1996 Books of the Week
Vol.1 #4
Young Adult/Historical/20th century/Pacific
The Bomb
Theodore Taylor
Harcourt Brace 0152008675
Sorry Rinamu, at age 14, becomes the head of his Bikini island family that consists of his grandfather, mother, and younger sister as Word War II draws to a close. His long lost uncle returns to the island and is the only voice to speak out against the American plan to relocate the islanders so that lush and beautiful Bikini can be used for atomic bomb experimentation. When his uncle dies, Sorry takes it upon himself to try to stop the bombing.
The pacing in this novel starts out slowly, perhaps losing readers, but it steadily accelerates to a heart wrenching finale.
Horror/Supernatural/Detection
The X Files: Ground Zero
Kevin
J. Anderson
HarperPrism 006105223x
The sheer coincidence or synchronicity of reading two books in a row dealing with the same topic, nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, is astounding. In Ground Zero, F.B.I. agents Scully and Mulder are investigating a couple of bizarre deaths in which the victims are flash fried to a crisp in mysterious explosions. The connections between the victims, a weapons researcher, a New Mexico rancher, and a Department of Energy worker lead the intrepid agents to a Pacific Island where cold war nuclear testing was conducted. Like the television series the characters are drawn from, the story moves swiftly through a suspenseful build-up to an explosive climax.
Anderson's and Taylor's descriptions of Bikini Island as it is now and the plight of the former inhabitants are quite different and sound like two completely different places and outcomes. I find Anderson's description suspect because his depiction of a New Mexican rancher rang so false. I've not known westerners to call jeans dungarees. Two of my grandparents were born in New Mexico and always said "blue jeans." The practicality of a squash blossom belt buckle is also suspect. There are lots of squash blossom necklaces out there and lots of silver and turquoise belt buckles but the squash blossom shape just doesn't lend itself to a sturdy buckle design. I was also off put by the frequent references to hurricanes in the Pacific by characters who should have know better. It took almost 200 pages for Mulder to mention that severe tropical storms in the Pacific are called typhoons.
Young Adult/Contemporary/Coming of Age
Rats Saw God
Rob Thomas
Simon & Schuster 0689802072
This first novel by Thomas is a real treat for those of us who like bildingsroman of quirky people. Steve York, 18 year old stoner and National Merit finalist, is likable as well as believable. In order to graduate and make up the credit for failing English he is required by a pretty cool school counselor to turn in 100 typewritten pages on any topic. Steve details his parent's divorce, life with his overachieving astronaut father, rebellion, first love, and heartbreak all with achingly true realism. The narrative alternates between his senior year in San Diego and his first two years of high school in Houston and tells how he became who he is as he finds his own identity. I found this laugh out loud funny in some places. Steve hangs out with the Skate or Die club his freshman year and with GOD, the Grace Order of Dadaists his sophomore year. I may be somewhat prejudiced as dadaists and skateboarders are two of my favorite groups.
Crime/Underworld
The Gold Coast
Nelson DeMille
0445360856 Attorney John Sutter, married to Susan, the daughter of old money on Long Island's Gold Coast is facing tax problems when noted Mafia don Frank Bellarosa buys the estate next door. Bellarosa lures John into representing him on a murder case while he seduces Susan into a tragic affair.
Fantasy/Alternate Worlds/Detection
Point Of Hopes
Melissa Scott & Lisa Barnett
Tor 0312858442
Out-of-work soldier Philip Eslingen is drawn into pointsman (policeman) Nicolas Rathe's investigation into the disappearance of dozens of children from the royal city. On a world where astrology is a science, it may hold the only clues find the missing before it is too late. The medieval-like setting, elements of fantasy, mystery, and astrology make this an appealing read.
