mysteries with bite
Jun. 21st, 2007 08:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snugglekittyIn the past few days, I finished two disturbing mysteries - The Bowl of Night by Rosemary Edghill and Farthing by Jo Walton.
The Bowl of Night is third in the Bast mystery series. This series features a pagan amateur sleuth solving mysteries within the community. I had read the first two books as a teenager (Speak Daggers to Her and Book of Moons) and liked them very much. Somehow, until a month or so ago, I was not aware that a third book had been added. I found out because there was a Bast short story in an anthology I read recently - just don't ask me which one - which referred to the series as a trilogy. Any road. This third book is about the murder of a fundamentalist Christian at a pagan gathering. Cliche, to be sure. It was clear to me from the second chapter who the murderer was, but that wasn't really why I was reading - I was more interested to see the way Edghill would describe things playing out in the community. Wow. She and Bast both have a pretty cynical view. I found the book rather bleak. Probably the saddest thing about it is Bast's lack of faith in the community. She is so sure that she will be judged for her actions that she doesn't even speak out for herself. Now, I'm not saying the community is eternally free of faults. But people can't act well unless you give them chances to do so. Maybe this is Edghill's way of portraying karma? Anyway, it was compelling and felt very real. Three stars.
Farthing. Wow. This book is taking up a disproportionate amount of psychic space in my head right now. If you don't want to be made to think, stay away. In some ways, Walton's inscription says it all: "This novel is for everyone who has ever studied any monstrosity of history, with the serene satisfaction of being horrified while knowing exactly what was going to happen, rather like studying a dragon anatomized upon a table, and then turning around to find the dragon's present-day relations standing close by, alive and ready to bite."
The premise of the book - an embattled, isolated England sued for peace with Germany to end WWII. It's now 1949. A blue-blooded society daughter, closely related to the political faction that created the peace, has shocked her family and indeed all of the upper class by marrying a Jew. When they are invited to a weekend retreat with her family, he thinks that they are finally getting used to him, but she smells a rat. Then a prominent politician is killed - at the party - and evidence points to murder by Jews.
Everyone in this book has a secret. Most of the secrets are dangerous. Most of them will stay on my mind.
An old friend of mine once explained his idea of science fiction this way: "Really good science fiction makes you think, 'Wow, that's really terrible! I'm so glad it's not happening here!... Wait a minute....'" And Farthing definitely fits this bill. It will unsettle you and make you worry about the future. Four stars.
ETA: According to the author's website, she actually wrote the book in 17 days while "white hot furious." WOW.
The Bowl of Night is third in the Bast mystery series. This series features a pagan amateur sleuth solving mysteries within the community. I had read the first two books as a teenager (Speak Daggers to Her and Book of Moons) and liked them very much. Somehow, until a month or so ago, I was not aware that a third book had been added. I found out because there was a Bast short story in an anthology I read recently - just don't ask me which one - which referred to the series as a trilogy. Any road. This third book is about the murder of a fundamentalist Christian at a pagan gathering. Cliche, to be sure. It was clear to me from the second chapter who the murderer was, but that wasn't really why I was reading - I was more interested to see the way Edghill would describe things playing out in the community. Wow. She and Bast both have a pretty cynical view. I found the book rather bleak. Probably the saddest thing about it is Bast's lack of faith in the community. She is so sure that she will be judged for her actions that she doesn't even speak out for herself. Now, I'm not saying the community is eternally free of faults. But people can't act well unless you give them chances to do so. Maybe this is Edghill's way of portraying karma? Anyway, it was compelling and felt very real. Three stars.
Farthing. Wow. This book is taking up a disproportionate amount of psychic space in my head right now. If you don't want to be made to think, stay away. In some ways, Walton's inscription says it all: "This novel is for everyone who has ever studied any monstrosity of history, with the serene satisfaction of being horrified while knowing exactly what was going to happen, rather like studying a dragon anatomized upon a table, and then turning around to find the dragon's present-day relations standing close by, alive and ready to bite."
The premise of the book - an embattled, isolated England sued for peace with Germany to end WWII. It's now 1949. A blue-blooded society daughter, closely related to the political faction that created the peace, has shocked her family and indeed all of the upper class by marrying a Jew. When they are invited to a weekend retreat with her family, he thinks that they are finally getting used to him, but she smells a rat. Then a prominent politician is killed - at the party - and evidence points to murder by Jews.
Everyone in this book has a secret. Most of the secrets are dangerous. Most of them will stay on my mind.
An old friend of mine once explained his idea of science fiction this way: "Really good science fiction makes you think, 'Wow, that's really terrible! I'm so glad it's not happening here!... Wait a minute....'" And Farthing definitely fits this bill. It will unsettle you and make you worry about the future. Four stars.
ETA: According to the author's website, she actually wrote the book in 17 days while "white hot furious." WOW.