Sharpe's Triumph - Bernard Cornwell

Richard Sharpe. I cannot wait until I catch up to the Napoleon books and can actually tune in to see Sean Bean survive past the first episode. Also, I love that Bernard Cornwell decided to write these prequels because he loved Sean Bean's performance so much. It's the same way Cornwell loves Alexander Dreymon who plays my boyfriend Uhtred in the Last Kingdom series.

If it means more books, then I'm all for the love of page to screen. This book happens right after Sharpe's Tiger. Sharpe is still in India, but now he's a sergeant. It's great to see that Sharpe hasn't witnessed any real fighting yet and is afraid of how he'll perform. But he is sought out by Colonel McCandless to try to track down a Lieutenant Dodd who has left the East India Company after being accused of murder and has taken up with some local militias to fight the British.

Of course there is some intrigue and blast it! Obediah Hakeswell has survived and is out to kill Sharpe. There is a damsel in distress as well. Sharpe manages to dodge it all and fight with distinction on the battle field saving the general's life and earning his ensign rank in the process. Of course the battle is immense and difficult but Cornwell does such a good job describing military maneuvers and tactics. I quite enjoy all of it.

On to Trafalgar for me and Sharpe.

4/5 Stars. 

Down Among the Sticks and Bones - Seanan McGuire

 

I just love these little Wayward Children stories. Down Among the Sticks and Bones follows the backstory of twins Jacqueline and Jillian as they find a doorway to the Moors. Children of cold distant parents, Jacq and Jill each find their way in the Moors. Jacq becomes the apprentice to Dr. Bleak. Jill becomes the child in training to The Master, a vampire who both protects and feeds off the local village.

The Moors is a hard place but both Jacq and Jill seem to find their place. Except that Jill is under the tutelage of a jealous narcissistic vampire and she's already terribly insecure. Their parents had assigned roles for them to play as children and they were not allowed to deviate. So when the Master assigns Jill her role she plays it to a T, all while basking in his supposed love. We all know from Every Heart A Doorway where this entire thing ends up, but it was still very shocking to see the twins before they ended up at the Home for Wayward Children. Little surprise their parents placed them there after their return from the Moors.

For such short books, these stories are bursting with detail and imagery. I'm already teeing up the next one to listen to.

5/5 Stars

The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett

Stella and Desiree are twins who grow up in Mallard, Louisiana where the lightness of your skin is prized above all else. When the girls leave as teens, they shock the town who see nothing wrong with the place they live.

The book begins with Desiree returning to town with her dark child in tow. What has become of Stella we don't know but it is eventually teased out over the course of the book. Desiree rebelled against Mallard by going to DC eventually and working for the FBI as a fingerprint examiner. She married a dark man and had a dark child. But when the man ended up being violent and abusive she went back to Mallard. Preferring to live a smaller life of safety even if it meant returning to Mallard. Desiree puts no value on the lightness of her skin. And she guides her daughter through the difficulty of living in that environment.

We then find out that Stella left New Orleans without telling her sister. Passing as white and living under a cloud of shame. She can never fully relax, can never be herself truly as she knows the cost to her life if anyone were to find out her secret. She makes a life for herself and then eventually, through her daughter, finds some way to pursue the studies and qualities of herself that she has suppressed for so long. There is so much narrative tension created through all the Stella chapters. Brit Bennett does a remarkable job stretching that out for the reader.

The book then moves on to Stella and Desiree's daughters. The two could not be more different but as they learn about each other it makes them explore the ways they are similar and what their lives have meant. This book is beautifully written. Even the minor male characters are so well drawn by the pages I can see them in my mind.

The Vanishing Half is a joy to read, even as it tackles some very deep family rifts and personal traumas.

5/5 Stars. 

The Dutch House - Ann Patchett

I loved this book. I love Ann Patchett. I love siblings. This was a definite five star read for me. Danny and his sister Maeve grow up in an architectural gem of a house in suburban Philadelphia - The Dutch House. The house was purchased by their father Cyril, a real estate prospector who built a thriving business. Their mother hated the house. Hated the opulence that was associated with the house. She felt out of place and not useful to the world shut up in the house. So she leaves. And the children are bereft. Maeve is diagnosed with diabetes - a dangerous disease in the late 60s.

Everything develops a new rhythm after their mother leaves until their father begins dating a woman named Andrea. When their father eventually married Andrea, Maeve has gone off to college and two little girls move into her room. Danny is aghast at the way Andrea is obsessed with the house. He wants nothing to do with her, and she with him. But when their father dies unexpectedly, Danny finds himself at Andrea's mercy. And she has none. She kicks this 16 year old boy out on his own to fend for himself.

Luckily the love between Danny and Maeve is the strongest in the whole book and she is there for Danny. She's always been his mother figure and she remains so. Their love is also tied up in their shared childhood trauma and the vengeance they feed between themselves. The hate they have for Andrea is almost a tertiary character in the book.

I love the nuance Patchett drives into Danny and Maeve's relationship. I love the way she teases out the characters and their motivations, the ripples their childhood creates through their life. It's so well done.

5/5 Stars

Beneath the Sugar Sky - Seanan McGuire

I really enjoy these Wayward Children books. This is my fourth in the series but definitely not my last. While the others have been prequels to the first book (Every Heart a Doorway you can read that review here), Beneath the Sugar Sky occurs after the events in the first book.

Jack and Jill have returned to The Moors following Jill's violent spree and Nancy has moved on to her own door to the Halls of the Dead. Cade has taken up Lundy's old tasks of running and managing the school as Eleanor grows older and more distracted. New girl Cora has arrived, fresh from a land where she was a mermaid. Cora has made one friend in her time at Eleanor West's and is out in the turtle pond with Nadia, who came from a land where she was a drowned girl among the turtles.

Their sojourn is interrupted by a girl falling from the sky. This girl introduces herself as Rini, a girl who has come from Confection to find her mother, Sumi. Whoops. Sumi died way back in book one. But Rini is insistent on finding her because the Queen of Cakes has returned to Confection and their whole world is in upheaval. How could Sumi, a teenager who died before marrying her true love, the candy corn farmer and fulfilling her destiny of defeating the Queen of cakes, have a daughter you ask? Well because Seanan McGuire is a genius and the lands of nonsense where a prophecy has been made don't give two hoots about whether someone is actually there to fulfill said prophecy.

Cora and Nadia get Cade and Christopher and they have to travel to a couple different worlds to get all the parts of Sumi back together again. This culminates with a showdown against the Queen of Cakes and a real revealing of the land of Confection and what it all means. I love how each of these books really explore different worlds. Book one really focused on Nancy and the Halls of the Dead, but we get to revisit it here and see the world more fully fleshed out. Book two took us to The Moors and we got to see just how Jack and Jill came to be. This book explores Confection, and the fourth, which I already read out of order, explores Lundy's time in the Goblin Market.

Each book explores so much about these hidden worlds where children who have need of it, are given exactly the world they need, that understands them. Cora is no different. She's visually overweight although she's an amazing athlete and swimmer. She goes to a world where her swimming is the most important thing about her and no one is constantly judging her outward appearance. In each book, McGuire really tackles some aspect of children that are overlooked or shamed and makes them into the unique aspect that makes that child feel at home.

Wouldn't we all be better off if we could make children feel welcome and essential in the world in which they already live?

4/5 Stars.