The Weather Woman by Sally Gardner

 Neva is born with an unusual ability - to predict the weather. At first she assumes everyone can do this, but as the frozen Thames ice starts to break under the frost fair of 1789, even little Neva can see that she's the only one to have foreseen the event. As she grows, she comes to understand how strange and unique her talent is. Using a mechanical figure made by her adoptive father, she disguises her abilities as being those of the automaton, the Weather Woman, and becomes a success in London's salons and soirees. 

But  Neva is frustrated that as a woman, she isn't taken seriously by the scientific experts of the day, and creates herself a male alias, Eugene Jonas, who can go where she can't. However, when Henri Denoue, an exiled French count, meets first Neva, then Eugene, he falls in love - perhaps with them both.

This is a lovely, fairly lightweight, but eminently readable, historical novel with a thread of fantasy or magic running through it. Neva's ability is never quite pinned down, but, as one of my daughters has a synaesthetic condition whereby she sees music as colours, that's rather how I understood Neva's visualising of clouds and colours. It doesn't quite matter to the plot which is one of thwarted romance, and adversaries who want to get hold of the Weather Woman for their own use. 

As with Gardner's teen/YA books, there's a fantastic capturing of the period. Neva is very different to Austen's heroines, or the marriageable daughters of Bridgerton, not wanting to settle quietly into marriage and child-bearing, but to further her scientific curiosity, and her story explores the difficulties facing her.

Contrasting with the quiet domestic setting of Neva's adoptive family, are the grand houses of the 'bon ton', dingy lawyers' offices, seedy boarding houses, with characters to match - in fact a whole slice of Regency London from the high to the low. 

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez

translated by Megan McDowell

As a child from a poor background and with serious health issues, Juan is 'adopted' by the wealthy Bradford family, ostensibly to give him the care he needs but actually to exploit him and his 'magical' abilities - for behind the facade of respectability and money the Bradford family are members of a strange cult, known as The Order, participating in demonic, horrific rituals, and Juan is a natural medium, able to make contact with the Darkness they worship. 

As he grows up, he falls in love and marries into the family, but when his son, Gaspar, is born, Juan is determined that The Order will not manipulate another generation, and he begins to lay plans to ensure Gaspar's safety.

This disturbing book is hard to quantify - part horror, part political tale with parallels to Argentina's military regime, part a story of love between father and son, and the lengths one will go to to save the other. Overall though I'd say it's an examination of the corruption that too much power and wealth can bring. 

It's told in sections, moving backwards and forwards in time, and the Bradford/Reyes family emerge as an untouchable clique, acting beyond moral or legal restraints, with a total disregard for anyone outside the family; imprisoning, torturing, and executing them with impunity.  There are definitely echoes of Argentina's troubled past here. 

Be warned - it's not a book for the squeamish. The rituals are bizarre and grotesque, full of blood-letting and mutilation.  At the time of reading, I found them so disturbing that I wondered whether or not to continue, but I'm glad I did, as the story is about more than the horrors people can inflict on each other. In retrospect, I'd go so far as to say it's life-affirming; that such cruelty is now in the past, and won't be allowed to infect the future.

Sorcerer’s Edge by David Hair

 

Review by The Mole

This book is the third and final book in his The Tethered Citadel trilogy and, for my sins, it’s also the first of them that I have read.

The book starts with a brief resume of books 1 and 2 before continuing the story. As we meet each character we are filled in as to who they are and a brief history to keep us in the loop.

This is not a fantasy where we confuse the good guys with the bad guys (and there are good and bad factions) and we know who we’re rooting for from the off. Sometimes we want a complex plot, sometimes we want one that jiggles about but is easy to follow – this one jiggles a lot.

Very well written and extremely addictive, this book is fabulous fun and I enjoyed it immensely. Yes, I knew who would prevail and peace would reign, because it's that kind of story, but that didn’t change a thing for me. 

I really would recommend this to both established fantasy readers and new readers alike.

Clearly, if I attempted to summarise the plot it could give spoilers to anyone with plans to read books 1 and 2.

