BOOK REVIEW: "Naamah's Curse" by Jacqueline Carey

Naamah's Curse by Jacqueline Carey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the latest installment of Travel the World With Moirin, we find our young heroine setting out from Ch'in (China) to find her One True Love Bao, who has ran off to Tatar country (Mongolia.) Once they are reunited (of couuurrrssee) everything goes to hell, and the next thing Moirin knows she's being chained up and sent to Vralia (Russia) to be religiously tortured by a Yeshuite (Hebrew) priest. Because she's a dirty, dirty girl. Somewhere along the way she frolics through Tutan and Bhaktipur (Nepal/North Eastern India), dresses up in saris, and brings the Light of Lesbianism to their queen.

Uh, I mean she goes head to head with the Indian caste system. Yeah. That's what I meant.

(Wow, that summary was so much shorter than the first book's!)

Book 2 of Moirin's Trilogy goes straight into the action - following Moirin into Tatar Territory in her quest to reunite with Bao, that guy who is barely more interesting than she is. If you read my review of the first book, then you know that I was not impressed with their relationship that's beaten over your head. So the fact this book started off with Moirin braving the winter elements to find her True Love was kinda meh on me. Especially since it took about 100 pages of her recapping all of book 1. Honey, I read book 1. We really don't need to go over it in fine detail as your ride your horse through the north.

The story doesn't really begin until she and Bao are reunited (there is some hilarity over the circumstances of Bao's new life...haha gj bro) and crap hits the fan when the Great Khan sells Moirin out to Yeshuite priests looking to convert them some bear children. A good deal of the first half of the novel is dedicated to Moirin being a prisoner of a really gross guy up in Vralia and having defend her very nature and the cultures of her people. I found this section the most interesting, especially all the parallels drawn to the Bible that are brought up. (In Carey's universe, the Hebrew tribes actually worship Christ as the Son of The One True God, so they are all about the whole biblical texts.) After her escape, Moirin follows where she believes Bao has gone and ends up in Bhaktipur, where she befriends the local ruler (very quickly) and vows to take down her sworn enemy and save Bao. This was the part that was pretty ~meh~ to me.

First, though, I feel like I should defend the fact that, although I had a lot of problems with this book, it was still a very entertaining read. I went through it super quickly (for me, I am a slow reader by nature) and kept stealing moments to read another chapter. So, one that front, I am giving it a strong three stars. But it lost the other two very easily, for reasons listed below.

I don't know, I feel like I am missing something in this trilogy. With Phedre's trilogy, you never knew what was going to happen, how much horror they would have to plow through. Everything Phedre did had a dire consequence to it that made her work hard for her happy ending. In Imriel's trilogy, there were so many twists and turns and puzzles that it was an emotional roller coaster. Thus far in Moirin's trilogy, I've rarely felt anything and everything is accomplished way too easily. Besides the fact that Moirin is far away from home and the simple life she once knew, I feel like there have been very few sacrifices. Certainly at least at the level Carey has made me come to expect this late in the realm of her universe. Compared to Phedre and Imriel, Moirin has everything laid out for her - her destiny tells her what to do every step of the way. Have a conundrum? Consult your destiny! I see a lot of other reviews lamenting this, and I fully agree. There was no real sense in these books. Moirin always knew more or less what to do and it was done swiftly with little loss. I stopped worrying about characters, which made me stop caring towards the end.

The other thing that bothered me was that Moirin makes friends and allies WAY too easily. While I know a part of the moral of her journey is that there are always friendly and helpful people wherever you go, I feel like this really detracted from the possible urgency of the story. Literally every leg of Moirin's journey included somebody who just shows up and helps her. At no point was Moirin even entirely on her own, save for the moments when she was actually traveling alone at the beginning of the story. Part of the reason I liked Phedre and Imriel so much was because they had a huge sense of agency, both in making decisions and choosing their friends wisely. Even when Moirin faced the spiritual inquisition she mostly rolled over. (Okay, in this part that was really her only chance of survival. And while I get that, it was still annoying we didn't get to see her defending herself or dissembling like I'm used to seeing Carey's characters do.)

I'm not going to really touch upon the whole White Savior aspect that occurred at the end re: the caste system. I feel like it's been expressed well enough by other reviews.

There's one story left in this trilogy, and yes, I am excited to read it! But I'm not gonna hold out much hope that will be as good as the first six novels in Carey's universe. I'm mostly excited about getting back to the religious intrigue left behind in Book 1. Gods mucking stuff up and making people's lives hell? Yes. Sign me up for that please. Although please promise me it won't consist of Bao and Moirin just waltzing in, consulting their destinies, and yawn while taking down the bad guys in two pages.

Also, spoiler:

(view spoiler)[ I am so mad that Jehanne was killed off screen. So. Mad. She was the only character I really loved in this particular trilogy, and I was shipping her and Moirin pretty hard. Meh. Now we just get dream!Jehanne. IT looks like though she'll still be playing a part in the last novel, so there's that. (hide spoiler)]

Once again, a very strong three stars, but one of the weakest novels in this universe by far..

