Reading in Reykjavík

Genre : Urban fantasy police procedural. Setting : Modern London. Themes : Violence, death, crime, gods, magic, ghosts. Constable-in-training Peter Grant is facing a career at a desk, writing reports for other policemen, at the end of his probationary period, due to being easily distracted. Things start looking up when he meets a ghost at a murder scene he is guarding. Next thing he knows, he's been recruited into a special branch of the London police that deals with paranormal and supernatural crime, has become a wizard's apprentice and is learning how to use magic. However, finding out he's able to see ghosts and do magic is soon the least of Peter's worries as a series of bizarre acts of violence and murder sweep the city. To add to the confusion, the river gods of London seem to be heading into a turf war. I first heard of this book when I was browsing the Discworld discussion forum on Reddit, where it was recommended as something a Discworld fan might li...

Originally published in June 2005, on my original 52 Books blog. Psychic Vivian Kineally is surprised to find three terrified women knocking on her door and claiming to be the Fates, on the run from a mysterious power that is trying to capture them. The Fates have given up their magical powers in order to fulfil some new job specifications, having been fired and told to reapply only when they can show that they have the skills to do their job in today’s multicultural society. In the meantime, they will be replaced by three Valley Girl types, daughters of Zeus. They send Vivian to find Dexter Grant, a mage who they think can help them. There is an instant attraction between Vivian and Dexter, who becomes determined to save her from whatever power it is that is now trying to get to her as well as the Fates. They seek help from two other mages, but ultimately, it’s up to Viv and Dexter to save themselves and the Fates from the enemy (who, by the way, is shown to the reader from the sta...

Originally published in March 2005, on my original 52 Books blog. This is the third installation in the Anita Blake - Vampire Hunter series. Blake is an Animator whose job it is to raise zombies from the grave, along with other duties: the occasional execution of murderous rogue vampires and work as an adviser to the police in cases where her expertise is needed. In this case, the action starts when Blake is called out to a murder scene where a man has been attacked by a pack of vampires. Blake herself soon runs into them and has a narrow escape. She soon meets an ancient vampire who wants to return vampiredom to the old order: no integration, no citizenship, just a few clever and powerful vampires against humanity, with the weak and the stupid destroyed. She plays an important part once the battle for the city - between the “civilised” vamps and the “wild” vamps - begins. Her hate/desire relationship with master vampire Jean-Claude continues to intensify, and she meets a living man i...

Originally published in June 2004, on my original 52 Books blog. Original Spanish title: Las Piadosas Author: Federico Andahazi Translator: Albert Manguel Year published: 1998 (original), 2000 (translation) Genres: Fantasy, gothic horror Where got: Public library The story: In the wet summer of 1816, five people arrive at the Villa Diodati on the shores of Lake Leman: Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Godwin and her stepsister, Claire Clairmont, and John Polidori, Byron’s secretary. Upon arriving, Polidori finds a mysterious letter in his room, written by a monster who proposes a deal with him: something of his in exchange for literary fame. Polidori, who has suffered much humiliation at the hands of his employer, accepts the deal, but not before further humiliations and events that convince the others that he is going mad. Technique and plot: The translation is fluid and beautifully done and the book comes across as if it had been written in English. The style is remi...

Genre: Fantasy, alternative reality Year of publication: 2004 Setting & time: England (mostly), Spain, Italy; Early 19th century Mr. Norrell, a gentleman magician - the first to do genuine magic is several centuries - proves that magic has not disappeared from England and offers his assistance to the government in the fight against Napoleon. He is a very selfish man and in order to make sure no-one else can compete with him, he buys all the books on magic he can find and collects them in his well-guarded library, and prevents others from trying to do or learn magic. When another gentleman magician, Jonathan Strange, appears on the scene, Norrell is at first hostile, but eventually he accepts the young man as his apprentice. But that is only the beginning … At a whopping 845 pages, this is the longest book I have read in quite a while, but unlike some other long books I have read (e.g. The Historian ) it would have been very difficult to prune anything from it. The narrative...

Originally published in October 2004, in 2 parts. Book 35 in my first 52 books challenge. As you can see below, this review was written before Arnaldur won the Gold Dagger award and the movie was made. This book - the first in the Erlendur series - has still not been translated into English, and probably never will. In the book, the cops are named Erlendur and Sigurður Óli, but they are really just stereotypes of the older, experienced cop and the by-the-book rookie, and have not been fleshed out like they are in the other books. In addition, the story has a strong science fiction element that was very relevant to a discussion of ethics in science that was going on in Icelandic society at the time, and would pretty much go over the heads of foreign readers unfamiliar with the situation. English title (my translation): Sons of the Dust Author: Arnaldur Indriðason Year published: 1997 Genre: Crime Sub-genre(s): Mystery Where got: National Library Before Arnaldur Indriðas...

