I was attracted to this book by the beautiful cover. It is a fantasy story about the country Oran. Two hundred years ago, in a war, the Fire Queen beat her sisters the Water, Earth and Wind Queens. She has been ruling over Oran ever since, with help from the Sileans, a military people from a neighboring country. The people of Oran are being repressed, and to keep her power, the Fire Queen kills all Oran children who show signs of having magic.The story is set in Beldan, the capital of Oran. There is a conspiracy going on, called the New Moon, who want to rid the country of Silean rule. Meanwhile, in the streets kids with magic are disappearing.
This book is the first in a trilogy, so the story doesn’t really end and feels like the set up for the rest of the story. That is not a bad thing, because there is enough action here to keep you going. A nice fantasy world with an action packed adventure. Four out of five stars.

This is a book, maybe more of a diary or long letter, written by Reverend John Ames to his seven year old son. Ames is 77, its 1957, and he knows he is going to die soon of a heart condition. Throughout the book, which is a long continuous story, without chapters, he both tries to convey wisdom to his son, and describe what is happening in his life, in his town, at that moment and in the past.
A large part of the book is about faith, which didn’t really appeal to me. However, the other part, which was more about Ames’ life, I really liked. He talks about his grandfather and the American Civil War, his father, his atheist brother, his first and second wife, and the joy of his son. His father and grandfather were both also reverends in Gilead. I really enjoyed the book, the writing was great, John Ames is a great character, a great man, and the other people in the town were also good characters. Four out of five stars.

This is the story of Changez, a man from Lahore, Pakistan who studies at Princeton and lands a high paying job in New York City. But then september 11th happens, and he realizes that he needs to figure out who he is and what he wants. He tells all this to a man, an American who he meets in Lahore.
At first he is happy and content in America, doing his best and working hard. But then the 9/11 attacks change how he thinks about everything. America is changing, or maybe showing his true face, and there is a real change that there will be a war between India and Pakistan. More and more he feels a stranger in the USA, a USA that is changing with patriotism and is trying to influence the whole world. This makes him change and return to his homeland.
The book is two fold, the story of Change and the story of the US. The shock how easy someone educated in the US can turn against them, and how easy it is to see someone as a terrorist. I could identify with Changez up to a point. I lived in the USA for a year (Houston) on a foreign exchange program when I was 17/18. While 9/11 happened. I too experienced the growing patriotism. It is very difficult to deal with when you are a stranger in that land. For me it was easier because The Netherlands is not really an enemy of the USA. I can imagine how difficult it must be when you are automatically seen as the enemy and your country is under thread of war, maybe by the USA.
A powerful novel, impressive. Four out of five stars.

Another one of the books that was recommended to me many times by the people on LT. This is the story of when the SETI project finds an audio signal from Alpha Centauri. The signal turns out to be a song. While everybody is debating what to do, the Jesuits send a mission. Not to convert, but to learn. Forty years later there is just one survivor, a Jesuit priest.
The book tells both the story of how the mission began, and in alternating chapters, the story of Emilio Sandoz, the sole survivor. Although certain ‘facts’ about what happened are told early on, the full story is told slowly. Russell takes a while to establish the characters, but the experience on the planets itself is told rather quickly. Too bad, but I get that the planet itself didn’t matter that much to story. I really liked the book and give it four out five stars.

This is short little book, given as a gift in The Netherlands in the Month of the Books of Suspense. Usually the books of Monaldi and Sorti, about Atto Melani the castrate spy in the eighteenth century are big long books. In this book, a short episode in young Atto’s life, you can tell they struggled with the length. The start of the book is slow, detailing how Atto and his companion travel to Paris on orders of Cardinal Mazarin to have Atto perform in an opera, one that is highly expensive, yet unfinished a month before the show.
Then the story moves quickly, having Atto and his companions discover a conspiracy of 200 years ago which later turns out to be relevant even in the eighteenth century.
For those who like the books of Monaldi and Sorti, and Atto Melani, this is a nice short story. For other I think the story is too detailed and short. Three out of five stars for me.

