Updale, Eleanor - Montmorency

A petty thief was captured after sustaining heavy injuries falling through a skylight. He becomes the subject of an experimenting doctor, who patches him up, and eventually, he decides to take on the name of Montmorency and comes up with a plan to use the new sewer systems for thievery. He eventually takes on a double identity as Montmorency the gentleman and Scarper the servant.

I liked all the period detail in the book, and of course I was drawn like a magnet to the whole thief thing. Because of that, my favorite parts of the book were when Montmorency was planning things out and doing all that fun caper stuff.

He's not a Robin-Hood-type thief, nor is he rogue-ish like Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards. Montmorency is fairly cold and calculating, which is why he's so interesting.

Later, though, he finds that his life as a gentleman suits him more and more. I'm not sure of what to think of the class issues in the book; Updale skirts around them most of the time by having Montmorency easily pass as upper-class thanks to his skills. He eventually grows to look at his old life in distaste, and while this might be commentary on class divisions, I don't think it is. I got the feeling that the reader is also supposed to look on Montmorency's old life in distaste and believe that he is acquiring virtue along with his rise in class.

I'm also completely unconvinced of the ending, but may continue reading the series just for the capers and the intrigue.

Pratchett, Terry - Soul Music

Death goes off to try to figure out the meaning of it all, and in the ensuing absence, a girl named Susan is called to be his substitute. Meanwhile, Imp y Celyn somehow ends up popularizing Music with Rocks in It, which causes quite a few wizards to paint their rooms black and take up drums or guitars and also wreaks havoc with Susan's job.

I actually ended up liking this less than Reaper Man, even though the A and B plots were much more balanced. A lot of that was because while the rock and roll section wasn't as boring as the other wizard plot in Reaper Man, it still didn't interest me all that much. Also, I wanted to see a lot more about Death and Susan and the Death of Rats.

I feel like this book wasn't as character-driven as the Pratchetts that I enjoy the most, so that may be part of it as well. Susan and Imp don't really develop as characters, and we don't get to see much of Death either.

It's not a bad book, by any means, but it hasn't stuck with me very much either.

(except Death of Rats, but we all knew that!)

Also, was anyone else bugged by the US MMPB cover? How old is Susan? I thought she was more a teen or a kid, not the busty woman on the cover.

Underwood, Blair, with Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes - Casanegra

I first heard of this via delux_vivens' link to an NPR segment, and while the talk of writing a book with the idea of a movie as well tends to scare me off, Underwood, Due and Barnes' comments about the book were very interesting (aka, I hope the movie-talk doesn't scare off other people either).

Tennyson Hardwick is currently a wannabe-actor, formerly a gigolo and a bodyguard, and always handsome and smooth with women. He soon finds himself a suspect in the murder of his former client, rapper and actress Afrodite, and runs about trying to clear his name (which is the very appropriate "Ten Hardwick." Hi, I am twelve!).

I was a little hesitant at first because the plot involves gangster rappers and how one of them thinks of women as whores, etc. etc. But the authors are much more nuanced than that, and a lot of the plot with the LAPD reminded me of the politics of Homicide: LotS in how nicely complicated and complex and multilayered it was.

I wanted to shake Ten every two pages because he kept doing stupid things! Like, if you are the prime suspect for a murder case, it might be a good idea to not compound your case with things like breaking and entering and illegal possession! I mean, I get that this must happen for Ten to be the protagonist and to solve the mystery himself and that every thriller hero/heroine ever does this, but I kept going "Ack! Don't do that! Not good!"

I wasn't as sold on the erotic part of this book (Underwood mentions that he was inspired by a character in a script and by Zane's erotica); I suspect much of that is because it's from Ten's first person POV and it just feels very male. Clearly it is meant to be very male, so YMMV.

In the end, my favorite relationships in the book were the non-romantic ones, particularly with a secondary character who shows up halfway through the book.

The plot was very page-turning, I liked the characters, and I'd be interested to see what happens in the next book, particularly if Underwood, Due and Barnes keep the characters changing and growing. And I'm a little surprised to say this, given my general antipathy toward books-turned-movies, but I'd be really interested to see how this would be adapted to a movie, especially with Underwood at the helm.