Science Fiction/Psionic Powers/Alien Beings
Project Farcry
Pauline Ashwell
Tor 0312858612
In a series of related stories, Richard Jordan discovers his telepathic gift, befriends an alien species, leads up a new branch of the service, and orchestrates a daring rescue. The stories told from various viewpoints, (alien & human) are varied enough to make this read as a short story collection while the continuity of knowing that one individual will always turn up makes one want to read it all in one sitting like a novel.
Fantasy/
Quest/Bestiary/Dragons
Young Adult/Fantasy
Master of Many Treasures
Mary Brown
Baen 0671876937
Summer is traveling with dog Growch to try to find the Dragon/Man to whom she had lost her heart in Pigs Don't Fly. The odious Dickon finds her again as she travels in trading caravans, through bogs, deserts, and mountains disguised as a boy. The company of companions she acquires on her journey includes a slave boy, a dancing bear and a figurine that comes to life as a spectacularly multi-colored, hoofed, antennaed, omni-lingual magical creature.
This stands well alone, succinctly imparting needed knowledge from the previous book while not spoiling it nor boring one who had already read Pigs Don't Fly. It has been nominated for the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults list.
Young
Adult/Adventure/Survival/War/Exploration
Tomorrow, When the War Began
John Marsden
Houghton Mifflin Company 0395706734
A party of teens returns from a campout in a remote canyon of the Australian bush to find that in the week they were gone their country was invaded and the population of their community locked up in a well guarded camp. The journey into Tailor's Stitch via Satan's Steps takes them into a secret paradise where a subplot dealing with legends of a murdering hermit provides thought provoking texture. The first inkling the teens have when they return from their trip is the horror of finding four of Ellie's dogs dead in the yard and her family missing. As the group checks out each one's home they find the same situation over and over. When they finally discern the truth of the situation they undertake guerrilla action against the invaders.
Marsden's plotting and characterization of teens is masterful while the Australian setting is evocatively portrayed enriching and enlivening the story. Readers who enjoyed Jean Ure's Plague and Steven Gould's Wildside should enjoy Tomorrow, When the War Began.
Young Adult/Historical/Civil Rights Movement
The Watsons Go to Birmingham --
1963
Christopher Paul Curtis
Delacorte Press 0385321759
This delightful multiple award winner tells of Kenny Watson, a sensitive fourth-grader growing up in Flint Michigan in 1963. The protagonist is young for a YA novel but this book did make the 1996 ALA Best Books for Young Adults List, probably because the author was so adept at coloring a world that invites the reader in and takes her back in time. Curtis creates in Kenny a real living, breathing person. A media comparison for this book would be television's Wonder Years. In parts, laugh out loud funny, and in parts horrifying because of the grim realities of racial hatred this is a book that deserves the recognition it is receiving.
Its appeal may be mostly for baby boomers who lived through this era, the new stereo in the Brown Bomber was particularly evocative of my own childhood. My teen friends on a Teen Advisory Board did not read it even though it was available to them, so I am uncertain of its teen appeal.
Science Fiction/Lost Worlds/Political
Signs of Life
Cherry Wilder
Tor 0312861710
The Serendip Dana, ready to explode, releases several lifeships filled with crew and passengers to land on the planet Rhomary, inhabited by prior survivors of a wrecked interstellar craft. The newcomers fall into discrete groups, almost unable to coexist. The crew of a sailing ship, descendants of the survivors of an interstellar wreck from 20 years in the past, sets out to find what landed in what looked like a meteor shower. Both newcomers and natives have dreams that indicate some form of communication.
Almost twenty years ago I read The Luck of Brin's Five by Wilder. It remained my favorite novel for several years. She is a terrific writer but somehow I just could not connect to any of the characters in Signs of Life. I never achieved that suspension of disbelief that enabled me to live in their world. Usually if I am not enthralled by a book I set it aside and go on to another one. I did continue with this one until the end and it did get better but I still did not connect. It could be that I was just in a bad mood when I picked this up or that my level of anticipation was so high that nothing could meet it. Perhaps if I had not looked forward to reading this as such a treat, if I had not been expecting to find my next favorite book, I would have enjoyed it more.
