252. & 253. Dead as a Doornail & Wanderers and Islanders
Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris - this is the 5th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, following on from Dead to the World, which I reviewed in December. In Dead as a Doornail, Sookie is still dealing with some of the repercussions of the previous book, including the fact that her brother Jason has now become a were and is facing his first full moon.
However, things are rarely straightforward in Sookie's world now she's aware that there are more things out there than people previously believed was the case, and in this book it's someone taking potshots at weres. As someone who is newly turned, Jason is prime suspect and under suspicion from the very people who should be his best support.
In Dead to the World, Sookie got up to all sorts of things with Eric, the boss of the local vampires, who had lost his memory - now Eric very much wants to know what went on that he can't remember, while Sookie herself is ambivalent about letting him know what really happened. The storyline of Dead as a Doornail pretty much resolves itself by the end of the book, although Bill continues to be an annoyance to me and I was disappointed by the fate of one of the other major characters. The series continues in Definitely Dead.
Wanderers and Islanders by Steve Cockayne - I picked this book up, the first of a trilogy, without really knowing a great deal about the storyline and was pleasantly surprised by it.
Essentially, Wanderers and Islanders is three stories in one, although as the book goes on it becomes clear that those three stories are heavily interlinked. One storyline focusses on Leonardo, who has been a court magician for longer than he can remember, and whose focus is on finding ways to look into the future. The second is that of Lazarus, hired to oversee the renovation of a mysterious house within which a dark presence lives. Thirdly, there's Rusty, a young boy who meets a young woman from the Wanderers in his childhood, after which nothing will ever be the same again.
It's always good to come across a fantasy novel (or series) that doesn't just plumb the pseudomedieval swords & sorcery vein without a second thought - although there is sorcery involved, Wanderers and Islanders feels more Victorian in its setting, with the mechanisation of particular tasks just becoming commonplace. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works out in the following two books, the first of which is The Iron Chain.
However, things are rarely straightforward in Sookie's world now she's aware that there are more things out there than people previously believed was the case, and in this book it's someone taking potshots at weres. As someone who is newly turned, Jason is prime suspect and under suspicion from the very people who should be his best support.
In Dead to the World, Sookie got up to all sorts of things with Eric, the boss of the local vampires, who had lost his memory - now Eric very much wants to know what went on that he can't remember, while Sookie herself is ambivalent about letting him know what really happened. The storyline of Dead as a Doornail pretty much resolves itself by the end of the book, although Bill continues to be an annoyance to me and I was disappointed by the fate of one of the other major characters. The series continues in Definitely Dead.
Essentially, Wanderers and Islanders is three stories in one, although as the book goes on it becomes clear that those three stories are heavily interlinked. One storyline focusses on Leonardo, who has been a court magician for longer than he can remember, and whose focus is on finding ways to look into the future. The second is that of Lazarus, hired to oversee the renovation of a mysterious house within which a dark presence lives. Thirdly, there's Rusty, a young boy who meets a young woman from the Wanderers in his childhood, after which nothing will ever be the same again.
It's always good to come across a fantasy novel (or series) that doesn't just plumb the pseudomedieval swords & sorcery vein without a second thought - although there is sorcery involved, Wanderers and Islanders feels more Victorian in its setting, with the mechanisation of particular tasks just becoming commonplace. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works out in the following two books, the first of which is The Iron Chain.
