Title: Fifth Quarter (Quarters Book 2)
Author: Tanya Huff
Published: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, 2015 (1995)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 415
Total Page Count: 283,415
Text Number: 917
Read Because: recommended by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
minutia_r, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A pair of assassins find themselves in an unusual situation when confronted with a target who can jump between bodies. —And not the situation that implies; this is grim study of bodies and souls and identities, of strange intimacies and extreme pressures weighing on a sibling bond, of relationships grown in inimical circumstances. Huff's queer characters and non-normative dynamics is consistently refreshing, but this is a level of above, living deep in the id, thorny and intriguing. It's still not a strong technical work: There are relationship arcs I don't buy on both sides (Gyhard's developing feelings make sense; Vree's less so) and the structure here is too similar to Sing the Four Quarters, another cross-country chase, only slightly less burdened by unproductive sideplots but plagued by just as much headhopping. But this is so much my style—a punishing mess ruthlessly explored, but delightfully rooted in the id.
Title: No Quarter (Quarters Book 3)
Author: Tanya Huff
Published: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, 2015 (1996)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 415
Total Page Count: 283,830
Text Number: 918
Read Because: recommended byminutia_r, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Unfinished business follows Vree and Gyhard to Shkoder when they seek bardic assistance for their unusual arrangement. That central dynamic is more successful here than in the previous book, where it was too rushed; there's space within the intimate interior view for clashing motives and repressed desires and storied histories, and it builds a convincing relationship arc. The larger plot is serviceable but less interesting: another cross-country chase (it occurs to me that all four Huff books I've read have had one) with a familiar conflict and reoccurring characters. Magda, with simple but engaging characterization, is the thread that best ties all three books together.
Title: A Stitch in Time
Author: Penelope Lively
Published: HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, 2017 (1976)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 185
Total Page Count: 284,015
Text Number: 919
Read Because: recommended bystarshipfox, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: On summer vacation with her family, a girl stumbles into memories of a Victorian girl who once lived at their beach house. This slipping, fuzzy, not-quite-speculative premise could be frustrating, but it isn't; it has a satisfying conclusion, but more importantly it marries perfectly to the book's tone. Lively shows her protagonist profound respect, and fully inhabits her inner landscape: the intense privacy; the fluidity of personal growth and the snapshot moments which build a life. It works well alongside the precise details that evoke the setting and the gentle criticisms innate to the characterization. This is a gentle, unassuming book which renders an immersive PoV.
Author: Tanya Huff
Published: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, 2015 (1995)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 415
Total Page Count: 283,415
Text Number: 917
Read Because: recommended by
minutia_r, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County LibraryReview: A pair of assassins find themselves in an unusual situation when confronted with a target who can jump between bodies. —And not the situation that implies; this is grim study of bodies and souls and identities, of strange intimacies and extreme pressures weighing on a sibling bond, of relationships grown in inimical circumstances. Huff's queer characters and non-normative dynamics is consistently refreshing, but this is a level of above, living deep in the id, thorny and intriguing. It's still not a strong technical work: There are relationship arcs I don't buy on both sides (Gyhard's developing feelings make sense; Vree's less so) and the structure here is too similar to Sing the Four Quarters, another cross-country chase, only slightly less burdened by unproductive sideplots but plagued by just as much headhopping. But this is so much my style—a punishing mess ruthlessly explored, but delightfully rooted in the id.
Title: No Quarter (Quarters Book 3)
Author: Tanya Huff
Published: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, 2015 (1996)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 415
Total Page Count: 283,830
Text Number: 918
Read Because: recommended by
minutia_r, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County LibraryReview: Unfinished business follows Vree and Gyhard to Shkoder when they seek bardic assistance for their unusual arrangement. That central dynamic is more successful here than in the previous book, where it was too rushed; there's space within the intimate interior view for clashing motives and repressed desires and storied histories, and it builds a convincing relationship arc. The larger plot is serviceable but less interesting: another cross-country chase (it occurs to me that all four Huff books I've read have had one) with a familiar conflict and reoccurring characters. Magda, with simple but engaging characterization, is the thread that best ties all three books together.
Title: A Stitch in Time
Author: Penelope Lively
Published: HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, 2017 (1976)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 185
Total Page Count: 284,015
Text Number: 919
Read Because: recommended by
starshipfox, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County LibraryReview: On summer vacation with her family, a girl stumbles into memories of a Victorian girl who once lived at their beach house. This slipping, fuzzy, not-quite-speculative premise could be frustrating, but it isn't; it has a satisfying conclusion, but more importantly it marries perfectly to the book's tone. Lively shows her protagonist profound respect, and fully inhabits her inner landscape: the intense privacy; the fluidity of personal growth and the snapshot moments which build a life. It works well alongside the precise details that evoke the setting and the gentle criticisms innate to the characterization. This is a gentle, unassuming book which renders an immersive PoV.
