Gemna's Book Gems

Series I need to finish/catch up on:

Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences

2 books read, 3 books to read, last book forthcoming

Artifact Hunters

2 books read, 2 books to complete series

War of the Fae

2 books read, 6 books to read, last 2 books forthcoming

Otherworld: Darkness Rising

1 book read, 2 books to complete series

Mistborn: Wax & Wayne

1 book read, 2 books to read, last book forthcoming

Cassandra Palmer/Dorina Basarab

6 books read, 4 books to catch up, next book forthcoming

Temeraire

1 book read, 8 books to complete series

Memoirs of Lady Trent

1 book read, 3 books to read, last book forthcoming

Singularity

1 book read, 2 books to catch-up

Outlander

4 books read, 4 books to catch-up

Finishing School

1 book read, 3 books to complete

Gabriel Lacey Regency Mystery

7 books read, 4 books to catch up

::sigh:: And these aren’t all the series I’ve started, these are just the ones I’m prioritizing to finish or catch up on.  Must not start new series until I finish these…must not… 

4/5 Gems

The Janus Affair, by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris, continues the story of Eliza Braun and Wellington Books begun in Phoenix Rising.  In book one, Eliza, agent for the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences in steampunk England, found herself sidelined to the Archives, but maneuvers to get back in action.  In the second book, Janus Affair, Eliza, though more accustomed to the Archives and having learned the value of research, still itches for action, especially when fellow suffragettes start mysteriously disappearing.  

I’m struggling with this review and I’m not entirely sure why.  I enjoyed it, but I didn’t have particularly strong emotions while reading it.  I do think I may have missed some connections since its been so long since I’ve read the first book in the series.  I’m going to try to make an effort to finish many series I’m in the middle of and try not to start new ones.  I prefer variety in my reading so I won’t be reading the books back to back, but I need to read them closer together when possible (i.e. published and available). 

I loved Ihita.  She only had a small role, but made a big impression.  I wonder if she has a short story in the Tales from the Archives… 

I enjoyed the real-life character of New Zealand suffragette, Kate Sheppard.  

Her son, Douglas, shares a romantic past with Eliza.  Eliza remembers him fondly as her first love and feels tempted to try again.  I enjoyed how the writers allowed her to come to this conclusion without his character having to be completely destroyed. 

I’m not really a fan of the Ministry Seven and its not really anything against the characters themselves.  I remember reading comments from author Kelley Armstrong, about whether characters from her adult Otherworld series, would show up in the young adult series in the same world.  She stated, as well as I can remember, that her adult characters can’t show up because they would necessarily take over and keep the teen characters out of the action as much as possible.  I think that’s what bothers me about the Ministry Seven.  How can I watch our adult heroes encourage children to take risks for them?  Eliza & Books may take the larger risks on themselves, but it still rankles, especially when one child gets hurt.  

I anticipated a big confrontation between Eliza and Bruce near the end, but I preferred how Bruce came to his own realization about his poor choices.  

3 Gems

I remembered loving the first book in this series, Tangled Tides, but I was having a hard time remembering exactly why as I began Dangerous Depths.  It had been a while since I read the first book and I ended up having to go back and skim Tangled Tides, because I remembered some, but not quite enough of the details.  

In the beginning of Dangerous Depths, Yara and Treygan are too damn perfect.  Actually, they and the other mer characters are too perfect most of the book.  The point is to get them to Harte, but couldn’t Yara and Treygan still show some real reluctance and fear about going?  I can enjoy the corny true love and noble urge toward self-sacrifice, but I prefer some balance to make it believable.  

Once the trio of Yara, Treygan, and Rownan arrive in Harte, the book grows exciting and interesting.  Harte is freaky and not a typically described place of hell, more of a mind-game.  

I loved the scenes of Rownan and Vienna on the beach with Rownan trying to convince her he really is himself.  Just beautiful!

Nixie made this book.  Her backstory and journey prove the most compelling of the various storylines.  We discover that the remaining two sirens from the original trio promoted Nixie from water sprite after Yara’s mother left.  Nixie still struggles to fit it with Mariza and Otabia, and often seeks comfort from her water sprite family.  

Nixie feels like she has a new role as Yara’s siren, but Yara doesn’t quite see it the same way.  Nevertheless, Nixie stays dedicated to Yara and finally enlists some water sprite friends to help.  

5 Gems

In “A Natural History of Dragons”, author Marie Brennan begins a series of memoirs of Lady Isabella Trent, a renowned dragon naturalist.  The story starts with a girl fascinated by dragons and chafing at the restrictions her society places on women.  After an escapade leads to injury, she tries to conform, but eventually chafes again.  

She finds a husband pleased to have a wife who can challenge him intellectually.  She arranges an invitation for him to go on an expedition to Vystrana to study dragons.  Though he initially balks at her accompanying them, he allows it and his support grows throughout the expedition.  He explains his reasoning in this quote.  

Although I love the development and world-building of the fictional peoples, religions, and lands in series like A Song of Ice and Fire, I found it distracting and even a little annoying in this book.  I attribute this to the difference in focus. Since the story isn’t about war or conflict between Scirland and other countries, but rather on Isabella and her adventures while studying dragons, the complete fictional world seemed unnecessary.  Additionally, while peoples and lands in other fantasy worlds draw some details from actual peoples (nothing new under sun), in this series Scirland is so blatantly obviously England and Vystrana clearly a part of Russia, that it seemed pointless to bother naming them something else.  Perhaps, later books in the series will make the alternate world worth the effort.  

Isabella’s reckless impulsiveness tests believability especially as the book progresses.  Shouldn’t she have at least learned to confer with the others instead of going off alone with no back-up?  It didn’t bother me enough to take away any gems or stars, though.  

Some readers may be bothered by Isabella’s feelings of superiority and lack of engagement with the Vystrani villagers, but it added to the authenticity of a privileged character from the Victorian Era that Scirland evokes.  She does improve, but its slow and realistic.