From the front flap: Fawn Bluefield, the clever young farmer girl, and Dag Redwing Hickory, the seasoned Lakewalker soldier-sorcerer, have been married all of two hours when they depart her family's farm for Dag's home at Hickory Lake Camp. Alas, their unlikely marriage is met with prejudice and suspicion, setting many in the camp against them. A faction of the camp even goes … [Read more...] about The Sharing Knife: Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold: B+
Books
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: B
From the back cover: From its sharply satiric opening sentence, Mansfield Park deals with money and marriage, and how strongly they affect each other. Shy, fragile Fanny Price is the consummate "poor relation." Sent to live with her wealthy uncle Thomas, she clashes with his spoiled, selfish daughters and falls in love with his son. Their lives are further complicated by the … [Read more...] about Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: B
S 4: Afterglow by Saki Aida and Chiharu Nara: B-
Masaki Shiiba was a detective investigating the manufacture of illegal firearms and Keigo Munechika was his “S,” an informant who played a key role in Shiiba’s information gathering. At some point in the past, the two began a romantic relationship, but a powerful yakuza boss with a grudge against Munechika wants to see him suffer and so hires a hitman who’ll receive one million … [Read more...] about S 4: Afterglow by Saki Aida and Chiharu Nara: B-
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt: B+
From the back cover: Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self defense? The question captivated the city's Society, high and low, for over a decade. John Berendt, a veteran New York magazine writer and editor, traveled to Savannah and, having become enchanted by this isolated remnant of the Old South, … [Read more...] about Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt: B+
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson: B
From the back cover: In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men—Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication—whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time. Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping … [Read more...] about Thunderstruck by Erik Larson: B