IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros

Buckle up!  Fourth Wing was not a one-hit wonder, as this follow-up is just as breathtaking.  The author keeps a lot of plates spinning in the air without dropping a single one.  Violet and Xaden tackle a whole new set of problems in this world of dragons and magic that includes wielding lightning and commanding shadows.  Here we get some additional insight into Xaden’s past, some of which does not sit well with Violet.  I finally realized that their world does not seem so primitive, since magic basically replaces electronics, particularly when it comes to communication.  Magic even fuels their lighting.  Does it go too far?  Maybe occasionally, as new forms of magic keep popping up.  I can’t help wondering how much of this was in the author’s master plan and how much she makes up as she goes.  In any case, it’s a thrill a minute and a wildly exhilarating reading experience, with frantic battles, moral dilemmas, and a steamy love story that never quite settles into a comfortable relationship.  As for the non-human characters, Violet’s huge dragon, Tairn, gets all the best lines.

THE TESTAMENTS by Margaret Atwood

I have not watched any episodes of the TV series based on Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, but apparently in this book she makes an effort not to contradict the TV series.  This novel takes place around fifteen years later, and Gilead, the fascist misogynist country that occupies most of the U.S., is still thriving, but the three narrators of this novel may be able to widen some cracks in the regime.  Two teenagers, Agnes in Gilead and Daisy in Canada, both eventually discover that their parents who raised them are not their biological parents.  The third narrator, who is recording her thoughts surreptitiously, is the powerful Aunt Lydia, who has apparently become, or was always, disillusioned, with Gilead’s treatment of women.  I actually liked the format of this book, but I don’t think it’s one of Atwood’s best.  There is not enough suspense and perhaps even too much optimism about the fate of Gilead.  I also found the characters to be a little thin until near the end when Daisy, later known as Jade, shows more grit than I really expected of her.  Agnes, too, has a moment of gumption when confronted with the prospect of marrying a man old enough to be her grandfather.  Although Lydia knows both what came before Gilead, and how much she has lost, and what life there is like now, the two teenagers know only their own separate and wildly distinctive worlds.  Each finds herself in a situation in which she has to survive on the unfamiliar turf of the other’s environment, and I found their adaptations to be the most revealing in terms of who they are and what they are capable of.

MADDADDAM by Margaret Atwood

I have to confess that I barely remember anything about the first two books in this series—Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood.  No matter.  Toby and Zeb and a few others are survivors of the plague brought on by Crake in his effort to wipe out humanity and replace our species with genetically engineered beings, the Children of Crake, or Crakers, who are completely innocent and devoid of malice.  They munch on kudzu and have no use for clothing, or what they perceive as a second skin.  We learn Zeb’s story, as he tells it to Toby, his lover and a sort of medicine woman. Toby is the central character here who finds herself the appointed storyteller for humoring the Crakers, who jump to unexpected conclusions.  Toby manufactures bigger and bigger whoppers, sometimes just to avoid having to explain something like the “f” word.  Zeb’s history is fodder for some of these stories, but they need no embellishment.  His escapades are the stuff of James Bond novels—wild, crazy, daring, and sometimes violent.  Oh, and he describes himself as a babe magnet.  What’s not to love?  And, for me, this is ultimately a love story, even though this book is the conclusion of a trilogy about rebooting civilization.  When Toby introduces the Crakers to reading and writing, we can see how she is jumpstarting their society to more advanced methods of keeping track of their own history, even though their perceptions of it are extremely skewed.

BIG SKY by Kate Atkinson

I am a huge fan of the Jackson Brodie novels, and, although I enjoyed this one, I did not think it was as good as the previous two.  There’s just not enough Brodie and witty banter for my tastes.  Also, Reggie, a character from a previous novel, reappears, but I can’t remember that far back.  Louise, the character that I do remember does not appear until near the end, and her scene is more of a cameo.  Also, Brodie doesn’t get involved in the main crime of this book—sex trafficking—until about 100 pages in.  Still, there are several multi-faceted characters, my favorite of which is Crystal, aka Christine, Holroyd.  Her past is a bit of a mystery in and of itself, but she has obviously catapulted herself from an unpleasant childhood into an affluent life, including a house with a swimming pool in the basement.  The main focus of her life is her young daughter Candy, but she is also a surprisingly good stepmother to Harry, a nerdy teenager who has two offbeat part-time jobs.  One of his jobs is in a rundown carnival-type arcade, and the other is in a theatre that features aging drag queens and bad comedy.   There is so much going on in this novel that it’s hard to nail down the main storyline.  A woman is murdered with a golf club, and I have to say that this event is particularly tangential, and, after the culprit was identified, I was puzzled as to what was the point of her death as far as the book’s plot was concerned.  I think Atkinson may have thrown a few too many ingredients into this pot.

