[Lisa's Take] Freedom & Necessity by Steve Brust and Emma Bull

I really have to get a review for Freedom & Necessity written before it fades from my brain. This was the last book by Steve Brust that I hadn’t read; upon completing it I can officially say I have read every novel he has written (including all the obscure stuff like To Reign in Hell, Agyar, Cowboy Feng’s, as well as The Sun, the Moon and the Stars). Given that I was first turned onto Brust 10 years ago and that he instantly became my favorite author, I think I’ve done a pretty good job spacing out my enjoyment. It feels nice to say “I’ve read it all!” though. Finishing it also means that I’ve read nearly all of Emma Bull (I have 2 of her books to go).

Anyway, I first tried to read Freedom & Necessity while moving between my Junior and Senior dorm in college. I remember sitting on the floor while I waited for the resident life coordinator to come give me my new keys. I was jittery and hot and not at all in the right mindset. I read about 15 pages, couldn’t get into the narrative, and set it down. 7 years later I decided to give it another shot, mostly because I was looking for low-hanging fruit to clear out of my stack. It proceeded to take me longer to finish than any other single book I’ve read in the last 5 years.

That sounds like a bad thing, and in some ways it bothered me that it took the better part of two months to wade my way through it. But at the same time, it felt somehow _right_ to space it out. There were times when the pacing was slow and I ended up slogging through political rants (be warned, this may turn some people off), but there were other times when it induced a pleasant sort of nostalgic heartache to wait to read the next chapter. The story is written as a series of letters exchanged between four close friends during Interesting Times, and spacing out the chapters felt a lot like waiting excitedly by the mailbox for the postman to arrive. It was fitting.

Despite the slowness, Freedom & Necessity was one of the most emotionally evocative books I’ve read in a while. The 4 characters each have very distinct relationships with each other, and every relationship is poignant and deep. The tension between James & Susan is particularly good; when it came to a head my heart was pounding and I felt like I could cut the air with a knife. The end of the book had me dizzy with anticipation, and I had a good cry over the final few chapters. The last time I recall being so emotionally moved by a book was at the end of the Long Price Quartet.

Freedom & Necessity is not nice light beach reading, but it is worth the time investment to get through it. While the political ramblings can be a bit of a turn-off, the rest of the story more than makes up for it, presenting an engrossing combination of Victorian-era literature tinged with hints of magic.

[Lisa’s Take: Tooth and Claw (Jo Walton)]

I’ve been a bad little reviewer (and fantasy reader) lately; though I’ve started traveling for work again (giving me copious free time), I’ve been filling the hours with crocheting instead of consuming books at an ungodly pace. I may have to investigate picking up some audio-books to accompany my crafting binges, as it’s putting a severe limit on my “books read this year” list!

Anyway, I wanted to put up a quick review of Tooth & Claw by Jo Walton. In a word: delightful. I enjoyed Tooth and Claw more than I’ve enjoyed any book for a while. I enjoyed it unabashedly, I enjoyed it with no caveats, no buts, no places that the author needed to tighten up her work; no gripes about the characters or the settings or the pacing. When’s the last time I said that? I think it has been a distressingly long while.

Tooth & Claw is a Victorian fantasy or a fantasy of manners, much like The Magicians & Mrs. Quent or Swordspoint. Instead of humans, the characters are all dragons. It sounds a little silly as a premise, but it’s superbly executed; Walton has seamlessly retooled her world to accommodate the change. She’s thought about the economy, the religion, the landscape and the history – it’s artfully done. The story follows the heirs of a family as they are left reeling and fighting over their inheritance – it’s not deep nor epic in the premise, but the execution is truly wonderful.

I’ll keep this one short – I truly have nothing other than resounding praise for Tooth & Claw. It was a breath of fresh air amid the books I’ve read this year; all of which I’ve enjoyed, but most of which I’ve also had loud complaints about. It’s nice to know that I can still be impressed.

[Lisa’s Take] Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (Susanna Clarke)

I first picked up this book about 5 years ago. I read the first 20 pages or so, decided it wasn’t for me, and put it down. This was before I started giving all books at least 100 pages to woo me. Past-Lisa was dumb. I’m GLAD Past-Lisa was deprived of this book – she didn’t deserve to read it. Present-Lisa is much cleverer, and realized after about 40 pages what a gem Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is.

This book is classed solidly in the historical/Victorian fantasy genre. Think of a similar setting to Naomi Novik’s “His Majesty’s Dragon” or Galen Beckett’s "The Magicians & Mrs. Quent", and you’ll have a good idea of what the world is like. The story starts of slowly, and moves at a sedate pace throughout many parts of the narrative, but Clarke’s language and subtle character building are engaging enough to get you through the slow parts. Her use of footnotes is especially interesting; while she does occasionally use them for comic relief, she more often uses them for careful world-building, fairytale tangents, foreshadowing, or clarification of past events. An interesting side-effect of the footnotes is that they makes you a very careful reader – you better damn well be paying attention if you want to get the full story!

I’ll be frank – I’ve had a very hard time writing “good” reviews lately. It’s simple for me to snidely pick at a book’s flaws when I don’t like it, or even when I do like it but the problems are glaring enough to be easy pickins’. But this year when a book has been truly good – solid throughout, plot-hole-free, unencumbered by trite characters or over-done fantasy tropes – I’ve had trouble coming up with a review that does that goodness justice. It seems like I’ve praised “good books” every way they can be praised, so when a truly exceptional gem appears I have no new descriptors to do it justice with.

I suppose I’ll have to fall once again to the hackneyed words of praise that I use so often. Strange & Norrell is an excellent book, and absolutely worth the patience required to get through the first 50 pages. It’s unique, intriguing, subtle, and vibrant. I count myself lucky – those who those who read this book when it came out have been waiting 5 years for more stories by Ms. Clarke; I’ve only been waiting a few months, but I’m already beside myself with anticipation.