Fantasy/Sword & Sorcery
Hunter's Oath
Michelle West
DAW 0886776813
The people of Breodanir worship the Hunter god, a god unknown in the rest of the world. The Hunter born are blessed and cursed with a psionic ability that enables them to see out of the eyes of their dog packs. Because their obsession with the hunt leaves them little room for reality, at age 8 they are bound to a commoner huntbrother. The bond is so deep that a huntbrother cannot survive beyond the death of his Hunter. The Hunters are responsible for the well being of all in Breodanir. Without the annual Sacred Hunt famine visits the land and decimates the population. The Sacred Hunt does exact a price though, in it the participants become the prey of the Hunter god and at least one becomes the ultimate sacrifice each year.
Stephen, a young thief in the King's City is captured and taken to Elseth to serve as huntbrother to Gilliam. Their lives entwine as they grow to maturity and Stephen finds he has been placed under a "wyrd" that brings strange beings and deadly situations into their lives.
While nothing on the cover or even at the end of the book indicates that Hunter's Oath is part of a series, the story obviously continues past page 427. It does tell a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end but it is obvious that it is just a prologue for more to come.
Horror/Vampires/Werewolves/Detection
The Lunatic Cafe
Laurell K. Hamilton
Ace 0441002935
Anita Blake, vampire slayer and raiser of zombies from the dead, becomes embroiled in a case involving several missing lycanthropes while falling in love with junior high school teacher and werewolf, Richard. Jean-Claude, the vampire Master of the City, is out to woo Anita and creates a situation where she agrees to date him even though she has become engaged to Richard. The details of lycanthrope society are fascinating as are the snippets of witch and vampire lore. This enthralling tale is the fourth in a series, following Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, and Circus of the Damned , but it does stand alone. In fact it makes the reader want to rush out and buy the first three books!
Tanya Huff's Blood Price, Blood Trail, Blood Pact , and Blood Lines also feature a strong female protagonist involved with preternatural beings.
Crime/Suspense
Romance/Romantic Suspense
If Looks Could Kill
Eileen
Dreyer
Harper 0061041696
Reclusive bestselling mystery writer Chris Jackson is happy as a clam living in Pyrite, a small Missouri town similar to Joan Hess's Maggody in the Arly Hanks series. Filled with friendly eccentrics, this small burg, an hour and a half away from Saint Louis, has a new police chief, wounded hero, Al MacNamara formerly of the Chicago homicide squad. Chris's life comes under scrutiny when a series of grisly murders in Saint Louis are discovered to be copycats of the murders in her books. Her mystery shrouded past, filled with secrets and hidden identities may hold the clues to find the killer but her own spotty memory leaves her fearing that she herself may be the perpetrator.
This suspenseful novel shares some of the same appeal as suspense novels by Barbara Michaels and some of those by Mary Higgins Clark. The setting also makes it appealing to fans of Joan Hess.
Dreyer also writes romances under the pseudonym Kathleen Korbel.
Horror/Witches/Occult & Supernatural
Beneath a Mountain Moon
Silver Raven Wolf
Llewellyn 1567187226
A beautiful young witch goes to her family's former home town to investigate the mystery of her grandmother's disappearance and a series of murders starts. The neighboring minister proposes to her and together with some other good people in the community they battle the evil Dark Men who use magick for their nefarious purposes.
Fantasy/Humorous/Saga, Myth, & Legend
Young Adult/Fantasy
Wishing Season
Esther Friesner
067187702x
A trainee genie, with thoughts on love rather than magic rules, messes up his first assignment.
Romance/Romantic Suspense/Supernatural
Stitches in Time
Barbara Michaels
0061092533
Rachel, working on her doctoral dissertation on women's magic through stichery begins to go into trances that cause her to do perpetrate sabotage that could hurt her friends. Is she being possessed by a demon or a woman from the past? Or is there another explanation?
