Sakura of DOOM

Kyle Murchinson Booth is the insomniac, horrifically shy, socially awkward archivist at the Samuel Mather Parrington Museum. Thanks to a semi-unwilling foray into the supernatural (detailed in the first short story), he now seems to attract all sorts of ghosts and curses. The Bone Key is a set of short stories about Booth and the things that happen to him; all were published first elsewhere save the final story.

Monette writes in the introduction that she was inspired by M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft, both writers I haven't read, one because I haven't heard of him and the other because I avoid horror like the plague. I'm still not sure why I started this book, given my loathing of horror—I am really easily scared, as in, The Sixth Sense scared me—but I'm glad I did, despite several cases of the chills. Also, I think my long-held phobia of mirrors is back again.

Mostly I love the style of the book, and I'm glad I can read something like it without having to actually dip my toes into Lovecraft. I feel for Booth in particular, whom I think is the adolescent in all of us, and as such, "Elegy for a Demon Lover" ended up being my favorite story for the last line. Although I enjoyed getting more Booth backstory, I ended up being the most intrigued by the longer case files; the Booth-centric stories felt like they didn't have enough meat for me to sink my teeth into. As such, the two I enjoyed the most outside of "Elegy" were "The Venebretti Necklace" (which I also liked for the main female character) and "The Wall of Clouds."

In conclusion: a good read with beautiful style, and amazingly not as scary as I had dreaded (this is a plus).

Links:
- desdenova's review
- buymeaclue's review

I borrowed this largely because I was desperate to read more set in the world of Melusine. As far as I can tell, the collection consists of four novellas that have fantasy and romance elements, all tied together somehow by the theme of winter, though some more than others. I'm also tossing in the caveat that I tend to really dislike romance short stories, as I feel they don't give me enough time to care about the characters, much less caring about the characters falling in love.

( Lynn Kurland, “A Whisper of Spring” )

( Sharon Shinn, “When Winter Comes” )

( Claire Delacroix, “The Kiss of the Snow Queen” (spoilers) )

( Sarah Monette, “A Gift of Wings” )

All in all, pretty uneven, which I expected, and I now want to read Shinn's Mystic and Rider series, which I didn't expect at all, but am pleasantly surprised at.

Links:
- kate_nepveu's review

It is entirely within the realm of possibility that I sat in the bathtub while the rats slept on top of my feet for a good few hours reading this instead of doing math like I should have.

But I will never admit to that.

Anyhow, I'm glad I finally stuck it out and finished this. This is the third time I've checked it out of the library: the first, I just didn't find the time to start it; the second, I started it and then nearly threw it against a wall; the third, I will refer you back to the start of this post.

Melusine is a book about Felix Harrowgate, magician, aristocrat, and pawn, and about Mildmay the Fox, thief. It's also about the city of Melusine and the breaking of the Virtu, the magical protective shield of the city. Felix is forced to break it by his sadistic former mentor; in the process, he goes mad.

I nearly threw the book against a wall because I was so frustrated by the first half. Mildmay's introduction hooked me from the start, and then it was Felix and Felix worrying about some past that really didn't seem to be quite as shameful as he made it out to be and Felix being an ass and Felix going back to aforementioned sadistic mentor for absolutely no good reason that I could tell. It makes more sense after the rest of the book, when you realize that Felix is much more broken than he seems, but in the beginning, it's extremely confusing because Felix starts his descent into social ruin and madness before I even knew what he was like normally.

Also, Felix's narrative half gets boring very quickly, as he descends into madness and, unsurprisingly, stops making any sense whatsoever. The prose is lovely, but there's only so much description that I can take, particularly if it's very similar to all the previous descriptive, mad passages.

On the other hand, there was Mildmay, who has the best narrative voice ever, and I love him to pieces. I returned the book to the library the second time when Mildmay falls on some depressing times, as I didn't want to see angst and woe befall him as well as Felix, but lucky for me, I read a few more chapters in a cafe before returning it. And so, when I visited a few days later, there it was, back on the shelf, beckoning.

Anyhow, things get much, much more interesting when Felix and Mildmay finally meet up; Felix's madness becomes much less frustrating when he's seen through Mildmay's eyes. I actually felt really bad for the guy, since he basically acts like a whipped puppy most of the time. And it doesn't hurt that Mildmay takes care of Felix throughout the second book; I am now hooked and want to read more about their relationship, particularly after the very last chapters, which really put Mildmay through the wringer.

As most of you probably know, this is the first book in a four-book series; as such, it doesn't really come to much of a conclusion in terms of plot, though I found the ending extremely satisfying on an emotional level. I'm still not sure if I have a good grasp of the world outside of lower-life Melusine, which is wonderfully portrayed. A large part of that is because the knowledge of outside countries and influences and Melusine's aristocracy would have come from Felix, who is unfortunately too insane to do a good "As you know, Bob..."

And some spoilers: They are half-brothers!!!! You have no idea how much I squealed when I learned that and that may have been the beginning of the very long spate in the bathtub with rats. I am a total sucker for sibling relationships, and I love Mildmay the little brother taking care of Felix despite the many frustrations and near-death encounters, and so it nearly killed me when they were separated around the end. But yes, I'm very curious to see how the dynamic changes in book 2, since I'm not actually sure I like sane!Felix.

I'm very glad my library has got The Virtu, and now all I have to do is wait for whoever's got it to return it.

Links:
- coffeeandink's review
- rilina's review
- rachelmanija's review (also contains a not-too-spoilery review of The Virtu)
- mistful's review
- truepenny's tagged collection (truepenny = Monette)
- seajules' review
- gwyneira's review

Anyone else have links? I know a lot of people around LJ have read this, but I joined the party so late that I'm not quite sure where to look (*ahem*jinian*ahem*gwyneira*ahem*)