Category Archives: American Literature

Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm

American Literature 1 Comment

Synopsis: A real, live wizard cloaks his magic in the trappings of homelessness on the streets of modern-day Seattle, as a dark evil stalks him and threatens to destroy him. Review: Wizard of the Pigeons really needs to come back into print. It’s a wonderful character study filled with subtlety, ambiguity, and plain old-fashioned good storytelling. Wizard lives on the streets, but his homelessness is just a disguise for his powerful magic. He is able to Know the truth about people and tell them the…

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Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman

American Literature

Synopsis: Hired to teach at a secluded, artsy boarding school, a young widow discovers that mystery and murder roil below the bucolic surface. Review: I wanted to adore Arcadia Falls, but I only got about 80% there. I loved the atmosphere that Carol Goodman created for Arcadia, the creepy boarding school in the middle of the woods in upstate New York. The backstory was most excellent, starting with a 1920s artists’ colony founded by two lesbians, one deeply conflicted and not entirely committed to Team…

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The Memory Thief by Rachel Keener

American Literature

Synopsis: The lives of a runaway who burned down her trailer, and a “Holy Roller” with a shameful secret intersect with life-changing ramifications. Review: The Memory Thief started out strong, but didn’t sustain my interest throughout. Rachel Keener does a great job depicting a world very unfamiliar to my own, but at times her prose is just a bit too much, taking me out of the story. I felt like some of the plot elements were overly familiar, and the direction of the story somewhat…

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Interview–Peter V. Brett, author of The Desert Spear

American Literature 2 Comments

I’m so excited to run this interview with Peter V. Brett, author of the forthcoming The Desert Spear (on sale 4/13/10). It’s a sequel to The Warded Man, one of last year’s most auspicious fantasy debuts. You can find our discussion on that book here. 1. How much of this story was in your mind when you wrote The Warded Man? a. All of it and none of it. I know that sounds like a bullshit answer, but it’s really true. I had a detailed…

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Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon

American Literature 2 Comments

Synopsis: As former military hero Duke Kieri Phelan ascends the throne in half-elven Lyonya, the neighboring realm of Tsaia faces a threat from the long-forgotten blood magery of the Verrakai family. Review: Oath of Fealty follows directly after the events that concluded Elizabeth Moon‘s Deed of Paksennarion trilogy, and as such is a bit tricky to synopsize, particularly in only one sentence. And it’s clearly the first book of a series, so it’s mostly set up. That’s not to say that the book lacks action–hardly!…

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Next by James Hynes

American Literature 2 Comments

Synopsis: In Austin for the day for a job interview, a middle-aged man finds himself reflecting on loves present and past as the spectre of terrorism stalks his every turn. Review: I got kind of addicted to the prose stylings of Next, with author James Hynes weaving past and present and possible future effortlessly together to create a tapestry of need, hurt, longing, and passion. The “day in the life” gimmick really worked here–at least until the “where did that come from?” ending–because Kevin’s angsty…

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Improper Relations by Janet Mullany

American Literature

Synopsis: Forced to marry after an indiscretion at a ball, Charlotte and Shad resign themselves to a marriage of convenience that may not be as unlively as they had assumed. Review: Improper Relations has a cute premise, and I enjoyed the little hints of decadence that author Janet Mullany threw into her Regency setting. She does a good job creating the tension between Charlotte and Shad, and throws in just enough originality in her plotting to mask the requisite predictable complications arising from assumptions and…

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Mia the Magnificent by Eileen Boggess

American Literature

Synopsis: Having recently come out of her shell, Mia now enters her sophomore year with two goals: getting her driver’s license and getting over her cheating ex-boyfriend Tim. Review: While there were some things I admired about Mia the Magnificent, I was disappointed by other aspects of the third book in the Mia Fullerton series by Eileen Boggess. I really liked the characters, especially Mia. The girls were all bright and outspoken without being overly sassy, and the boys were a nice mix of doltish,…

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Say Goodnight, Gracie by Julie Reece Deaver

American Literature

Synopsis: Morgan and Jimmy were best friends, perhaps on the verge of something more, when tragedy strikes. Review: Back when I was in high school, Say Goodnight, Gracie was one of my favorite books, and I was curious to see if it held up so many years later. I can remember being drawn powerfully to their friendship and aching over Morgan’s grief. I wanted a best friend like Jimmy, though it wasn’t until reading it now that I realized that author Julie Reece Deaver had…

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Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card (Tales of Alvin Maker)

American Literature

Synopsis: As Alvin Maker heads out for his apprenticeship, the French conspire to rouse the Reds against the Whites for a war that will win all of an alternate America for Napoleon. Review: I am a big fan of how Orson Scott Card has created an American history that encompasses just enough of our reality to feel authentic, but then skewed to include magic and mysticism. In Red Prophet, Card turns Tecumseh into Ta-Kumsaw, and gives him a brother named Lolla-Wossiky whose transformation will affect…

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