The Knife of Never Letting Go

It's funny how you can sometimes know you have to read a certain book without actually knowing that much about it. I'd seen The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness, blogged about in several places and talked about on Twitter but had not read too much about it because I somehow knew I should read it. This was some months ago and when I saw it in the library recently I almost took it without thinking, a sort of automatic thing, like I knew it would present itself to me eventually and when it did I would take it. And once I'd got it, something compelled me to read it fairly quickly...



Todd Hewitt is a boy. He is in fact the only boy left in Prentisstown. In one month precisely he will be thirteen and will become a man. After that there will be no more children left in the town. Todd lives with his two guardians, Ben and Cillian, both his parents having died.

The story opens with Todd down at the swamp having been sent there by Ben to collect apples. The boy likes to go there because it's one of the few places where he can go to escape 'noise'. Noise is the combined thoughts of all the men in Prentisstown. When humans came to colonise the planet they found it already inhabited by a species known as Spackle. A war ensued in which the Spackle used germ warfare and the result was that, although humans won, their thoughts are no longer secret. But there was a twist and the twist was that it was only the thoughts of 'men' that could be read. The disease didn't affect women in the same way so although they could read the minds of men, men couldn't read the minds of women. Sadly, the disease also killed off all the women in the town.

Down at the swamp Todd finds something shocking, a patch of complete silence. Before he can investigate properly he's attacked and almost killed by another man, Aaron, the unbalanced town preacher. Managing to get away, Todd flees back to the farm, but he has to go through the town to get there and, as he goes, other men can read his mind and know what has happened. Back at home Ben flies into a panic and Todd is shocked to hear that Ben and Cillian want him to leave - not just home, they want him to leave Prentisstown. Todd has been brought up to believe that Prentisstown is all there is, that there are no other human settlements, and is stunned that he is being cast out into the unknown. But Ben has secrets. Unfortunately there is no time to reveal the truth to Todd as it seems the men of the town are coming to get the boy. All that Ben has time to say is that everything Todd knows about his world is untrue. The men arrive, Ben and Cillian put up a fight, and Todd and his dog, Manchee, run...

Okay, well all of that might sound like huge spoilers but in fact it's all revealed within the first chapter or so - this is one fast moving and pacey book! It's also a book that's almost impossible to talk about *without* spoiling so I'm not going to say a lot about it. The secrets are the best thing about this book. From start to finish you're kept guessing and some of it occurs to you and some of it doesn't and just when you decide on one thing it's turned on its head by further revelations.

The book is written in an unusual manner, rather stream of consciousness and, in places, spelling that isn't quite right. I thought that would bother me but it didn't, it underlined the fact that Todd is uneducated and how much that *matters* throughout the story.

Truthfully, this quite a shocking book. Dystopian in nature, although set on another world, feminist in nature too I felt, though others might disagree. If ever a book was thought-provoking then this is it. It's also a huge roller-coaster ride - from start to finish it never lets up, never relaxes... I felt quite exhausted when I'd finished! But in a good way, like I'd just read an amazing, unique, brilliant book that I loved to bits and wanted to tell everyone about. So I told my eldest daughter yesterday and she said that she'd read the first 30 pages a while ago and abandoned it. I was so shocked I didn't know what to say. How to tell someone they've been silly and missed something brilliant without offending them? Ack! My husband is going to read it though and I'm agog to hear what he thinks.

Any complaints? No, just questions. One big one to be honest but I've no one to ask an opinion of and maybe that will be answered in the next book, The Ask and the Answer (which is already out) and maybe it won't. Because this is a book for young adults and my question is a very adult one. And that underlines the problems YA authors must encounter when writing science fiction, or anything else for that matter, for children... even when it's older children. How far do you go? Jennifer Donnelly in A Gathering Light went pretty far in telling it like it was but it must be a real problem and it'll be interesting to hear if Patrick Ness deals with it or ignores it altogether. We'll see... and I really, *really* can't wait.

The Chalk Circle Man

I'm getting really bad at remembering where I've seen certain books blogged about or who recommends things to me. I know Nicola wrote about The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas here on Back to Books, but there were others so if it was you, please shout. Anyway, whoever it was, I'm really glad I took notice.



