Not Dead!

Hello dear readers!

This is just a PSA that I'm not dead. I've been very busy with work, and I haven't read anything really rant-worthy for a bit. I do still have a stack of recommendations some of you have offered me, which I'm looking forward to reading. More grumps will be forthcoming over the Thanksgiving weekend, I hope, or failing that, in December. Thanks for reading!

Review: "Nine Goblins" by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon)

Only an utter lunkhead wants responsibility, which is why goblin commanders are traditionally chosen for their stupidity. Unfortunately, Sergeant Nessilka is just clever enough to know that she's in way over her head. Keeping the Nineteenth Infantry safe from elven warriors, poison ivy, and poorly-constructed goblin machinery is a 24/7 job, without vacation days or a dental plan.

A wizard's spell gone awry lands Nessilka and the Whinin' Nineteenth miles behind enemy lines. What's worse, the forest stinks of elves and the human farmlands lie abandoned in that eerie fashion that typically begins a ghost story around the campfire. Getting her nine soldiers home will take Nessilka far more wit and luck than any goblin commander has.

The elven veterinarian Sings-To-Trees isn't terribly concerned about the goblins in his zucchini patch. After a few decades of delivering baby unicorns, patching up trolls, and taking the hands-on solution to eggbound cockatrices, little disturbs him. But with the goblins comes a whiff of strange, dark magic, and visions of ghastly creatures even he has never seen. He can't say for certain whether Nessilka and her goblins are to blame--but if they don't figure it out fast, all of them could be in much bigger trouble than anyone bargained for.

***   4 out of 5 stars (grump below the cut) ***

Review: "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn

On the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy Dunne disappears from their Missouri home--and her husband, Nick, looks like the reason.

Nick scrambles to find a suitable alibi, desperately redirecting the investigation towards any suspect but himself. Meanwhile, Amy's diary entries reveal a portrait of a marriage gone sour. Gracious wife, beloved only child, the inspiration for an award-winning book series--it is unthinkable that anyone could wish harm on such a lovely woman.

But Nick has harbored resentment against his bride for years, envious of her inherited wealth, exasperated by her city-girl lifestyle. As his excuses run thin and his secrets come to light, all the signs point to his guilt.

But no one can answer the question: what happened to Amy?


***   4 out of 5 stars (grump below the cut) ***   

Review: "Shards of Honor" by Lois McMaster Bujold

This was the only reasonable cover
I could find. The worst offenders
are displayed for your amusement
below the cut.

When Commander Cordelia Naismith's survey expedition is massacred in a Barrayan attack. Stranded in an alien wilderness, she joins forces with the enemy: Admiral Captain Vorkosigan, left for dead by a mutiny within the Barrayan forces. The history of war between their cultures is long and ugly--but the partnership forged over their long trek to safety is stronger still.

Now a prisoner of the Barrayans who rescued Vorkosigan, Cordelia is divided between her duty to her people and her personal loyalty to the man who crossed a planet with her. Intrigue and treason threatens Vorkosigan from his own people. Meanwhile, the survivors of Cordelia's crew team up with the mutineers in a desperate attempt to rescue her.

As far as the warlike Barrayans are concerned, the astrocartographer is no threat: she's no fighter, she's a woman, she's an unarmed prisoner. From where Cordelia stands, though, she holds the power of life and death: for herself, for Vorkosigan, and for both of their ways of life.


***   4 out of 5 stars (grump below the cut) ***   

Review: "Bloodhound" by Tamora Pierce

(Bloodhound is the second book in a series. I reviewed Terrier, the first book , here.)

***

Beka Cooper has survived her training year in the Provost's Guard--but those who said the work would get easier with time were lying. Her ruthlessness in pursuit of justice has won her a number of enemies, both among the criminals of the Lower City and among her fellow Dogs.

Rejected by a string of partners, Cooper teams back up with her old mentor Goodwin. The pair leaves Corus for Port Caynn on a top-priority mission for the Provost himself--to track down the culprits behind a spate of counterfeit silver coins that are ruining Tortall.

They find Port Caynn in the grip of the underworld's Rogue, who isn't half so kindly disposed towards Cooper as the Rogue of Corus. Cooper and Goodwin are on their own in a city full of strangers while the lower classes turn to riot, with false money crashing the market and food running scarce in a bad season.

***   4 out of 5 stars (grump below the cut) ***

Filing Systems and the Mystery of "Mystery"

After doing a bit of research on other book review blogs, I cleaned up the tags system and added a "file by label" system (over there to your right.) This way, dear reader, if you're interested in reading my grumps just in a certain genre, it's easy to find. Perhaps in time I'll add a "file by star rating" list as well.

While reassigning labels to these book grumps, I got stuck on how many of them can be called "mysteries." Even without the trappings of trench coats and forensic kits (or, depending on your taste in mysteries, cats), whodunits are found in absolutely every genre.

I now propose my own version of the "only [n] plots in the world" theory: there are three.

• Get the thing
• Defeat the thing
• Find out who did the thing

For fairness' sake, I'm only going to use the "mystery" tag if the book specifically describes itself as such.