July Books

Or, what I read when I'm not forced to pour over guidelines and studies.

In an absolutely shameless theft of idea and execution from the lovely Sarah, I'm going to do a quick review of the books I read during July. The amount of free time I have right now is shocking, really.

Salt, by Maurice Gee. Dystopian YA. Hari's father is press-ganged into working in Deep Salt, a mine harvesting mysterious materials that no one returns from. He sets off to rescue him. The writing in this was . . . odd, but the world building was interesting. First in a trilogy.



A Murderous Procession, by Ariana Franklin. Historical Mystery. Adelia returns as the forensic specialist in Henry II's England, this time sent as a physician on a political mission back to her home country. I'm usually not a fan of mysteries, but this series is entertaining and the setting well chosen. There's a satisfying lack of anachronisms and while the attitudes of certain characters seem suspiciously progressive, overall it's believable.

Death and the Librarian and Other Stories, by Esther Friesner. Short Story Collection. I was not a fan of this one. 'A Birthday' and 'A Pig's Tale' were interesting, but did not make up for the rest of it. The writing was awkward and filled with characters with heavy accents. A frustrating read.

Uglies, by Scott Westerfield. Dystopian YA. Tally is waiting until the day she can have plastic surgery to become a Pretty, like everyone else in society, but ends up tangled with a group of people living outside the city and control of the government. This was an interesting premise, but the main character was frustrating. First in a trilogy.

Pretties, by Scott Westerfield. Dystopian YA. Having given herself over to the officials at the end of the first book, Tally is now a Pretty. She's forgotten most of the events of the first book and is content to live a life of endless entertainment - until she's reminded of the reason she returned. The slang in this book was *obnoxious*. The society continues to be an interesting idea, but the main character is not much more likeable here than in the first one. Second in a trilogy.

Wizards at War, by Diane Duane. Fantasy YA. Older wizards are losing their powers and memories, and it's up to the younger generation to find out why and confront the Lone Power yet again. This is 8th in a series, one I've liked for a long time. The magic is systematic and scientific, a refreshing change from most books dealing with the subject. The writing is engaging and the world building, as usual, is well done.


My brilliant plan is to emulate Sarah's fabulous blog and do one of these posts every month. A fabulous aunt of mine decided to start a book club on facebook, so hopefully I'll get some good reads from that.

Now I should probably go study. Bleh.