EVENTIDE by Kent Haruf

I was afraid that this sequel to Plainsong would not live up to the standard set by its predecessor, but it absolutely does.  Cattle ranchers Raymond and Harold are back, and their ward, Victoria, is off to college with her young daughter Katie.  The two men have to adapt to having only one another’s company again, and then tragedy strikes.  In another household we have Luther and Betty and their two children, living in a trailer on welfare.  Betty’s Uncle Hoyt comes to live with them, and he is very bad news, but Luther and Betty are too terrified of him to turn him out.  Mary Wells has turned to drinking since her husband abandoned her and their two daughters.  You get the picture.  Social worker Rose Tyler seems to be the most stable person in this Colorado town, but even she occasionally loses her composure, especially when well-meaning but inadequate parents can’t take care of themselves, much less protect their children.  The tone and dialog in Haruf’s novels is so pitch-perfect that I just want to immerse myself in these people’s lives as long as possible, even when things are going badly for them.  Haruf has set a high bar for the third book in the series, Benediction, and I already have it on my bookshelf.  He treats his characters with such tenderness that I find it difficult to blame them for occasionally wallowing in their despair.  If I had a complaint about this novel, and I really don’t, it’s that everyone seems to be a victim of some sort of heartbreak, but the beauty of the novel is how most of them manage to overcome it and perhaps even provide solace to those who are still suffering.

THE GATE HOUSE by Nelson DeMille

The Gold Coast is my favorite Nelson DeMille novel.  Therefore, I felt that I owed it to myself to read the sequel.  The length, however, seems a bit self-indulgent on the author's part. I enjoy the witticisms of the narrator, John Sutter, but the play-by-play of his every move is a little much.  In fact, nothing much happens over the course of almost 600 pages.  The late Elmore Leonard refused to review books that were more than 300 pages, and I'm with him on that.  Actually, I can go 350 with no problem, but I digress.  John Sutter has returned after a 10-year hiatus to the estate where he once lived with his wife, Susan.  Susan somehow managed to avoid trial for murdering her lover, Frank Bellarosa, a Mafia don and government witness, 10 years ago.  Now I ask you:  Why would John Sutter reunite with this woman?  She must be really beautiful and really good in bed, but even so, I felt that John was a little hasty in kissing and making up.  Plus, since her very wealthy parents dislike him intensely, they will surely cut off Susan's allowance and her inheritance if John and Susan remarry.  John knows that Susan can't possibly adjust to a more frugal lifestyle, and what if their two adult children lose their trust funds?  John is an attorney, but he's unemployed at the moment, and his past affiliation with the Mafia and a wife who literally got away with murder may have a negative impact on his future opportunities.  This just seemed like so much silliness, especially in contrast to The Gold Coast, which was such a good story about how seductive power can be.  The plot of this book also has a darker angle, in that Bellarosa's son Anthony wants to avenge his father's death.  This means trouble for Susan, who can't quite fathom that anyone would want to kill her.  See what I mean?  She's a little ditsy, and I just couldn't quite buy that John would so easily and quickly forgive and forget.  He lost my respect by doing so.

BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON by Helen Fielding

Helen Fielding has a new Bridget Jones book coming out, and so I need to get caught up.  Bridget Jones' Diary was refreshing and funny, but this sequel seemed a little tired and silly.  It was too much of a good thing, I guess.  We have a standard plot here:  girl gets boy, girl loses boy, and girl gets boy back.  The "boy" in question is Mark Darcy, no relation to Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice, although both are played by Colin Firth in movies.  Hence, Bridget scores an interview with the real Colin Firth, which seemed superfluous to the plot, but I'm eager to see how the moviemakers handled this encounter.  (Actually, they left it out altogether—smart move.)  Bridget's parents are just as kooky as ever, and Bridget lands in jail in Thailand after inadvertently getting mixed up in a drug smuggling attempt.  Her plight at least opens the door for reconciliation with Mark, ever the hero, when he engineers her release.  Jealousy and insecurity seem to thwart this couple, who seem completely mismatched anyway.  On the other hand, maybe they complete each other, or fill each other's gaps, depending on which movie tagline you want to apply.  She needs his common sense and stability, while he just needs a little levity and adventure, which Bridget provides in spades.

