In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner

In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner
Fiction

Seven year old Raami lives in luxury in the capital of Cambodia. She comes from royal lineage, has a nanny, and loves the flowers that the caretaker plants. Her world is torn apart when revolutionary soldiers of Khmer Rouge force everyone out of the capital. Raami's family moves to their summer home but soon get forced out of that as well. Their next home is a school, where they stay in a classroom. When soldiers enter the school and demand that Raami tell them who her father is, being only 7, Raami answers honestly. The soldiers are looking for highly educated, wealthy individuals, which almost guarantees the death of her father. The family is moved from place to place. They are broken up and brought back together. They meet many terrible people but there also a few warm-hearted people that help them stay alive. This is a heart wrenching story of a family getting torn apart during a war.

This novel is the first for author Vaddey Ratner but it reads like she's a seasoned writer. The writing is absolutely beautiful, but not in a way that only English Majors could understand. For me it was never hard to read.

The emotions described within this book are so raw and real. Ratner describes at the end of the book that the story is very close to her own. It's really amazing how much Raami understands and grows over the two years this book takes place. At the same time, Raami doesn't understand some things that the reader does which adds further to this novel.

Really, I don't think I can praise this novel enough. It's definitely my best read of the year so far and I imagine it will still be very high on the list by the time the year is done.

First Line: "War entered my childhood world not with the blasts of rockets and bombs but with my father's footsteps as he walked through the hallway, passing my bedroom towards his."

Rating:
(4.5/5)

Born in Death

Born in Death by J. D. Robb
Mystery
This time Eve Dallas has a very busy time. Two young lovers have been found murdered from the same accounting firm. That same accounting firm is making doubly sure that no information regarding their accounts will ever land in the police's hands.

At the same time Eve and Roarke attend the dreaded birthing coach's class and Eve is preparing for the baby shower that she is to give Mavis. Eve doesn't have a clue and Peabody helps her out. But Tandy Willowby, a friend from Mavis' birthing classes has gone missing and Mavis asks Eve to find her.  Eve struggles with all this estrogen in the air but she is such a true friend.

It almost feels as if there is just too much going on. Eve is stretched to the limit in this book. The writing is clever and the reader feels the tension and fatigue. I love the repartee between Eve and Somerset.

First Line: "The ways and means of friendship were murderous."
Rating:
(4.0/5)

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
Historical Fiction

Laura Petrosian is a novelist who wants to write the story of her grandparents. One is American-born Elizabeth and the other is Armenian Armen, both of whom were in Syria during the Armenian genocide. Laura researches her grandparent's past through pictures and letters at museums in the USA. She even finds letters between her grandmother and grandfather, which helps form the basis for the novel.

Elizabeth volunteered to travel to Aleppo with her dad as part of a Friends of Armenians mission. The atrocities she sees are unimaginable. She brings a woman and young child back to the American compound, saving them from being marched out to the dessert to either waste away or have their heads cut off as sword practice. She also meets a handsome young Armenian Armen who is trying to find his wife and child though suspects they too have been murdered. He soon gives up and travels to Egypt to enlist and fight against the Turks.

I knew nothing about the Armenian genocide prior to this novel. The way it was presented, it sounds like I'm not the only one. Getting the history lesson on this was very interesting, and the love story during the war read like it could be a true story.

The novel switched back and forth between present day and the past, but this really made things confusing at at the beginning. I think the story could have been told just as well, if not better, without referring to Laura trying to write a novel about her grandparents. This novel was well written and it was easy to connect with the characters.

First Line: "When my twin brother and I were small children, we would take turns sitting in our grandfather's lap."

Rating:
(4/5)

Mort by Terry Pratchett

Mort by Terry Pratchett
Fantasy

Death has been working for a very long time and he's starting to get lonely. He has a wizard to make him food and an adopted daughter to keep him company but he feels like he needs a break. Death goes in search of an apprentice and finds Mort, a clumsy young man. Death teaches Mort how to usher souls to the next world and other aspects of the business then leaves him to take over. What he doesn't anticipate is that Mort falls in love with a princess he's supposed to help die and instead saves her, altering the world. The world does not like being altered though and will do everything to set things straight again.

