Infidel's in the House of Reviews
Nov. 7th, 2011 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHey,
So I read a couple of books and now I can talk about them. Both of them are sequels.
The first is Infidel by Kameron Hurley. This is the follow-on novel to God's War which I read and enjoyed earlier. Once again we return to the world of Umayma settled by Muslim peoples and terraformed by magicians wielding bugs (both insectile and viral) and follow the continuing story of Nyx, former Bel Dame and now just a very deadly and somewhat self-destructive bounty hunter as she works to scratch out a living and tries to avoid losing her head in the process.
In this particular volume, her former Bel Dame compatriots have a bit of a political split that contaminates an entire city and sends Nyx off to find her old teammates to try and find out who's gone rogue and needs to be put down. But really, this book really swirls around those teammates more than Nyx herself. Nyx is more of a hurricane that sweeps up their carefully constructed new lives and sends them scattering.
The writing remains strong, the world-building continues to be fascinating, but I was less taken with the plot. Nyx spends most of the book being incapacitated to one degree or another and she just doesn't come across as a badass. It would be interesting if she were becoming a more cerebral character, molding her crew into a well-honed knife that she can use against her enemies, but it never really picks up. Mercifully, it doesn't end on any cliff-hanger although there's most likely another book in the works.
On the other hand, Master of the House of Darts by Aliette de Bodard, the third novel in her Obsidian Blood series of Aztec Fantasy/Mystery novels continues to be a strong series that's a joy to read.
For this series, we're taken back to the latter days of the Aztec Empire where magic is very real and the gods something to watch out for. Actal, High Priest of the God of Death, is attending the triumphant return of the coronation war of the new Emperor when a warrior drops dead from a magical sickness. The Emperor is keen to prevent anything from spoiling his ascension, but soon enough, the dead warrior's sickness starts to spread and Actal suspects a plot to bring down the empire. But the list of potential suspects is long and time is short.
As always, the author has done her homework and happily discusses her research with the reader at the end of the book. Obviously, she take liberties with the official history, but she works hard to make the little details of Aztec life conform to current understanding and that's what makes the books work so well. You're firmly planted in a culture wildly different from our modern era and even the fantastical elements are very strongly tied to it. So you really have the feel of being in an "authentic" fantasy setting. The story clips along pretty well. They never conveniently remember some facet of magic in order to resolve a plot point and everything hangs together well.
All in all, this has been a fun series and highly recommended.
later
Tom
So I read a couple of books and now I can talk about them. Both of them are sequels.
The first is Infidel by Kameron Hurley. This is the follow-on novel to God's War which I read and enjoyed earlier. Once again we return to the world of Umayma settled by Muslim peoples and terraformed by magicians wielding bugs (both insectile and viral) and follow the continuing story of Nyx, former Bel Dame and now just a very deadly and somewhat self-destructive bounty hunter as she works to scratch out a living and tries to avoid losing her head in the process.
In this particular volume, her former Bel Dame compatriots have a bit of a political split that contaminates an entire city and sends Nyx off to find her old teammates to try and find out who's gone rogue and needs to be put down. But really, this book really swirls around those teammates more than Nyx herself. Nyx is more of a hurricane that sweeps up their carefully constructed new lives and sends them scattering.
The writing remains strong, the world-building continues to be fascinating, but I was less taken with the plot. Nyx spends most of the book being incapacitated to one degree or another and she just doesn't come across as a badass. It would be interesting if she were becoming a more cerebral character, molding her crew into a well-honed knife that she can use against her enemies, but it never really picks up. Mercifully, it doesn't end on any cliff-hanger although there's most likely another book in the works.
On the other hand, Master of the House of Darts by Aliette de Bodard, the third novel in her Obsidian Blood series of Aztec Fantasy/Mystery novels continues to be a strong series that's a joy to read.
For this series, we're taken back to the latter days of the Aztec Empire where magic is very real and the gods something to watch out for. Actal, High Priest of the God of Death, is attending the triumphant return of the coronation war of the new Emperor when a warrior drops dead from a magical sickness. The Emperor is keen to prevent anything from spoiling his ascension, but soon enough, the dead warrior's sickness starts to spread and Actal suspects a plot to bring down the empire. But the list of potential suspects is long and time is short.
As always, the author has done her homework and happily discusses her research with the reader at the end of the book. Obviously, she take liberties with the official history, but she works hard to make the little details of Aztec life conform to current understanding and that's what makes the books work so well. You're firmly planted in a culture wildly different from our modern era and even the fantastical elements are very strongly tied to it. So you really have the feel of being in an "authentic" fantasy setting. The story clips along pretty well. They never conveniently remember some facet of magic in order to resolve a plot point and everything hangs together well.
All in all, this has been a fun series and highly recommended.
later
Tom