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BOOK REVIEW: "Naamah's Kiss" by Jacqueline Carey

Naamah's Kiss by Jacqueline Carey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After jumping into Carey's alt-history fantasy world with Phèdre's trilogy and having my mind blow, and then having my heart ripped out of my chest by Imriel's trilogy, I thought it was time to jump into Moirin's trilogy. It begins with NAAMAH'S KISS, about one hundred years since we last left Imriel's happy ending.

The next character, Moirin, is a half Alban (of the Maghuin Dhonn) half D'Angeline girl growing up in solitude with her mother. With this heritage comes some magical skills such as concealment and healing capabilities. I won't dawdle too long a spoiler-free summary - all you need to know is that Moirin's father is a Priest of Naamah, which means Moirin grows up to inherit super sexy abilities. Because it's not a trip in this fantasy world unless the main character is having a crapton of awesome sex from the age of 14 that makes you rethink your own love life.

But, basically, Moirin is charged by the goddess of the Maghuin Dhonn to go out and search for her destiny. This leads her first to Terra D'ange where she meets her father and becomes enveloped in royal and religious intrigue. Later, she follows her destiny to Ch'in (China), where she helps the royal princess and heir rid herself of the literal dragon inside her and stop a civil war that will quickly spill over into the rest of the world. Of course, she is aided by a multitude of friends...and lovers.

This book was a breezy, easy read. The language was the easiest I've encountered from this world yet, and it may have something to do with Moirin being uneducated in comparison to the previous two narrators. Yet her voice almost mimics Phèdre's in her overuse of phrases ("Stone and sea!!" anyone?) and zinging one-liners....literally. One thing that's always bothered me about Carey's writing is her overuse of one-line paragraphs. They were already ridiculous before (and thus completely destroying the effect) but Moirin takes it to a new level where sometimes you'll have three in a row. It goes from eye-roll worthy to sigh-inducing very quickly. Moirin, ~honey~, not everything is really that powerful. I promise.

Most of the reviews I see seem to say that the first half the story was relatively slow and doesn't pick up until Moirin sets off for Ch'in. I felt the opposite. I loved reading about her life in Alba and picking up all sorts of cool things about the Maghuin Dhonn, a people vilified in previous trilogies. I also enjoyed reading about her spiritual encounters once she traveled to Terra D'Ange, and of course, her super hot relationship with Queen Jehanne. Just when I was really getting settled in, however, we're off to Ch'in, and things got boring and predictable real fast. Princess Snow Tiger (ugh, is there reason why she was referred to by her name's translation when nobody else BUT the bad guy was? Her real name, Xue Hu, is very beautiful) had a lot of potential as a kick-ass warrior princess, but instead came off as flat, even when granting how she was raised and Ch'in decorum. The entire storyline from here mimicked that of the previous book, Kushiel's Mercy, all the way down to the impending civil war brought on by a magician looking for world domination. I also was not that impressed with the Western Savior aspect of having to have Moirin, a European, coming in to save the Asians with her Western-Gods sent magic. In the world of the book it was not quite so transparent, but given OUR world implications and seeing that Carey goes out of her way to be meticulous about other cultures in this alt-history, it was a bit much. Even Phèdre was more of a visitor to the African realms in her trilogy as opposed to an instigator of change and saving everybody. It was not the end of the book, but it bugged me a little, nonetheless.

Of course the subplots in these novels revolve around romance. Sometimes, I forgot how young Moirin was. I reckon she was in her mid, possibly late teens towards the end of this tale. And in that time she had a lot of sex, mostly with men. I'm used to that by now, even though I never want see "suckle" used sexually ever. Again. Most of her partners were a part of her sexual awakening, and by the time she met Raphael in Terra D'Ange it turned to plot-related. My favorite relationship to see her in was with Jehanne. I feel like in Phèdre's trilogy we never got to see enough lesbian interaction, even though she was clearly obsessed with Melisandre. (Who was, of course, the villain.) So imagine my chagrin when (view spoiler)[ it suddenly shifted to Bao becoming Moirin's biggest love interest. I thought he was a good character, but their relationship felt incredibly forced. Probably because it literally was forced by a "tonic" potion. It's also reminiscent of Phèdre and Joscelin's dynamic to the point it's not even laughable, but kinda sad. And after the ending when they become bound in their souls,it's obvious the next two books are going to be All About Them and how much they're in love. Gag. Bring back the lesbians. (hide spoiler)] tl;dr hello cliches I can live without.

For all my complaints, however, you'll see I still rated this four stars. I really did enjoy this book for all its faults and could have read it all in one sitting if I could have stopped time to do so. As I said before, it is an easy read - for those who have read the previous trilogies of this world, this will probably be an even easier reader. I never had to reread something to make sure I understood what was going on. The dialogue was smooth, even if repetitive. Moirin is a fine character - I am not as attached to her as I was to Phèdre and Imriel by the end of their first books, but I do not dislike her either. Although I will say I have no particular liking for any other characters, besides perhaps Fainche, Moirin's mother, and Queen Jehanne. I also maintain that Carey is a master storyteller: she leaves no threads unknotted and everything has a purpose. You may wonder for a long time what the purpose of something will BE, but when it comes, you kick yourself for not seeing it sooner. On that end, I am excited for the future books, because she left a loooot of clues that we'll be coming back to Raphael and the fallen gods. (I am so excited, seriously. SERIOUSLY. I will be sorely disappointed if nothing comes from what-happened-before-Moirin-left.)