This isn't the first Discworld book I've read but I think it's my favourite one so far and one that has made the most sense. Given the chance, I would start with this book first as I think it introduces Discworld in the most gentle way.

There were some parts to this novel where Pratchett would get in to the intricacies of Discworld and I have to be honest I started glossing over. I was more interested in the characters and how they were going to get out of their trouble.

First Line: "This is the bright candlelit room where the life-timers are stored - shelf upon shelf of them, squat hourglasses, one for every living person, pouring their fine sand from the future in to the past."

Rating:
(4/5)

Memory in Death

Memory in Death by J. D. Robb
Mystery
Trudy Lombard, one of Eve Dallas' foster mothers shows up in Eve's office. This sends Eve in a 'tizzy' because of her wretched past. Trudy is not there to renew old times but to blackmail Eve and especially Roarke. Trudy was a cruel foster mom who abused Eve. Roarke refuses to pay and threatens right back.

Trudy is found murdered the next day and it is up to Eve to find the killer.

In this story the reader pretty much knows who the killer is but along with Eve is constantly searching for what will trip the killer up. On a personal note, Christmas is getting in the way of the investigation but Eve is doing some soul searching and finding out the true values of love, family and friends.

This was not one of my favourites but still a decent story and loved Eve coming to terms with a bit more of her personal life.

First Line: "Death was not taking a holiday."
Rating:
(3.5/5)

Origin in Death

Origin in Death by J. D. Robb

Mystery
 
Dr. Wifred Icove is found dead in his office. Who would have possibly wanted him dead? He was Dr. Perfect. He and his son ran a very successful cosmetic and reconstructive surgery practice. Everybody loved him.

Eve Dallas, police lieutenant in the year 2059 believes everything is a bit too perfect. No one is a saint. This looks like a professional hit but who would have wanted the good doctor dead? Dalllas starts out with her dogged persistence and wonderful gut instinct and follows through until she nails the killer.

I loved this book the best so far. The subject matter is very creepy and the reader is pulled down into the 'what if' scenerario which makes for some interesting hypotheses. As always Robb brings these characters to life and more than a mystery the repartee is just fun to read 

First Line: "Death smiled at her, and kissed her gently on the cheek."
Rating:
(4.0/5)

Terrified by Kevin O'Brien

Terrified by Kevin O'Brien
Mystery

Lisa Swan thought she had the perfect marriage until her husband beat her one night. He swore it would stop but instead it got worse and worse. When Lisa found out she was pregnant, she staged her suicide in to a river and left for Seattle with a new alias. What she didn't know is that someone followed her and wants her all to himself. Over the course of the next 14 years she notices things go missing but thinks its her son or just misplaced items. Then she starts getting calls asking for her by her real name. Lisa is scared and with good reason.

The plot was pretty unbelievable. Why would someone wait more than 14 years to make their move? He could have done something much sooner so why wait? The worst part of this novel, however, was the manufactured suspense at the end of what felt like every paragraph. I felt like the author was using cheap tricks to keep my interested and it started bothering me after the first 60 pages or so. Every trick in the book was used. It's his reflection, not a person coming after you. It's an animal's eyes in the woods, not a person coming after you. Give me strength. The cherry on the cake was that I determined who the villain was early in the book and the whole thing ended with a fizzle rather than a bang.

First Line: "Her son was awfully quiet."

Rating:
(2.5/5)

Virgin Earth

Virgin Earth by Philippa Gregory
Historical Fiction
John Tradescant the Younger is gardener to the King, Charles I just like his father before him. But this is a time of unrest and the king is battling the rebels. John does not know where his sentiments lie, with his country or his king. So he takes off for the New World, Jamestown to avoid the issues. He leaves behind his children.

On this first journey he collects plants and is introduced to Suckahanna, a Powhatan Indian whom he falls in love with. He returns to England to find his father dead and a woman dedicated to his children. John is torn but marries Hestor. Soon however he is wanting to return to Virginia. He returns hopefully to build a plantation and live with Suckahanna. He ends up living with the Indians.