BE COOL by Elmore Leonard

This was a somewhat lackluster effort by Mr. Leonard, if you ask me.  Capitalizing on the success of Get Shorty, he brings us another episode in the life of shylock-turned-moviemaker Chili Palmer.  Chili tends to base his movies on real-life events, and that's not a bad thing, since he seems to attract some pretty unsavory and colorful characters.  He wants to do a movie about the record business and gets into the business himself after music mogul Tommy Athens is murdered during their lunch together.  The first (and only) act that Chili comes to produce is Linda Moon, the lead singer for a rockabilly band, who is under contract to another label.  When Chili tells Raji, her manager, that Linda is through with him, Raji becomes the second guy who wants to waste Chili; the first is the Russian whose face Chili got a look at when he shot Tommy.  Raji has a gay Samoan bodyguard, who may not be gay or Samoan, and wants Chili to be left alive to guarantee him a screen test with Chili's latest squeeze, Elaine.  Chili is definitely a cool customer and a likeable, raffish rake, but all of this nonsense can take a book only so far.  I'll admit that Chili and his band of merry men (and women) are mildly entertaining, especially when Chili makes some questionable judgment calls, just to see how things will play out for his movie. 

THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST by Stieg Larsson

Lisbeth Salander is wanted for murder and has been shot in the head. Her surgeon, Dr. Jonasson, just wants to save her brain and her life, regardless of what crimes she may have committed. Journalist Mikael Blomkvist, her sometimes friend, sometimes lover, sometimes neither, just wants to expose the corrupt system that has victimized Lisbeth since she was a child. There are more Swedish characters here than I could possibly keep up with, and that wouldn't be such a problem, except that I occasionally got confused as to who was a good guy and who was a bad guy—or gal, as the case may be. The primary bad guys are Lisbeth's brother Niedermann (whose name I word-associated to Neanderthal), who cannot feel physical pain, and the ultra-sleezy psychologist Teleborian. The plot, along with various subplots, conspiracies, and intrigues, builds to a crescendo with Lisbeth's trial, in which the whole hornet's nest is exposed to all parties, right up to the prime minister. This may not be a literary thriller, but it is certainly a gripping one, and a beautifully fluid translated one; there are none of the awkward phrases that so often annoy me in a translation. Realism may not reign supreme here, but at least the two main characters are heroic without being flawless. Lisbeth is amazingly resourceful but manages to antagonize even her supporters at times with her refusal to divulge even the most benign secrets. Mikael's relentless endeavor to clear Lisbeth's reputation and record is sullied slightly by his philandering ways. This book seems to have more female heroines than the previous two, including Mikael's latest paramour, the statuesque Inspector Monica Figuerola, plus Lisbeth's lawyer (and Mikael's sister) Annika Giannini, and Milton Security's Susanne Linder, whose client is the eternally gutsy Erika Berger. Thank heavens it doesn't end in a cliffhanger.

WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS? by Kate Atkinson

Kate Atkinson manages to keep a lot of balls in the air in this literary thriller full of preposterous coincidences. This is her third book featuring Jackson Brodie, a former policeman and PI, who notes that "a coincidence is just an explanation waiting to happen." Thanks to the wreck of a train that he shouldn't have been on, Jackson is reunited with Inspector Louise Monroe, and although they have a barely suppressed hankering for each other, they're both married to someone else. Thrown into the mix is Reggie, a resourceful teenage girl who works as a mother's helper to Dr. Joanna Hunter, who has gone missing. Little does Reggie know that Dr. Hunter was the sole survivor of a killing spree 30 years ago in which Andrew Decker, recently released from prison, killed Joanna's mother, siblings, and dog. To top it off, Dr. Hunter's husband Neil has apparently gotten himself into some financial trouble and may have torched his own arcade for the insurance. Could he be in involved in his wife's disappearance? Toss in another murderer on the loose and Reggie's no-good brother, and you've got more than enough incentives to keep the pages turning. The real star of this show, though, is the witty, pitch-perfect swapping of barbs, especially between Jackson and the wonderfully sharp-tongued Louise, between Louise and her young sidekick, Marcus, and between Jackson and his nonplussed caregivers after the train wreck. Reggie has some pretty good lines, too, and employs her favorite word, "sweartogod," whenever applicable to prop up a true or false assertion. It's not all fun and games, though, and be warned that this book has more than one very dark moment.

