lead to the connection and clarification of all. Simultaneous backstory happens in same location but many years past, and runs forward to the culmination of events that lead to main character's foggy past. Mysterious artifacts (in this case, a deck of Tarot cards) and strange situations (demons, music, an old estate) are invoked, bad guys emerge, and eventually the characters find the artifacts, beat the bad guys, and unravel the heroine's history to find some sort of Happily Ever After.
I can't say that Katherine Neville didn't use the very same template, but she did do it more elegantly and with a greater complexity, and about twenty years ago, to boot.
(Katherine Neville's sequel to The Eight, The Fire, releases in October 2008. I'm looking forward to finding out if she's still got it after all these years.)