The new commissaire of the police headquarters in the 5th arrondissement in Paris is 45 year old, Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, originally from near the French border with the Pyrennees. He's a quietly spoken, relaxed, quirky sort of man but a very good detective indeed.

When a series of items start appearing, surrounded by blue chalk circles, people are amused and intrigued. But Jean-Baptiste is not. The circles are always done at night and in secret and it's clear the perpetrator is teasing... or is he? Items chosen to go in the circles are bizarre - cigarette lighters, bottle tops, watch straps, a pigeon's foot... and then a dead cat. Jean-Baptiste foresees somethings awful happening and sure enough it does when the body of a woman turns up next: her throat has been slit. The police can do nothing but wait for the next victim and it's an elderly male doctor this time, followed some nights later by another woman. The police have a serial killer on their hands.

While all this is going on a woman turns up at headquarters. 'Mathilde' is worried about a blind man who has gone missing. Slowly Jean-Baptiste gets to know this odd woman who follows random people in the street and picks up waifs and strays... and learns about the people she lives with. Mathilde claims she knows who The Chalk Circle Man is; Jean-Baptiste is both intrigued and thoroughly alarmed... what is the connection between this rather eccentric woman and these horrendous crimes?

Well, I started this book on Sunday and finished it on Monday. From that it can be deduced that, yes, it's a quick read, but also that it's a compulsive one. I just could not put it down. I liked the French detective, Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, very much indeed, with his unusual way of doing things and his almost lazy approach to his work. Not only that, it was interesting meeting his second in command, Danglard, who drinks too much and freely admits he's 'no good to anyone come four o'clock in the afternoon'. I also found Vargas's other characters well rounded and different, Mathilde and her blind friend, Charles, particularly, and 70 year old Clémence who's adicted to the small dating ads in the papers. All nicely drawn.

The mystery itself was excellently done with a few twists and turns and bizarre occurances. I had suspicions of what was going on as I went along and in the end I was sort of right - but sort of not. It was quite complicated and I had to think hard, which is always fun.

I don't really have any complaints. I kind of wish I'd been to Paris and was familiar with the city's atmosphere and streets, but I haven't so there you go - it made no difference as far as I can tell.

The book was beautifully translated from the French by Sian Reynolds. This is the first in the series but I gather they haven't been translated in order, not that that has anything to do with the price of fish, but it is odd. I certainly plan to track down the rest of them and am looking forward to it immensely. I love the fact that I have about half a dozen different crime series on the go, that I'm really enjoying, and can dip into throughout the year.

Lord Valentine's Castle

The Majipoor Chronicles is a series of books that has been on my radar for a number of years, which is not surprising as Robert Silverberg began writing them in the early eighties. I'm only surprised that I didn't get to them before now to be honest and I actually nabbed this first one, Lord Valentine's Castle, from my daughter who got a bunch of sci fi books free from Devon Freecycle. As with all things - it was time.



Sitting on a ridge overlooking the city of Pidruid, 'Valentine' is adopted by Shanamir, a young herdsman on his way to sell his beasts in the city. 'Lord' Valentine, the coronal (a sort of king) of the planet of Majipoor, is doing a grand tour and has reached this city, so it's party and parade time. It surprises Shanamir that 'his' Valentine seems to know nothing about it and is also very hazy about his own past. He points out the similarity in names but this makes no impression on Valentine whatsoever.

Staying at an inn, Valentine is taken up by a troupe of jugglers and taught to juggle, as he seems to have a natural flair for it. He's offered a job touring with them and Shanamir decides to tag along. Valentine becomes friends with Carabella and Sleet, two of the troupe, but they also are taken aback by his lack of personal history and memories. Soon Valentine starts to get sendings - dreams sent from important people on the planet - and it becomes quite clear that Valentine is not just plain 'Valentine' after all... he's something else entirely.

Valentine realises he must go to see The Lady of Dreams but it's one long journey across the continent and he has to persuade the alien with four arms who runs the troupe to go the way he wants him to go. On the way there are many hazards and adventures and if Valentine is going to retrieve what is rightfully his he will need all the help and support he can get.