Historical Fiction/Inspirational/Immigration
An Untamed Land
Lauraine Snelling
Bethany House. 1556615760
In Book One of the "Red River of the North" series, a Norwegian family the Bjorklunds sail to the new world to take up the backbreaking task of carving a farm out the vast northern prairie. Ingeborg, Roald's second wife raises his son and assists Carl and Kaaren his brother and sister-in-law as both couples fight for survival. Beset by hardships and tragedy, Ingeborg demonstrates faith, loses it and regains it. She strives to win her husband's love through many hardships. It is reminiscent of the Little House books read in childhood. The religious component is handled deftly for the most part, only becoming intrusive in the epilogue.
Romance/Contemporary
Long Time Coming
Sandra Brown
Bantam. 0553562789
Marnie, a freelance advertising artist is content raising her late sister's son David and then Law, a celebrity astronaut shows up claiming that he is being blackmailed by someone accusing him of being David's father. Marnie, tiny, smart, and spirited at 30 is young to have raised David from birth and has eschewed relationships because of the importance she places on mothering David. Marnie is powerfully attracted to Law but is fearful that he will disrupt her life and take David away from her. Law must battle her fear to win her heart.
Horror/Medical
Natural Causes
Michael Palmer
Bantam 0553568760
Dr. Sarah Baldwin, a new M.D. and longtime holistic healer saves the life of one of her obstetrical patients but cannot save her unborn child or arm when a mysterious clotting ailment strikes her while in labor. Suspicion is focused on Sarah when it is discovered that two of her other patients had died while in labor after taking the herbal prenatal supplement she had prescribed. It is a race against time to discover the true cause of the deaths and the greedy diabolical plans behind them. Readers who enjoy Robin Cook will find this page-turner a good choice.
Science Fiction/Alternate and Parallel
Worlds
Adventure/Survival
Wildside
Steven Gould
Tor 0312854730
Eighteen year old Charlie has inherited a pristine untouched world on the other side of a door in a barn. In order to explore it he needs money that he obtains by importing an extinct species from the other side where sabertooth tigers and immense herds of bison still roam. He needs stalwart companions with survival and flight skills and he needs legal protection. The dangers he and his assembled partners face are armed and dangerous but lethal teeth and claws may not be the biggest challenge. Gould, who also wrote Jumper, is a master storyteller, creating worlds that readers do not want to leave.
Fantasy/Saga, Myth, & Legend
Young Adult/Contemporary Romance
Adventure/Exploration
The China Garden
Liz Berry
FSG 0374312486
Clare Meredith, ready to go to university just having finished her final exams, finds out that her mother is going to Ravensmere, where the legends of the Guardians go deep into the past. Each generation the Kenwards from the farm and the Aylwards from the castle are to marry but something went wrong in the past threatening the survival of Ravensmere and all connected to it. Clare insists on going to Ravensmere where she meets handsome, leather clad biker Mark. Together they must find the mysterious treasure of legend, the Benison and restore the tradition of Guardians to ensure the well being of the community.
Fantasy/Quest/Alternate and Parallel Worlds
Young Adult
The Golden Compass
Philip Pullman
Knopf 0679879242
Lyra Belacqua has been pretty much raising herself in one of the colleges of Oxford. Like all humans in her world she has a daemon. Hers is named Pantalaimon and will continue to change shape until she reaches adulthood. Children start disappearing, reputedly stolen away by Gobblers, and Lyra is given a alethiometer, a fortune telling device, and sent to London to live with the elegant and sinister Mrs. Coulter. She escapes with the help of the Gyptians. With a cohort of stalwart companions including Iorek Byrnison, an armored bear who she rescues from a life of slavery and degradation, Lyra heads for the North where strange occurrences have been happening and where the mystery of the missing children may be solved.
Science Fiction/Human comedy.