WORLD WITHOUT END by Ken Follett

A book of over 1000 pages has to have several villains, and this one has at least four. Two are monks, one is a murderous nobleman, and one is an overrated carpenter. The action takes place in England in the 1300s and follows its main characters from childhood to middle age. During that time the plague rips through Europe, leaving entire families demolished, houses abandoned, and fields uncultivated. Religious figures rule and see the plague as God's punishment for man's (and woman's) lascivious ways. Simple health procedures like avoiding contact with victims and hand-washing are just coming into practice, but the clergy sees these precautions as unnecessary and even heretical. Caris is a forward-thinking woman who reluctantly becomes a nun on the eve of her wedding in order to avoid a death sentence for witchcraft. Her erstwhile fiancé Mirthen is a talented architect who is also way ahead of his time and devastated by Caris's fate. Gwenda is a peasant, forced to help support her family by pick-pocketing, and her father trades her to an outlaw in exchange for livestock. I had to marvel at the author's ability to manage a zillion characters and intertwine their lives. However, his writing style is neither lyrical nor memorable. I do remember enjoying The Pillars of the Earth, this book's prequel, but that was at least 15 years ago, and my literary tastes have changed since then. So I'm curious as to who's the audience for this book. Not the book clubbers. And not the casual reader, because its length is far too intimidating. I guess it's readers like myself who just wanted to relive their Pillars experience. Also, I was under the incorrect assumption that Fall of Giants was a follow-up to this book, but, no, it's the daunting (almost 1000 pages) first book in a projected trilogy.

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE by Stieg Larsson

Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist are back but not together. Let's face it. Blomkvist is a cad, and Lisbeth is perplexed to realize that she's in love with him. She travels for a year and then goes into hiding. She becomes even more scarce when her fingerprints are found on a murder weapon. We know, of course, never to count her out, as she's the weirdest heroine since Pippi Longstocking, another Swede whose name keeps popping up. This series ranks right up there with Harry Potter, just as improbable, but more adult. I enjoyed this book even more than the The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, partly because the characters were a little easier to keep track of, but mostly because it's just a better story—an action-packed murder mystery with Lisbeth and her friends Miriam and Paolo kicking some butt. As the cops set their sights on Lisbeth as a suspect, Blomkvist launches his own investigation, not just to exonerate Lisbeth, but also to find the real killers of his two colleagues Mia and Dag. He also knows that there are people in high places with motives, since they were about to be exposed for sex trafficking. Along the way we discover some details of Lisbeth's past, including why she was declared incompetent by the courts and assigned to that scumbag guardian Bjurman. I was on the edge of my seat during the finale, with Blomkvist to the rescue, periodically checking his watch, as his train is delayed. Then he gets lost, becoming more harried and squandering precious minutes. There are several loose ends that I'm looking forward to seeing tidied up in the third book, beyond just the bad guys getting their due. I'm particularly interested to see what happens with Erika Berger, Blomkvist's married lover and business partner, as she plans to accept an editor-in-chief job at another magazine. Will this cause a rift and free up Blomkvist to have a real relationship with Lisbeth? Why am I rooting for 20-something and a 40-something to get together?

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS by J.K. Rowling

J. K Rowling has capped off her remarkable series with the most thrilling book yet, saving the best for last. Harry, Hermione, and Ron launch a quest, at Dumbledore's urging, to destroy the splintered pieces of Voldemort's soul, without any idea where to start. Frustration and bickering ensue, threatening their friendship, as well as the success of their mission. Dumbledore has left each of them an enigmatic gift that must provide some clue, but Harry has to take the heat from the other two for not having a plan. I think that this book, more than the others, is about the relationships of the characters, and that makes it so much more memorable. Harry really has no one to lean on anymore, except his army of loyal classmates. I must say that the heft of this book makes it somewhat daunting, but I found myself almost skimming it at times, because I couldn't turn the pages fast enough in my lust to find out what happened. At the same time, speculation about the ending gave me trepidation so that I had procrastinated about reading it. Needless to say, my fears were totally unfounded. After all, this is a kids' book. My only complaint is that there are many characters that I couldn't remember from the previous books. Still, this and the inscrutable plot intricacies don't detract from the overall experience that is the joy of reading this book. Don't let the kids have all the fun.

THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD by Margaret Atwood

The Year of the Flood takes place basically in the same time and place as Oryx and Crake. The two books, with several overlapping characters, are almost like two halves of a jigsaw puzzle with pieces that interlock. I definitely recommend reading Oryx and Crake first. Although The Year of the Flood can stand on its own, there were many "Aha!" moments when I recognized a character or incident from the earlier book. One reviewer wrote that you could read them in either order, but The Year of the Flood is more hopeful, and the two female narrators are so much more heroic and likeable than Jimmy/Snowman was in Oryx and Crake. In The Year of the Flood, Ren and Toby are members of a group called God's Gardeners who are eschewing the lifestyle of the rest of the population in favor of trying to preserve what's left of Earth's dwindling resources. Their leader has predicted a Waterless Flood, and that's exactly what transpires when the plague hits. Atwood's projections of what the world could be like in the not-too-distant future is chilling and depressing, but she peppers the story with vivid descriptions of the landscape and sometimes colorful hybrid animals. I have to admit that I was somewhat grossed out by the various purposes that maggots serve in the God's Gardeners community, but the group's reliance on nature is what characterizes them and prepares the survivors for the resourcefulness that they'll need after the plague. I hope there's a third book in the offing.

ONE GOOD TURN by Kate Atkinson

This sequel to Case Histories is even better than its predecessor, and you definitely don't need to have read Case Histories to enjoy One Good Turn. The only characters from the first book that appear here are PI Jackson Brodie and Julia, who is now Jackson's long-distance girlfriend. I tried to describe the plot to my husband, and he said that it sounded like a Guy Ritchie movie with a variety of seemingly unrelated events and characters. It starts with a serious case of road rage, followed by a missing body, a hidden gun, and a mistaken-identity murder. Kate Atkinson keeps you on your toes with a diverse cast, including the sleazy Graham Hatter, who's already brain-dead from a heart attack suffered while tied up by a paid dominatrix. There's also Graham's unconcerned wife Gloria, the unfunny comedian Richard Mott, the crime novelist Martin Canning with a dark secret, and police detective Louise Monroe, who may become Jackson's next love interest. Like the Russian nesting dolls that keep reappearing in the plot, everything finally fits together at the end. Try to keep up.

THE STEPHANIE PLUM SERIES by Janet Evanovich

The books in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich are my favorite beach reads. They're also great for a break after reading something long, challenging, or depressing. Evanovich never fails to please with mystery, sex, and laugh-out-loud humor. Stephanie is a sometimes inept, sometimes lucky, sometimes wily bond enforcement agent in Trenton for her uncle Vinnie. She is divorced from Dickie, who cheated on her with Joyce, also a bounty hunter for Vinnie. Stephanie's main sidekick is another of Vinnie's employees, Lula, a large black ex-prostitute. Are you getting the picture here? The characters are wacky and hilarious, especially Stephanie's family, including her randy granny, whose favorite social activity is seeing who's laid out at Stiva's funeral home. Stephanie's love life always figures largely into the plot, as she's torn between two men. Joe Morelli, whom she's known since childhood, is a hunky cop who wants to marry her However, he doesn't relish the idea that the future mother of his children is being shot at on a regular basis. Ranger is another skip tracer for Vinnie who's sexy to the point of being scary. These books are as addictive as chocolate.

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE by J. K. Rowling

If you think Harry Potter books are just for kids, think again. Some of the wordplay is probably lost on young readers. I especially like "Diagon Alley" (diagonally, get it?), and "Knockturn Alley", where the dark arts are sold, is an even better example. The "Pensieve" is a great invented word for a device that allows viewing someone's memories. Plus, these spellbinding adventure stories have become a huge part of the pop culture, and you don't want to be left out. Recently I spotted a car whose back end was spattered with various Harry Potter bumper stickers, not one of which mentioned him explicitly by name. Everyone needs to know what Gryffindor, Quidditch, and Parseltongue are, right? And the movies have become so ubiquitous that I sometimes wonder if J. K. Rowling is influenced by their depiction of her characters. Is Harry looking more and more like Daniel Radcliffe in her mind? The movie based on the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is coming out in November. Start with this book if you've already seen the movies and don't want to read the first five. This is the penultimate in J. K. Rowling's series, and it continues with some of the same themes as the previous volumes as it builds to the conclusion in the seventh book. As she says, seven is a magical number, and it also figures into the plot of Half-Blood Prince, named for the unknown former owner of Harry's Potions textbook. The Prince's handwritten margin notes help Harry out on more than one occasion and not just in his school work. Half-Blood Prince answers a few nagging questions, such as why Voldemort thinks he's immortal and why the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position is a revolving door. It also seems to settle the matter of Snape's allegiance, but I'm reserving judgment until I've completed the series.