If you enjoyed the first two trilogies, you will surely enjoy this one too. More, or less, I could not say. Thus far I enjoy it less, but that is still a compliment to Carey's abilities as an author. I have already started the second book and will likely chomp through it like it was chocolate.

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Best Reads 2011 Blog Hop

EDIT: I have no idea what happened to the formatting in this post. I've tried fixing it multiple times now and nothing's changed. Oh well~

Over at the The Bathroom Monologues, John is encouraging bloggers to write about the best books they read in 2011. Okay!

2011 was the year I kinda-sorta got back into reading. After high school and college, I just never, as in really rarely, read books for pleasure. It just kinda stopped and wasn't a priority anymore. Reading is also a huge emotional investment for me and I just didn't have the spoons to spare until about 2010. Last year I read a total of three books for pleasure - Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami. And that was more novels that I had read for pleasure in a half year than in all of college combined.

This year was much better, with the first few months languishing in unemployment and the rest doing so much travel for the job I eventually got. I had a lot of time to read. In total I read eight books this year, most of them huge fantasy tomes from one or two series. For those I just picked my favorite of the series I read this year to talk about.

1. Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
Also read: Kushiel's Scion

It's pretty safe to say by now that the Kushiel's Legacy series is one of my favorites ever, even after a really rocky start with Kushiel's Dart, the first in the series. And although it took me over a year to get around to reading the next two novels, it was a well-worth wait. The novel here in particular is the best I've read so far, the last of the first trilogy in the series. Watching Phédre's journey from love to loss again, being divinely sent into the bowels of Hell to save her nemesis's son, traveling into the heart of Africa to learn the Name of God and then off to the English Channel to save her childhood friend was thrilling and moving unlike most books I've read, in fantasy or otherwise. Even though I affectionately call this series "The BDSM Porn Novels" they really are much more than that. Setting aside Carey's inability to jump into a story, some irksome style choices, and taking way, WAY too long to explain the history and religious systems (and I'm a religion scholar, so damn yo) it's a great fantasy series that I totally recommend to those with a strong sexual kink stomach. I've started reading the next trilogy in the series, and it's okay so far. But I have a feeling this one will be my favorite out of them all.

2. A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin
Also read: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Feast For Crows

I make it no secret that I think Martin is a pretty horrible writer with incredibly problematic situations in his novels, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy them at all. I must if I've read them all up to the latest installment. I bought the first novel on a whim in a Japanese English Bookstore in Nagoya   I watched the show alongside reading the first book, and it was the merits of the show that kept me reading the series even though I raged at the crappy writing more than once, and in public, no less. (Look, I don't give a crap if people are dying all willy-nilly because you're a Badass Up In Here, but when women are getting raped every single page because LOL IT'S WAR your penis-privilege is showing.) Anyway, this novel is the best of the series thus far. So much drives the plot forward, and on more than one occasion I had a OH NO YOU DIDN'T moment. (Mostly, the epilogue. Hoshit. Red Wedding? Not so much. It was written horribly and anticlimatic.) Also it has the best cover. So yeah.

3. All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

This is especially poignant considering McCaffrey's death recently. I used to be a big fan of hers when I was a bb author in middle school, and I picked this up, one of the few early Pern novels I had yet to read, at the airport before blasting off for Japan. It's very McCaffrey. It's a good thing I had read the previous novels because there are SO MANY CHARACTERS with little to no development that, had I not known any of them, it would've been awful.  The story is kinda interesting. I had read the novels before and the couple after, but not this one in-between, so it answered a few questions I had during The Skies of Pern years ago. There isn't much to say about this novel. It was a short read, not the best one, but very nostalgic for me nonetheless. I will be damn glad to never read anything about the basic-ass Jaxom again, though. (Also, it's really weird to realize years later that F'lar is abusing Lessa, but hey who cares right. ~It's from another time*)

4. After Dark by Haruki Murakami

Another airport pickup. The premise of this seemed interesting, but Murakami is a HUGE hit or miss for me. And this was a miss. Again. I just can't get into his style, thanks. This book was just too weird even for me. I had no idea what he was doing or why and I am honestly okay with being ~left in the dark~ ohohoho. Whatever, I only read it because I'm a Japanese Studies graduate and to weeaboos he is the only author to ever happen in Japan. Actually, I really liked the Chinese prostitute/love hotel subplot, and the Denny's bickering was hilarious at times, but the whole thing with the MC's sister and..whatever...the hell...was going on with that (it was never explained) was enough to drive me away from this novel. So, this is probably the worst novel I read in 2011. But it's still on the best list because I didn't read that many different things. :(

Hopefully with my new Kindle Fire I can read more than 8 novels this year, ha. I usually read one in 2 weeks - month, so here's to 12!