3. House of the Beast by Michelle Wong

 A TBR.co recommendation. This one bills itself as a dark fantasy of revenge and a twisted romance. It's not inaccurate. Fantasy novels often have a sort of optimistic feel to them. Even the more somber ones convey the idea the heroes will pull through in the end. That's not the case with this one. It's darker or grittier. I spent about a third of the novel convinced the protagonist was going to end up dead in the end.

Alma is a child born out of wedlock in a world where magic is born into families who have made a covenant with one of four gods. Alma and her mother have no need for her estranged family even though they are judged by their neighbors. Being born out of wedlock is bad enough, but Alma is also uncommonly strong and has a violent streak when provoked. Nevertheless, they are happy. At least they are until Mom gets sick. Alma, desperate to save her mother, reaches out to her estranged father. 

It turns out that her father is one of the heirs of House Avera. He's vessel of the Dread Beast. He offers to save Alma's mother, but the price is her arm and Alma's life with her. Alma, of course, agrees and the rest of the novel is filled with political intrigue as the vessels of the four gods eagerly await the fall of the next god.  

The gods themselves seem to be beings who fall from the heavens and land on earth with the express purpose of gaining access to the human plane. The four existing gods want to maintain their territory and so the vessels all attempt to kill the newly fallen god. It's an unusual set up and intriguing on its own. This is a richly developed world with details that hint of a larger landscape with countries who are not so influenced by the four gods. This seems like a novel that could easily be the beginning of a series. 

I give this one top marks for world-building and it was an engaging read. However, it also left me feeling unsettled. I'd definitely consider picking up another Michelle Wong book, but I don't know that I could ever contemplate rereading this one.

2. My Salty Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

I've been working through this series for a couple of years. Thomas and Ryan tracked them all down for me after I watched, and fell in love, with the first book in the series My Lady Jane. Strictly speaking, the six books are split in two series: three books for three different historic and literary Janes and three for three similar Marys. My Salty Mary is the last of them. I've finished the series. It's always a bitter-sweet experience to finish off a series that you've loved. 

My Salty Mary is a fictionalized alternate history based around one of the women pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy: Mary Read. In this version of her life, her story is combined with the story of the Little Mermaid. In this version, when the little mermaid is rejected by her prince she doesn't turn into sea foam the way everyone assumes she will. She has the opportunity to return home, but instead, she tosses herself into the ocean on a fit of despair and is rescued by a pirate crew who assume she is a boy because of the way she is dressed. She adopts a human name and an alias for her disguised self.

It turns out that she's pretty good at being a pirate. Only her best friend Tobias knows that she's a girl and even he doesn't know that she used to be a mermaid. It's pretty clear that Tobias has a crush on her, but after her experience with a vapid prince, she has no interest in love. It's a swashbuckling adventure with brawls and dastardly plots, but at it's core it's a really sweet love story wrapped around a coming of age narrative.

Of the six books in the series, this is one of my favorite. The internal conflict felt compelling and I really liked the way the authors incorporated various elements of pirate history into the story. Anyone who like the Pirates of the Caribbean series is likely to enjoy this as well.

1. The Portable Door by Tom Holt

 Streaming media is one of the wonders of the new century. When I think back to my childhood, access to movies and shows was so much more limited. Waiting for new episodes was a torture and having free access to a movie usually meant buying each title individually which was expensive. These days, subscription streaming services give us ready access to massive catalogs of material. With all of that media, it's ridiculous to think that it still somehow feels like there's nothing available worth watching which leads to scrolling aimlessly through lists of title cards. 

It was during such a time that I tripped across a movie titled "The Portable Door." I'd never heard of it before, but it looked appealingly silly. It's a story about a young man named Paul Carpenter who is sort of drifting through life. He's out of school and it's time to find a job but he doesn't really have any skills or even goals really. It's a surprise to him, in fact, when the venerable old company J.W. Wells & Co. hires him after a lackluster interview. He has no idea what the company does, but a jobs a job. Right?  Sure. Only, why is it they lock everyone out after 6 PM and why is it that the long stapler keeps wandering off? Why is the receptionist a different person each day? There are a lot of mysteries that come with this job.

Silly it was, but in a fun way that made it clear that it had to be based on a book. Sure enough, it was based on a Tom Holt novel of the same name. 

I finally got around to reading the novel. While the movie is clearly based on the book, there are plenty of differences in the plot. Being British humor, the pacing is a little slow and many of the changes in the movie serve to move the story along. That being said, there's something to be said for the slower pacing of the book. There is much more character development and the background romance makes a great deal more sense. 

This is the beginning of an 8 book series. I'm planning to give the next one a try but I'm a little worried about getting bogged down in the pacing, so I'll spread them out

January Recap

 January went by in a flash. It really seemed like we just celebrated the new year yesterday and somehow a month has gone by. My reading rate has recovered somewhat and I'm averaging about a book a week. It's still nowhere near where it was, but it feels good to settle back into a new rhythm. 

The Dekalb Public Library has announced their reading challenge for the year: 26 in '26. It's similar to last years century challenge but on a smaller scale. It shouldn't be to hard to complete. The list contains 52 categories, but a person only needs to complete 26 of them to be considered 'finished.' Needless to say, I'm going to try to fill in all 52.

I have to admit, I miss my monthly lists a little. It was a comfortable organizational habit, but it also made picking my next book relatively easy. I decided to move away from the monthly lists because they also tended to kill whim and spontaneity.  It feels a little strange being 'unmoored,' but strange could be good. 

Below are the list of books that I read in January. I think I'm going to try to go back to consistent reviews. Since I'm reading fewer overall, I should be able to manage it.

Books Read in January

1. The Portable Door by Tom Holt
2. My Salty Mary by Cynthia Hand, et al
3. House of the Beast by Michelle Wong (TBR.co 
4. The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin (100 books List)