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The Breaker by Minette Walters: B+

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From the back cover:
Twelve hours after Kate Sumner’s brutally murdered body washes up on the beach, her traumatized 3-year-old daughter is found wandering the streets alone. At first, the prime suspect is a young actor, obsessed with pornography. But now, the local English constable has doubts about the victim’s husband. Was he really out of town when she was killed? And why does the child scream every time her father comes near her?

Holding readers in an exhilarating state of anticipation, British author Minette Walters guides them through a startling maze where nothing is at it seems, and even the innocent tell lies.

Review:
The Breaker was a lot different than the other English mysteries I’ve read. Instead of introducing a community of suspects, there were only a few, and details of their personality were revealed only gradually, sometimes shifting when lies were discovered. The role of the local police constabulary in the investigation was given more prominence, with PC Nick Ingram turning out to be the most likable character. The atmosphere was also darker and more grim.

I found the mystery itself to be good, and had no idea who would turn out to be the culprit. The stories of suspects and witnesses changed often, and I also liked that even when caught, the perpetrator still didn’t divulge the entirety of what had really happened. Another neat sidestepping of convention involved the idea of the intuitive leap. In other mysteries, an investigator would have a sudden flash of the (possibly unusual) manner in which the crime was committed, and it’d turn out to be right. Not here, though. PC Ingram made quite a lot of very plausible suggestions that weren’t always proved correct.

This was the first book I’d read by Walters. I’ll be reading more.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: A+

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Book description:
Jane Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility is a wonderfully entertaining tale of flirtation and folly that revolves around two starkly different sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. While Elinor is thoughtful, considerate, and calm, her younger sister is emotional and wildly romantic. Both are looking for a husband, but neither Elinor’s reason nor Marianne’s passion can lead them to perfect happiness.

Startling secrets, unexpected twists, and heartless betrayals interrupt the marriage games that follow. Filled with satiric wit and subtle characterizations, Sense and Sensibility teaches that true love requires a balance of reason and emotion.

Review:
I had never read this before. And I call myself an Austen fan!

There is much to recommend this book, but primarily I would say that the characterizations were its best asset. It can’t be easy to create a very sensible character like Elinor, and yet perfectly convey that she is also a person of great feeling and compassion or to create a very emotional one like Marianne, and yet also make clear that she isn’t flighty or stupid. Additionally, Austen populates the novel with a host of memorable minor characters, at whose expense she occasionally engages in some breezily skewering satire. Here’s a favorite passage of mine:

Sir John was loud in his admiration at the end of every song and as loud in his conversation with the others while every song lasted. Lady Middleton frequently called him to order, wondered how any one’s attention could be diverted from music for a moment, and asked Marianne to sing a particular song which Marianne had just finished.

If pressed to note a flaw, the only thing I could mention is the character of Edward, and Elinor’s feelings for him. Because they are formed before the start of the novel, and then Edward is never quite himself on his subsequent appearances, I didn’t really get why she loved him.

As a random observation, I was struck with how often the Dashwood sisters were compelled to accept invitations they would have preferred to refuse, be it to reside in a certain house for a time or to spend time associating with tiresome people. Once there, they often had to sit around for hours being bored or discussing which of a pair of children was the taller. Dreary! Happily, the same cannot be said of Sense and Sensibility.

The Sandman 2: The Doll’s House by Neil Gaiman: B

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From the back cover:
Rose Walker finds more than she bargained for in the doll’s house—long lost relatives, a serial killers convention, and, ultimately, her true identity. The master of dreams attempts to unravel the mystery, unaware that the hand of another, far closer to home, is pulling the strings.

Review:
There were several things I quite liked in this volume. Two more of Morpheus’s siblings are introduced, and Desire (who can’t be satisfied with just one gender) is a really neat character. I also liked avuncular Gilbert, not a sibling but with mysterious origins of his own, who comes to Rose’s aid and reminded me of Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor.