I couldn't make up my mind whether this book was science fiction or fantasy. It's actually a mix of both. It's made clear that Majipoor is a planet that has been settled by humans but that they share the planet with other intelligent species. On the other hand the characters are typical fantasy ones and the entourage Valentine collects around him is very like many classic fantasy stories such as The Belgariad series by David Eddings or the Dragonlance books by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It matters not to be honest and this is just me trying to pigeon-hole a book, in my head it felt like science fiction and 'classic' sci fi to boot.

I have to say that I enjoyed Lord Valentine's Castle quite a lot. I always love a good 'travelling' fantasy or sci fi book and I think that's probably because I enjoy travel books and those always feel like reading a travelogue from another planet. The book is quite densely written. There is much description of the flora and fauna and of the huge cities and a great deal of imagination is displayed in that department. Silverberg obviously has a very clear picture of the planet in his head and quite frankly, it's amazing!

Character-wise it was possibly a tiny bit lacking. I liked the characters but I didn't love them, didn't feel close to them as is sometimes possible with a really fantastic book. On the other hand I certainly think I liked them 'enough'... which is fine.

Truthfully, I think the real joy in the book for me was Silverberg's world-building. Majipoor really is an amazing place and the alien races he very skillfully introduces remind me a bit of Ursula le Guin and her brilliant depictions of other races in books like The Birthday of the World. I won't say this book is as good as her writing but it's not that far off. And it fitted the bill nicely for what I felt like reading which was a sci fi of the classic kind which took me away to an amazing world.

So, this was the first book of the Majipoor series and off I went to see what comes next. Which was where the confusion set in. I was expecting a continuation of Valentine's adventures because of the unresolved issues - instead I found that a book of short stories based in the Majipoor universe comes next. I'll have to investigate further and see what my daughter has too as I would really like to continue with these books. The problem is, I don't think it's a series or trilogy in the concise sense that we've become used to over the past ten years. I think they might be more akin to Anne McCaffrey's Pern books or the Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley. We'll see.

The Murder Stone

It's ten days since I posted here! It wasn't intentional, I've been a little busy - I have been reading though, just not as quickly as I would like. Anyway, The Murder Stone by Louise Penny has to go back to the library today so I'll write a bit about it while I still have it: always easier!



Armande Gamache, a chief inspector with the Sureté du Québec, has taken some time off for his wedding anniversary and taken his wife, Reine-Marie, to the Bellechasse, a hotel in the forest not too far from the village of Three Pines. It's not their first visit there, they spent their wedding night at the hotel and have been there every year since. It's an expensive, exclusive place, wonderfully quiet and peaceful and they love it there and know the owners and staff well.

Also staying there are the Finney family, elderly mother and step-father, three middle-aged siblings and one grandchild. Gamache cannot help but study the family. He finds them a strange lot indeed and comes to the conclusion that there are problems in the family. Then a fourth sibling arrives and Armande and Reine-Marie are stunned to find that they know the couple very well indeed.

Armande continues to study this troubled family, only with a lot more interest now, until, one awful night, a death occurs. One of the siblings is killed when the statue of their father, newly errected in the garden of the hotel, falls on her and crushes her to death. It should have been an accident but the weight of the statue suggests it is not. The Sureté are called in and Gamache's team set about investigating. The problem is, the family are so troubled that literally anyone could be responsible for the murder...

The Murder Stone is book four in Louise Penny's excellent crime series set in Quebec. I've enjoyed them all and this one was no exception. Instead of a murder story set, as in the first three books, in the village of Three Pines, this one benefits nicely from a change of setting - although the village does appear briefly. This means the story is more of an Agatha Christie type murder mystery and I quite liked that. I also loved the hotel and wondered if such a place really exists. I would love to stay there, though am not sure we would be able to afford it! Actually I'm sure we would not...

Anyway, enough day dreaming, any negative points about the book? A couple of minor ones. I found the constant harping on about how ugly Mr. Finney was, grating, and wasn't quite sure what the point of that was. Surely not to infer that those who are less than beautiful are more likely to commit murder? And I think it was Susan at You Can Never Have too Many Books who mentioned some while ago that the sudden appearance of four-letter word swearing was grating on *her*. I agree. I know some men swear like that and maybe policemen especially (though I doubt it), so, likely as not, it's a bit of realism instilled into the books. But it grates on me too and takes me out of the story, and I really don't care for it. Just my opinion of course, Your Mileage May Vary, as they say.

