When I was looking up Alex Bledsoe’s Tufa books on our library website, I came across his THE GIRLS WITH GAMES OF BLOOD; as it was set in 1975 I decided to check out the historical detail.
As with the rural setting of the Tufa series, the detail is good: clothes, cars, Tiger Beat magazine, period attitudes and so on. The story of the dramas, romances and crises among Tennessee vampires and rednecks didn’t grab me; as I’m not a vampire fan that doesn’t necessarily reflect on the book though.
After watching Dune Part One and Part Two, I reread the original DUNE by Frank Herbert and found it holds up very well. The setting (for anyone who doesn’t know) is a far-future human empire where the “spice” mined on Arrakis is what makes it possible for human minds to navigate space. The empire is riven by political and power struggles between the noble houses. when Duke Leto Atreides is assigned rulership of Arrakis, formerly the dominion of the Harkonnen family, it turns out this is less a promotion than Baron Harkonnen setting a trap to destroy the Atreides with the emperor’s support.
The big complication is that Atreides’ mistress belongs to the shadowy Bene Gesserit organization and her genes and training have turned the Atreides heir Paul into a potential superman with the ability to calculate potential futures. In alliance with the Fremen of Dune, warriors hardened by the hardest of environments (something I’ll discuss more soon), Paul may transform everything.
The worldbuilding is impressive, the characterization is good enough and the story is engrossing; the early chapters are so full of intrigue, I’m baffled why Part One of the movie fell so flat. Herbert’s also able to toss off little quotes and insights without me muttering that he’s an idiot, so that’s impressive. All that said, Zendaya’s Chani in the movie, as someone deeply suspicious of Paul’s messianic dreams, is more effective than the devoted mistress of this book.
I picked up FRIGHT FAVORITES: 31 Movies to Haunt Your Halloween and Beyond by David Skal because it had some useful information about the Fredric March Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Then of course, I read the whole thing.
Skal gives a good overview of horror ranging from Nosferatu to Young Frankenstein and the self-aware Scream. The result was pleasant to read but nothing terrribly new to someone who’s been watching movies as long as I have.
MAGIC TO THE BONE: Allie Beckstrom #1 by Devon Monk starts off well. In a modern world where magic has been acknowledged and now widely used, Allie’s the daughter of a big-shot CEO in the magical economy. When she discovered he was using subtle mind-control to steer her to the college major and career he wanted for her, she walked away and now uses her abilities as a Hound to track down criminal wizards by their magical traces. She’s good but business is erratic enough she’s also broke.
Magic takes a toll on users — Allie’s lost a lot of her memory, for instance — but it’s possible to unload the price onto others, with or without their consent. When it appears her dad has offloaded his price onto a kid, Allie confronts him; when he turns up dead, she’s the prime suspect. A sexy mystery man warns her the police have been paid off and if she gets arrested she’ll be lucky to live until the trial.
When Allie leaves town to hide out with a friend, the tension drains away. We also get lots of exposition about magic. Plus there are several annoying holes in the story — when Allie learns someone involved in the case can forge magical traces, why does Allie never suspect he might have framed her father? Why does a character significant enough to get solo chapters (everything else is Allie’s first person narration) get an ending offstage? And the relationship between the Beckstroms was intense enough that with the abusive father gone, I think the book lost something.
While it’s a minor point, I will also note that giving cats canned tuna intended for humans exposes them to way too much mercury.
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