The best part, though, was the chapter called “Men of Good Fortune,” which takes place in the middle of the Doll’s House arc but really doesn’t turn out to have much to do with it. In it, Morpheus and his sister, Death, encounter a man in 1389 who claims that he won’t ever want to succumb to death. And so Death decides not to claim him until he desires it, and Morpheus makes an appointment to visit with him every hundred years, accidentally befriending the fellow along the way. The story is neat, but I also really liked how their surroundings and wardrobes changed each time they met.

On the whole, though, I found this arc pretty damned depressing. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for so much darkness and surrealism. I also feel like there are probably some big, deep themes here that I’m just not getting.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman: A

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From the back cover:
In the tranquil fields and meadows of long-ago England, there is a small hamlet that has stood on a jut of granite for 600 years. Just to the east stands a high stone wall, for which the village is named. Here, in the hamlet of Wall, young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. And here, one crisp October eve, Tristran makes his love a promise—an impetuous vow that will send him through the only breach in the wall, across the pasture… and into the most exhilarating adventure of his life.

Review:
It was about time I read this! It had only been recommended to me a dozen times.

Stardust is a fairy tale that doesn’t always do what one expects, though sometimes it does. Indeed, there are fantastic lands and a large cast of characters, including a garrulous air ship captain, a scheming poisoner, a wicked witch, a captive bird, a purveyor of miracles in a silk top hat, and little hairy man with a bag of useful objects. The story is more adult than the typical fairy tale, though, as Gaiman manages to incorporate sexuality and violence without either being gratuitous. It is obvious that certain things will happen, but not how they will happen. All of the plot threads intertwine and wrap up neatly.

I absolutely love the ending. The final images of the epilogue are wonderful, the type of conclusion that makes one love the whole that much more. Definitely recommended, especially the unabridged audio read by the author himself.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight 1 by Joss Whedon: B

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From the back cover:
Worldwide cult phenomenon Buffy the Vampire Slayer returns with Season Eight—only in comics! Series creator Joss Whedon once again takes up writing duties for this official sequel to the show, running the comics as he ran seven seasons of Buffy on TV. This opening story introduces a mysterious threat known as “Twilight” and plunges Buffy and the gang into their biggest adventure—without the limitations of a small-screen budget.

Review:
I’ve been reading these as they’ve been released each month, but enjoyed them more on this reread. Not only did the arc (entitled “The Long Way Home”) benefit from being read in one sitting, but I also found it easier to hear the dialogue in the actors’ voices this time, making it easier to feel that this really is happening to the characters, despite them being all two-dimensional and stuff.

The dialogue is pretty great, and the few scenes where the Scooby Gang is together (sans Giles) are my favorites of the arc—I just wish there were more of them. For a season opener, this is a lot of action and random familiar faces from the past (one of whom is a retcon so objectionable that I’m just going to pretend it didn’t happen), and small doses of character interaction. Hopefully that will shift in time. Right now, the series has moved onto a Faith arc and there’s been no real follow-up to these events yet.

The last chapter is a stand-alone story called “The Chain,” and tells the story of a girl tapped to be a decoy Buffy. It’s sad and probably the best single issue of the bunch collected here.

I find myself frequently annoyed by the inconsistency of the art in American comics and sadly, this series is no exception. While Xander and Willow look alright most of the time, Buffy either looks weird or, if she looks like herself at all, too young. In the original issues, Willow’s eyes were blue, but they’ve been corrected for this collection. The covers by Jo Chen are absolutely gorgeous, though.

Digesting the continuing adventures of Buffy in this format takes some getting used to. It definitely seemed more real to me on this reread than it did initially, so I’d advise anyone taking the plunge to give themselves a little time to adjust; it’ll grow on you.

greetings from nashville

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I am officially half-way through my southern casting tour. Flew in to Nashville yesterday, where I met up with our production assistant, Cecilia, and her friend Adam, who is assisting us while we’re here. Since we were arriving in town at rush hour, we decided to grab dinner before the drive to Atlanta, which was lovely, but of course meant that we didn’t get to Atlanta until after midnight. We held auditions there this morning, and drove back to Nashville this afternoon. At this point, I am extremely confused about what time zone I’m in.