All that said, I thoroughly enjoyed this instalment of these Canadian mysteries (there's a new one out soon, or maybe even out already). I reckon Canada is a wonderful country to set mysteries in and Kay has introduced me to another series, by Vicki Delany this time, and set the other side of Canada, in British Columbia. Can't wait to start the first one, In the Shadow of the Glacier, which is already on my tbr mountain. Are there more mystery series set in Canada? If you know of any please let me know.

Two books and a movie

Not reading but connected in way - I went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. I agree with a few people in that I don't see these movies (I believe there's to be a sequel) becoming the definitive Holmes... that accolade belongs to the version with Jeremy Brett, in my opinion. But this new version, with Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson, was huge fun and I loved it. I was particularly impressed with the sets - wonderful grimey, London slums, amazing street scenes which looked as though they'd actually used London, and then suddenly you got a view right down the Thames from one of the bridges with the old buildings and sailing barges. Fantastic. The plot was a bit so-so (though quite acceptable) but was more than made up for by good performances from Robert Downey Jr. (excellent English accent), Jude Law (have never really been a fan but he was good in this), Mary Reilly (Caroline Bingley in the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice) as Mary Morstan, and Geraldine James as Mrs. Hudson. And the dog was wonderful too!! Can't wait for the next one now.



Now on to some books. Two this time, Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs and The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman.

First up : Iron Kissed.

This is book three in Patricia Briggs's series about Mercy Thompson who isn't a werewolf but a 'walker' who can change into a coyote at will. Mercy owns her own car mechanic business after having been brought up with a werewolf pack. She moved away to be independant but ended up nextdoor to Adam Hauptman, the alpha male of the local 'three cities' werewolf pack in Washington state.

This story sees Mercy trying to prove the innocence of her former boss, Zee. He's a fae, a group of beings shrouded in mystery, but Mercy starts to learn more than she ever wanted to know about them when she's asked to their reservation to use her coyote senses to sniff out the serial murderer of five fae. Zee is arrested but Mercy knows he's innocent. How can she prove it? Add to this the fact that her life is complicated enough as she knows the time is fast approaching when she will have to choose between alpha male, Adam, and Samuel - her childhood sweetheart from her old pack. How this is to be achieved without serious bloodshed, she has no idea.

I can't overstate how much I love this series. I particularly liked this one where more is learned about the fae and their history; Briggs is a very imaginative author and deals with this very well indeed. There's a nice bit of sexual tension in this one too as Mercy deals with her feelings and the repercussions of choosing one werewolf over another. Truthfully, I like the fact that these books are not over sexualised like some of the current paranormal romances; I much prefer tension and hints to graphic descriptions. Book four is already on my tbr pile and there's a new one out in March I believe.

Next up: The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman.

A young girl, in a fit of jealousy, wishes her mother dead as she goes out the door to celebrate her thirtieth birthday. The mother dies that night in a car accident and the girl turns off her feelings, thinking that when she wishes something awful, it will come true. The girl and her brother are brought up by their grandmother until she dies, when the brother, Ned, by then moved to Florida, persuades his sister to move from New Jersey to be close to him and his wife. Not long after she moves she's struck by lightning, which causes some peculiar physical reactions. She's forced to join a lightning victims study where she hears about Lazarus Jones who was struck, died for forty minutes, and then came back to life. Seeking him out she discovers a man whose very touch burns anyone who touches him, but depsite this she embarks on an intense love affair with Lazarus. One night, while working alone in the library, she sees her sister-in-law drive up in her nightie and deposit a book in the overnight book-bin. It's a book about ways to die, a subject she has become an expert in, but what is her sister-in-law doing with such a book? Does her brother know about it? And how can she find the answers to these questions and still maintain her ability to feel nothing and love no one?

This book was actually a random grab from the library but just recently I saw that Robin at A Fondness For Reading had chosen it as her book of the year. I can see why. It's beautifully written, almost heart-breakingly so, and in the first person which is a particular love of mine. We never do discover the girl's name and it wasn't until I'd finished the book that I realised it... that's good writing! Interspersed with the beautiful prose are fascinating facts about people who've been struck by lightning. This is a sort of a fantasy book so some will be make-believe I'm sure, but I suspect there's a grounding of truth there too and I found that fascinating. And of course I always love a book about secrets and there are many in this story. Truthfully, it is rather a sad tale but at the same time ultimately uplifting - I cried during the final chapters and not many books give me cause to do that. Superb, and certain to finish among my favourite books at the end of the year. Has anyone got any other Hoffman recs?