Pirates of the Universe.
Bisson, Terry
Tor 0312854129
Gunther is a Space Ranger, one of the rare breed that chase the extraterrestrial Peteys through near Earth space. The Peteys are huge creatures that don't conform to our laws of physics. When killed the Peteys disappear leaving only their skins behind if the Rangers are extremely skillful and lucky. Pieces of the Peteys' skins have become the new gold standard of a post war dystopian Earth. Gunther, with only one more mission to perform to become eligible for life in the utopian Pirates of the Universe theme park community, goes to Earth on leave. His plans to spend his time in virtual reality with the woman of his dreams (who is right out of a Victoria's Secret catalog) are dashed when he arrives on Earth to find his money is on hold and his rank has been taken. His quest for his money and a return to space occur in a surrealistic haze surrounded by genetically engineered doggits (TM) and real people (TM) along with his family that mines a junkyard for drips and smears of petroleum products to run a ferry.
Pirates of the Universe is unique, falling into a genre of its own. Bisson also wrote the powerful fantasy novel, Talking Man.
Science Fiction/ Space Opera/ Political.
City of Diamond.
Emerson, Jane
DAW 0886777046
Politics, religion, and romance combine in a powerful story set in an interstellar society. Iolanthe, the greatest beauty of the City of Pearl, an intergalactic city ship, is sent to the City of Diamond to wed Adrian Mercati, the city ship's Protector. Tal, half human and half alien, is sentenced to death because beings of his mixed race are feared and distrusted, but on Diamond he is Adrian's friend and advisor. Tal brings Keylinn, a Greykey, a member of a mysterious and deadly sect on board, secretly under contract to him alone.
In this fully realized and richly imagined world, political intrigue rears its head as Adrian undertakes a search to find a lost artifact left by the vanished race that gave humans the three huge city ships. The same aliens who disappeared after instituting an intricate ritualistic religion that combined with Christianity to form an interesting hybrid.
Other books you may enjoy that feature intergalactic cultures and political intrigue in complex vividly depicted civilizations are Dune by Frank Herbert and Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh.
Romance/Western
Gambler's Daughter
DeVries, Laura
Dell 0440221366
Feisty spinster Kathleen McBride is outraged when Texan-on-the-run gambler Chance Ballinger turns up at the Twin Rivers ranch claiming to be her new partner, owner of half her ranch. While Kathleen wants only for Chance to be gone, he wants to start a new life, to be reunited with his niece and nephew, the children of his late brother. He tries to earn his place on the ranch by making improvements and restoring Kathleen's brother to her. Further conflict arises when Kathleen's friend, a lay minister and vigilante displays feelings and a side she had never seen.
DeVries' characterizations capture the essence of the Western spirit. Kathleen is independent, determined, and generous. Chance, while confident and masterly, also has a kinder side, a side that shows his regard for family relationships.
Readers may also enjoy Jessica Wulf's Wild Rose set in California. After All by Jill Marie Landis, Heart Of The West by Penelope Williamson, Nightrose by Dorothy Garlock, and Just A Miracle by Zita Christian are all Western Romances set in Montana.
Romance/Reference
Enchanted Journeys Beyond the
Imagination: An Annotated Bibliography of Fantasy, Futuristic,
Supernatural, and Time Travel Romances
Bontly, Susan W. And Carol J. Sheridan
Blue Diamond 0964729105
Bontly and Sheridan have identified romance books that fall into the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Supernatural areas. They have managed to categorize this diverse and unusual but wildly popular area with panache. They list time travel romances written by over 90 authors, identifying times and destinations, grouping the books by American West, American Revolution/Frontier, America, Contemporary, Europe, Old South/Civil War, Regency England, and an area for the time travel romances that don't fit elsewhere. Other classifications include fantasy - myth and legend, futuristic, categorized by Earth-related, Other Worlds and UFOs, Supernatural romance with angels, ghosts, vampires, magic, and more.