I had some much-needed downtime this evening, so I can be fresh for a new batch of auditioners tomorrow morning. We’ll see more people tomorrow than we did today, and then there are plans to see a play at Chaffin’s Barn (Cecilia’s old stomping-grounds) in the evening.

Saturday, I’ll be here on my own until it is time to go to the airport, and so the question remains: Where the hell do I buy manga in Nashville? Advice welcome.

I’ll be very happy to return to husband, dog, and cat on Saturday night. ‘Til then, hope you’re all well.

Demons of Air and Darkness by Keith R. A. DeCandido: C+

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From the back cover:
Once they moved from world to world in a single step, through innumerable doors that spanned the galaxy. They were masters of space, and to those who feared them, they were demons of air and darkness. But long ago they left their empire and their miraculous technology behind. Now someone has found the key to it, and all those doors have been flung open.

A world near Deep Space 9, threatened with destruction from the distant Delta Quadrant, becomes the focus of a massive rescue effort as Colonel Kira Nerys, her crew, and some unexpected allies fight to avert disaster on a planetary scale. Meanwhile, as Lieutenant Nog and Ensign Thirishar ch’Thane search for a way to shut down the spatial portals forever, Quark becomes involved in a dangerous game that could determine, once and for all, who will control the Gateways.

Review:
This is kind of an odd entrant into the DS9 relaunch series, since it’s actually the fourth book in a different series. The Gateways series has a novel for each of the pre-Enterprise TV series, plus a couple from some original novel series. I was not interested enough in the concept to check out the other books, so missed how this business with the gateways all started. One gimmick is that each of the novels ends in a cliffhanger and all the endings are compiled in novella form in the seventh book of the series (entitled What Lay Beyond). So, basically, anyone reading the whole series got annoyed six times before having to shell out for one more book containing all of the conclusions. Irksome!

DeCandido was better at keeping thoughts in-character for the DS9 cast than he was in the Buffy book I read by him, so there were some good character moments, though the basic plot was pretty dull. The writing was also heavily reliant on dashes—like so—to the point where it became distracting. Also, if books like this even have editors, someone should inform them that “a isolinear rod” and “a instrument panel” are grammatically incorrect.

Like the others in the series, Demons of Air and Darkness ends on a cliffhanger. Its resolution is the novella “Horn and Ivory,” which basically just deals with Kira having taken a gateway to Bajor’s past and realizing that she needs to stop waiting for Sisko to come back and take the responsibility of running the station off her shoulders. Or something. I didn’t read any of the other novellas, so if there was a definitive conclusion to the events of the series, I don’t know what it was. And don’t really care.

5 centimeters per second

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I’m home sick. Have been sleeping much of the day, and watching a little anime. My husband was recently introduced to Shinkai Makoto’s Voices of a Distant Star, so over the past couple of days, he and I have been watching both that and his later film, 5 Centimeters Per Second, which for some reason is the one I have fallen for most deeply. I watched it again today, and I was again struck with such deep emotion, it was difficult not to just start all over again as soon as it had finished. …

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*sniffle*

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Today I have a terrible cold, which is not so great for me, but possibly a blessing for *you* who are thus spared a long and tedious discussion of Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 8, and why the manga is so much richer than the anime, since I am much too congested to manage that level of thought. Whatever that level is.

I have Lucy with me at work today, and she is keeping my head from falling off, though I’m sure she’s incredibly bored. I have finally taken a real break, just an hour before my day is done. Fortunately, New York auditions were much more successful than they have sometimes been, and we have a lovely handful of folks to call back next week. It is starting to look like I may be attending callbacks on Monday, which I didn’t intend to do, and which will make for a very long week, as I’ll be leaving Wednesday to hold auditions in Nashville and Atlanta at the end of the week. With four tours going out in January, we’re trying to expand our files a bit, so we sent our PA to SETC auditions this year, and these auditions are a follow-up to that.

I’m feeling nostalgic this week, after seeing Christian (and even Mark, briefly!) on Monday in New York. I drift away from old friends much too easily, and that’s something I need to fix. Old friends, if you’re out there, don’t give up on me!

Lucy is growling at shadows, and I must get back to work.