Originally published in October 2004, in 2 parts. Book 34 in my first 52 books challenge. Author: Jasper Fforde Year published: 2001 Pages: 384 Genre: Fantasy Where got: Public library When I first heard about this book I thought to myself “this sounds interesting”, and then forgot about it. Then a discussion started about it in an online reading forum I participate in, and my interest was rekindled. I wasn’t certain I wanted to own it, so finding it in the library was lucky. The Story: Some SPOILERS ahead Thursday Next is drawn from her relatively normal existence as a literary detective into an adventure when she is called in to identify arch-criminal Acheron Hades. Things get personal when he kills her ex-boyfriend and kidnaps her aunt and uncle and her uncle’s invention, a machine that enables people to visit any literary work. Thursday must follow him into the original manuscript of Jane Eyre in order to prevent him from killing Jane and altering literary histo...

Year of publication: 1970 Genre: Speculative fiction, sci-fi, thriller Type of investigator: Amateur, time traveller Setting & time: New York, USA; 1882 and 1969 Illustrator Simon Morley is recruited to take part in a top-secret project to travel back in time. Once he is back in the 19th century, he is only supposed to observe and not meddle in anything, but when he discovers that a young woman he meets in the past and cares for has become entangled with a dangerous man, he knows he has to do something. That something leads them to become involved in a horrific event that puts them both in mortal danger. I suppose that technically Time and Again is science fiction, although giving it that classification might give readers the idea that it’s full of science, aliens and strange technology. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is, for example, no time machine, the time travel being achieved by self-hypnosis, although only after extensive training that includes ac...

Today we Icelanders wish each other a Happy Summer. The third Thursday in April is the designated First Day of Summer in Iceland, and a public holiday, one of the few that are non-secular. In the era when people only had experience and superstition to rely on for weather forecasts rather than scientific meteorology, one of the ways in which the weather the coming summer was predicted was by putting a bit of water in a shell on the eve of the First Day of Summer, and going out just before dawn to check if the water had frozen over. If it had, the summer was supposed to be a good one. If not, then God help us. I am pleased that today is a holiday, because while I have a cold and a sore throat and feel rather tired, I am not really sick enough not to go to work. Having today off is going to give me a chance to rest and hopefully I will be feeling better tomorrow. I have already finished two books today, both, I hasten to add, ones that were already half read. Below is the review for one...

Author: Elizabeth Ann Scarborough Year published: 1994 Where got: Public library Genre: Fantasy (real world, alternate reality/possible future), fairy tale As I mentioned yesterday, I went to the library to look for a suitable romance to review so I could keep my promise to choose reading material outside my comfort zone. Found no romance I liked the look of, but came home with The Godmother , Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen and Foucaults’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I didn’t know what to expect when I started reading The Godmother , never having read anything by Scarborough before. What got my attention was the the title and the cover , which shows a middle-aged woman (who resembles Lauren Baccall) with a knowing smile and a pose of authority and confidence, surrounded by graphics that suggest magic and interposed on an image of the Seattle skyline (immediately recogniseable because of the Space Needle). Woohoo, I thought. Magic in the modern world. Nice! I finished it in one sitti...

Year published: 1998 Genre: Science fiction, alternative reality, time travel Setting & time: Oxford, England, 2057 and southern England, late Victorian era The Story: Due to under-manning, 21st century historian and time traveller Ned Henry is sent on an important mission to 19th century Victorian England, despite being an expert on the 20th century. Due to time-lag he is not quite sure what his mission is, but with a little rest and some detective work and help from Verity Kindle, another 21st century historian, he is able to discover what it is that he is supposed to do. At the same time, he is trying to avoid of Lady Shrapnell, a rich aristocrat who is trying to rebuild Coventry Cathedral (in Oxford) and wants him to find the artifact mentioned in the book’s subtitle, so he can recover from the time-lag and continue the search. Technique and plot: Here is a book I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone who enjoys science fiction, historical fiction and romance, and apprec...

Author: Naomi Novik Title: Temeraire American title: His Majesty’s Dragon Year published: 2006 Genre: Fantasy/alternative history Yet another independent bookshop in Reykjavík is closing and it looks like soon there will only be two chains left, both owned by the same company. But this is supposed to be a review, not a lament for the demise of the independent bookseller. At the closing sale I came across this book, which caught my attention with the cover artwork: a black dragon hovering over an old-fashioned warship under full sail. The blurb promised a novel of the Napoleonic era – only with dragons. I decided to cheat on my reading diet and read the book while my interest in it was still fresh, so here is the review: The Story: When William Laurence and his crew capture a French ship Laurence wonders why the French put up such very fierce resistance to the taking of the ship. The reason becomes clear when a dragon’s egg is discovered in the hold. Dragons must be harnessed stra...

Series detective: Eve Dallas No. in series: 8 Year of publication: 1999 Type of mystery: Murder, whodunnit, police procedural, futuristic mystery thriller Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: New York, USA, 2059 This is the third book I finish for the From the Stacks challenge. Upcoming is a review of My Journey to Lhasa . When I first heard of the In Death series I thought it sounded like something I would enjoy. The review I read emphasised that in order to enjoy the books fully, it was important to read them in the order of publication, so I got the first book from the library, read it in one sitting and got hooked. After reading several books, I decided that while it was indeed best to read them in order, they could be read out of order, but only if one was reading them for the mystery plots and not for character development and relationship dynamics. I continued reading them until I finished book seven, and then I got reader's block. Conspiracy… had been o...