This story like the Civil War bounces between England and Virginia as John is torn. At the center core is his gardening but he just can not make up his mind where his loyalities should lie: with king or country, with Hestor or Suckahanna.

I enjoyed the story and never knew that England was without the monarchy for such a length of time.

First Line: "He woke to the sound of the moving ship, the creaking of timbers and the aching sigh of the full sails spread, the sudden abrupt rattle of a pulley as a sail was reefed in, the drumming of booted feet on the deck above his face, the holler of an order, and the continual attack of the sea - the bang of the waves against the prow and the groan of the tiny ship as she climbed up one wave and then wallowed and turned to confront another."
Rating:
(4.0/5)

Affinity

Affinity by Sarah Waters
Historical Fiction
A young upper-class woman, Margaret Prior, just recovering from a suicide attempt starts to visit the women in Millbank prison. There she meets Selina Dawes who is jailed because of a seance gone wrong. Selina is a spiritualist.

As the story progresses Margaret seems to be more and more drawn to her. At the same time Margaret's home life is becoming more and more difficult. Her siblings are all married and she is hounded by her mother. She is taking more and more drugs for her 'spells'

I disliked this story. It is dark and forbidding just like the prison. I have read Waters before and loved her stories but this just did not ring at all true. Who in their right mind would allow a young person who had just tried to commit suicide to visit in a dark place like a prison or to be left alone for any length of time at all? Wouldn't her mother try to keep things light and not depressing? Also this concept of Victorian ladies having to faint, have headaches or swoon is beyond my thinking. Oh yes, and let us overcompensate these conditions by handing out drugs or better yet letting these young ladies take whatever amount of drugs they wish. I guess the best thing I took away from this book is that all Victorian ladies have no brain cells.

First Line: "I was never so frightened as I am now."
Rating:
(2.5/5)

11/22/63

11/22/63 by Stephen King
Time Travel
Jake Epping is a thirty-five year-old school teacher in Maine. His friend Al, who owns a small diner, tells Jake that the storeroom of his diner contains a portal to the past-- to September, 1958. Al says that he's spent the last four years living back in the late 1950's and early '60s in an effort to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Al has a fatal disease now and asks Jake to use the portal to take his place and stop the assassination.   Al believes that maybe the Vietnam War may never occur and lots of good will come from this action.

Jake willingly complies and does a test travel where he is able to kill one of his students' father before the father kills everyone else in the family.   He comes back to plan with the help of Al's notes and return to 1958 which resets actions.  Jake must again kill his student's father and live for the remaining 4 years planning his actions to counter the assassination.  

King does a masterful job of setting the scenes with obvious research.  Were there conspiracies?  Where the book falls short is that Jake was a non-descript person going through the motions of life and all of a sudden is the big hero.   He is able to murder with no qualms and seems to handle all the ugliness of the situation having had no prior experience at all.  I did enjoy Jake going through the ordinary life of the early 60s.  I particularly enjoyed King's take on what would happen if we were able to change past events.

Rating:
(4.0/5)

City of Light

City of Light by Lauren Belfer
Historical Fiction
City of Light is set in 1901 in Buffalo. The advent of electricity and the Pan World Exposition are setting the city ablaze in glory. There is much excitement and Buffalo is a happening place.

Spinster headmistress (Louisa Barrett) of an upper crust girls' school is godmother to industrialist Tom Sinclair's daughter. She does not know what to do when an important man is found dead in Delaware Park. Is Sinclair involved? Was it suicide, accident or murder?

Tom Sinclair is in charge of the bringing on board of further electrical power. He would like to share it with the world. Of course, some want only businesses to have electricity and others do not want it at all as it will use up all the water in the Niagara River.

I did not know that Buffalo was such a gem of a city. What on earth happened? I loved this story with its intrigue and beautiful descriptions of a bygone era and city.

First Line: "On the first Monday in March 1901, in the early evening when the sound of sleigh bells filled the air, a student unexpectedly knocked at my door."
Rating:
(4.0/5)