Snowy Britain

This photo was shown on the BBC News tonight and I thought it was stunning enough to post here. This is the snowfield that is Great Britain at the moment, taken from space by NASA.



As you can see there is very little of the country that's not covered by snow. I'm in my fifties and I honestly cannot remember this happening before. Even in the big freeze of 1963, the part of Cornwall I come from saw no snow whatsoever. This is just amazing.

Historical - Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders

I've been reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (for some reason I keep wanting to say 'Wildfowl' Hall...) off and on since the new year started. I'm not all that inspired by it but will persevere. I suspect, like a lot of books, it will get better as it goes along but when I went down with a cold several days ago I decided I needed a faster paced, more entertaining, book to read while I sniffed and sneezed by the fire and the snow came down outside. (We are currently snowed in.) To that end I picked up a book from my tbr mountain, Oscar Wilde and the Candlight Murders by Gyles Brandreth.



The good die first,
And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust
Burn to the socket.

William Wordsworth

The narrator in the this fictional story is one, Robert Sherard, who was the great-grandson of poet, William Wordsworth. He existed in real life and was, in fact, a good friend of writer, poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde.

The story begins in 1889 with Oscar Wilde arriving at an address in London to meet a pupil of his, sixteen year old, Billy Wood. What greets him as he enters the room is a dead body. Billy has been brutally murdered but not only that, he is surrounded by lit candles - the murder was a ritual killing.

Oscar takes flight and doesn't report the murder until the next day. By which time the body has been removed by persons unknown and the police think he might have hallucinated the whole thing. Enter Arthur Conan Doyle, a young writer who has just started a new crime series about an unusual detective, Sherlock Holmes. Oscar is completely smitten with the two books published so far and the two writers immediatelty become friends. Arthur's advice to Oscar is to go and see a close friend of his, Inspector Aiden Fraser, at Scotland Yard, who he is sure will take him seriously. Accompanied by his close friend, Robert Sherard, Oscar does just this but, in the event, even Inspector Fraser is sceptical about the writer's story.

Oscar decides to investigate himself, using the methods that Sherlock Holmes would have used. To help him - his Dr. Watson in all but name - is Robert Sherard, down on his luck and going through a messy divorce. But even he, with his tangled and messy romantic life, is unprepared for the Victorian underworld Oscar Wilde introduces him to...

Well then, on the surface this was a light, quick read that is fun and perhaps not as dark as it might have been. Gyles Brandreth is well known in the UK as a TV presenter and one time Tory MP and with his sense of humour you might expect this kind of novel from him. One of the reasons I particularly wanted to read this is because he is one of the few people who appears on TV to promote books and encourage people to read. I personally have a lot of time for him.

The thing about this book though is that there is a bit more to it than is immediately obvious. It's clear that Brandreth has done a lot of research into Oscar Wilde's life and it's all very interesting. I had no idea for instance, that he was married with two sons and was a devoted family man. Things about Wilde's trial are mentioned which leave the reader to speculate on whether or not his trial was a fair one. And Wilde's lifestyle, flamboyant and generous, is gone into in great detail. This is not an explicit book in any way but the alternate part of the writer's life is talked about in a matter-of-fact manner and that might not be for everyone.

You can probably tell that I liked this book rather a lot. I like it when a book inspires me to find out more about some facet of its content and in this case it's Oscar Wilde himself.



I own the biography by Richard Ellmann so will read that this year. I'll try to watch the Stephen Fry movie and I'll certainly be reading The Picture of Dorian Gray which is mentioned a few times in this book. I'm already a Sherlock Holmes reader so that aspect is already covered!

Brandreth has so far written three of these Wilde novels, the next being Oscar Wilde and the Ring of Death. I'm assuming there will be a finite number as the books start in 1889 and Wilde's trial was in 1895 I believe. Perhaps Mr. Brandreth didn't want to get into an endless series, I don't know. I do know that I will read them all as this first one was cracking good read.

My first book for the Year of the Historical challenge, which is being hosted by Lurv A La Mode.