This unique bibliography will be a boon to readers advisors, both in libraries and bookstores, offering access to some of the most popular subgenres of romance fiction. Readers of these genres will be delighted to find old favorites and discover new.
It lacks a much needed index but does include listings of pseudonyms and listings by category and series. An author/title index covering vol. 1 and vol. 2 will be in vol. 2.
Fantasy/Alternate Worlds/Psionic Powers
No Quarter
Huff, Tanya
DAW 0886776988
Former Imperial assassin Vree is housing both her own and Gyhard's kigh or spirits in her body. In an attempt to find him a body they have traveled to Shkoder, where bards sing the four quarters, communicating with the kigh of earth, air, water, and fire. Vree and Maggie, an apprentice Healer who can sing the fifth quarter, set out on a quest to find and stop Kars who kills and then animates the dead causing a great disruption in the kigh.
Other books by Tany Huff set in this world are Sing the Four Quarters and Fifth Quarter.
Crime/Legal Thriller
Final Argument
Irving, Clifford
Dell 1575660520
Ted Jaffe's well ordered life is disrupted when he finds out that a witness who helped him convict the killer of his lover's husband several years previously had lied on the stand. The convicted man is facing imminent execution unless Ted can get him a stay and a new trial, a new trial that may imperil his happy marriage.
Others who write legal thrillers include Scott Turow, John Grisham, and Steve Martini.
Young Adult/Contemporary/Coming of Age
Under the Mermaid Angel
Moore, Martha
0385321600
Jesse Cowan discovers much about life and comes to terms with her brother's death when thirty year old Roxanne, a free spirit, moves into the trailer next door in Ida, Texas. Roxanne, who sports a tattoo and attracts men to the local diner instigates a going away party for Mr. Arthur the eccentric owner of Ida's main attraction, a dilapidated wax museum, who is being moved to a nursing home because of advancing Alzheimer's disease. Thirteen year old Jesse becomes involved with two other misfits when they start a school newspaper.
The Monument by Gary Paulsen also features a young woman in a small town who finds herself changing after meeting an unusual stranger.
Fantasy/Parody/Fairy Tale
One for the Morning Glory
Barnes, John
Tor 0312861060
A prince is literally turned into half a person when he drinks the Wine of the Gods and the four people present at the time are graphically beheaded. A year and a day later, four people apply for the four vacant positions, witch, alchemist, fighter, and nursemaid, starting the adventures that will lead to the restoration of Prince Amatus's left side. Barnes delightfully manipulates language to hilarious results. People hunt and eat gazebos, shoot omnibuses, and keep their screes in their swashes. Predictable because of it's fairy tale format it still surprises because of the frequent and excessive violence.
Romance/Contemporary
Adam's Fall
Brown, Sandra
Bantam 0553567683
Physical therapist Lilah Mason, met in Fanta C, is cajoled by her sister Elizabeth Randolph into taking on the rehabilitation of hotel magnate Adam Cavanaugh who has been paralyzed in a climbing accident. When Lilah arrives at Adam's beautiful Hawaiian estate the sparks fly as the two strong willed characters clash over his despondency about his condition and her inappropriate apparel.
I find a similar enjoyment in reading books written by Debbie Macomber.
Science Fiction
Militaristic
Midshipman's Hope
David Feintuch
0446600962
Set two centuries in the future, a seventeen year old midshipman becomes captain of his FTL ship after a series of mishaps leaves him the ranking line officer. Facing a pirate attack, condemned men, a lack of officers, a crew older than he is, and a major computer glitch, "Captain Kid" sails the U.N.N.S. Hibernia to a safe docking at the planet New Hope where he finds his responsibilities and adventures are not over.
Other militaristic science fiction includes Lois McMasters Bujold's saga of Miles Vorkosigan, David Drake's Hammer's Slammers series, and Gordon R. Dickson's Dorsai series.