I know Jasper Fforde from the absurdist Thursday Next series and its spin-off. So when I heard he had a new series, a dystopian one no less, I really wanted to read it. Shades of Grey takes place on earth, sometime in the future, after something happened. The people on earth have no idea what happened, only that it happened roughly 500 years ago, and the Previous lived and looked different then they do. The current society is based on color. Basically there is a kaste system in place based on which colors you can see. Purple is higher than yellow, yellow than red, and at the bottom are the grey’s. The society is highly rules based, even to the point of absurdity (no new spoons are allowed to be made), the rules have been written in the past by the great Munsell.
Eddie Russett is a Red who has been sent to the outer regions with his father, a swatchman. Eddie tries to do the right thing, live by the rules, but he sees possibilities for improvement and against injustice. He meets Jane, a feisty Grey, and slowly starts to discover what his world is all about.
I loved the originality of the idea, even though it took some getting used to and some figuring out what was going on and why. I didn’t like that this was very clearly part one, just the set up of the story, but despite that, it was a good story in and of itself. If you like Fforde’s other books, you’ll like this, the world is just a bit more unfamiliar than the world of Thursday Next. Four out of five stars.

This is the second part of Stephen Fry’s autobiography, the sequel to Moab is my Washpot. In Moab, Stephen describes his life up to going to University chronologically. In the Chronicles he hops about a bit more, talking about his time at Oxbridge and his (and some of the other stars of British comedy) start in show business. He follows projects and relationships, which means that it can be quite hard to understand what all is happening at one time.
This book felt more like Stephen telling one long story, sometimes rambling, sometimes stating facts, sometimes talking about his feelings, his hopes, his fears. This book felt much more personal. I enjoyed it a lot, feeling honored by the openness. The only regret I have is that I, being from the Netherlands and born in only 1983, do not know over half of the undoubtedly famous and brilliant stars that Stephen has worked with and admires. Four out of five stars.

Lately I have been on a time machine reading bender. This book fit right in. It’s London in 1896, and after H. G. Wells has published “The Time Machine” time travel is on everybody’s mind. The three main stories in this book all deal with this. One man wants to prevent the death of the love of his life, one woman wants to escape the life she is supposed to live, and one inspector has to solve a murder with an unknown weapon. In this story many famous real people from the time, such as H. G. Wells, Jack the Ripper, the Elephant Man, Bram Stoker, Henry James and others are mixed with fictional characters, telling a great and believable story about how time travel took over London society. The story is told by an all-knowing narrator who sometimes shows himself, to explain why he is not showing us certain scenes or explaining a bit more about the background of the character.
The three stories are separate, so it seems, but they all belong together, and characters meet, influence each other and interact. Great idea, very original (to me). Five out of five stars.

After reading The Telling by Ursula Le Guin, and really liking it, I really wanted to read some of her classics. A Wizard of Earthsea was recommended to me by one of my LT friends, and I wasn’t disappointed. This book is all fantasy, dealing with witches, wizards, mages, magic, dragons and quests. But for me, it had none of the standard fantasy stuff, and it was a great fast paced read.
Ged is a smith’s son, who turns out to have a talent for magic. He chooses to be trained in Roke, but in his pride he goes too far with a spell and unleashes something on the world. The rest of the book is his quest to rid the world of the shadow he brought into it.
I have seen the Studio Ghibli movie, but while I didn’t like that, I loved this book, I loved Ged, and I loved the story. I can’t wait to find and read other parts of the Earthsea cycle. I have nothing more to say, this was a five out of five star read for me.

This book deals with two famous scientists from the nineteenth century, the adventurer Alexander Humboldt and the homebody Carl Friedrich Gauß. They meet, and in alternating chapters their life stories are described. The contrast between the two is large, Humboldt loves and craves adventure, where Gauß wants to stay home and focusses on theoretical science. Halfway through they meet, and the rest of the book is a mix of both their stories.
The writing in the book is great, with some humor and lots of facts. A couple of months ago I read Humboldts abridged travel journal, which made this book even greater, offering a human side to the travelling scientist. A very nice read for those who like the nineteenth century scientists. Four out of five stars.