Light Perpetual by Andrzej Sapkowski

This last book of Sapkowski's Hussite Trilogy, sees our hero, Reynevan, journeying across war torn Bohemia and Silesia in search of his true love Jutta of Apolda, who's been abducted and effectively imprisoned in a nunnery. It seems like a journey of 'one step forward, and two steps back', as Reynevan is sent in first one direction then another, following information about where Jutta might be being held, trying to avoid his enemies, being sent on missions which take him in the wrong direction, and ending up captured himself. Through it all though he holds true to his purpose, ever striving for news of Jutta,

Sapkowski is better known as the author of fantasy novels - The Witcher series - rather than historical,  and, although the Hussite trilogy is set firmly in central Europe during the wars of the early 15th century, there's more than a touch of fantasy about it; Reynevan uses magic in his work as a physician, or amulets to help him pass unnoticed; his arch-enemy, Grellenort, shape-changes between man and bird. So it should appeal to fans of both genres. Be warned, this isn't historical romance but a story set during times of war, and aiming for a level of realism, meaning there's a lot of violence and casual brutality. 

I've come to the series late, starting with the last book, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment, although some aspects are not totally clear at the beginning, and there seemed to be a plethora of characters - good and bad - to become acquainted with in the first few chapters. At over 600 pages, it's long - normal for fantasy novels, less so for historical (unless you're thinking of Wolf Hall) - but settle in for a long consuming read and you won't be disappointed.

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

 

Review by The Mole

It's the 30th anniversary of the death of John Keel - a former mentor of Vimes and a founder of the Watch. An annual pilgrimage to Keel's graveside is underway by Watch men when Vimes, chasing a hardened criminal, is transported magically back in time along with Carcer, the chap he's pursuing. 

Arrested by his younger self, for fighting with Carcer, Vimes is put in a cell alongside the man who killed John Keel. Upon his release he heads to the Unseen University to ask to be transported back when he is accosted by time controlling monks who explain he must assume the identity of John Keel who has been murdered.

While Pratchett plays with time travel in ways so many authors have, he stays true to the Discworld and the style of writing we all love. I often find I criticize time travel in plots while reading but Pratchett manages to use it in a way where I don't feel such a need.

Excellently plotted and excellently executed this story explains much of the origin of Vimes who is, to many, the best character in the entire series.

While this book has won awards (as so many Pratchett books have) it has also been serialised for Radio 4. A truly magnificent creation that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend and the sixth book with Sam Vimes in.

Terciel and Elinor by Garth Nix

 

Terciel has grown up in the Old Kingdom, a land where magic exists, and the dead do not always stay dead. At an early age he was adopted by the Abhorsen, and his future mapped out for him as her successor, trained in her skills of necromancy to protect the living and keep the Dead where they belong. 

Meanwhile on the other side of the Wall, in Ancelstierre where magic doesn't belong, lives Elinor. Her life has been isolated, but quiet. All that is about to change when her mother's illness takes a turn for the worse, and brings magic, danger, and Terciel to her door. Although the life she's known so far is threatened, Elinor finds a previously-unknown sense of belonging among her new 'Charter' acquaintances from north of the Wall. 

I've loved Garth Nix's Old Kingdom stories since I borrowed my daughter's copy of Sabriel, and to return there is always a delight, even if, at times, a nail-biting one. 

This latest book is a prequel to Sabriel, and so some readers (me among them) will be aware of how the story must end. It doesn't detract from it at all though, but is as full of Charter Magic, re-awakened Dead, perils on almost every side, and a smattering of romance as anyone could want. 

The Truth by Terry Pratchett

Review by The Mole

 William de Worde produces a newsletter about events in Ankh-Morpork He then has handwritten copies made by a local artist and sent to subscribed customers. On this occasion there is a delay which frustrates him and when dwarfs offer to print copies on a brand new and unheard of  "Printing Press" William reluctantly agrees. Incidentally they print more copies than required and insist on taking the excess out and selling. And so the first newspaper for the Discworld is born.

But it's not all journalism... the paper rocks too many boats, it is found it can be used to influence people, as well as show pictures of funny potatoes.

What seems like a possibly gently-paced story quickly becomes life and death, cutthroat business, with possibly a little love interest thrown in too - all the elements of a good Discworld novel.

Plenty of fun and laughs which we expect in a Terry Pratchett book and well worth a read.

I really enjoyed this book although, to be fair, I haven't found a Pratchett that I didn't enjoy.

It can be read in isolation but it might be nice to understand more about Vimes and Vetinari before reading this - they each have their own most excellent stories in the series.