Book Review: Red Delicious by Kathleen Tierney/Caitlín R. Kiernan

Red Delicious by Kathleen Tierney/Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)

Genre: Urban Fantasy 

Series: Book 2 of Siobhan Quinn

Publication Date: February 4, 2014

Author Information: Website | Twitter 

Mogsy's Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Even before the first page, I was cracking up at the epigraphs. Okay, maybe it's just the geek in me, but I don't think it's possible to go wrong with a book that quotes "old Asura proverbs" from Guild Wars 2. Regardless, I knew I was going to be in for a ride with this one, and I would have expected nothing less from the follow-up to the utterly brilliant book that was Blood Oranges. Yep, it feels great to be back in the world of Siobhan Quinn!

Much like the first book, Red Delicious delivers a healthy dose of dark humor and satire. Our favorite half-werewolf, half-vampire heroine is back working a case for her boss Mean Mr. B, following the trail of a missing teenage girl who also happens to be the youngest daughter of a local bigwig necromancer. But, as Quinn so often likes to remind us, she is not a detective. Oh, and don't call her Siobhan. Not unless you want to keep all your teeth.

What follows next is an outrageously entertaining sequence of events as Quinn gets caught up in a tangle involving demons, alternate universes, and an ancient magical artifact of immense power which I can't even physically describe here without having to raise the content rating of this review. Trapped in the middle of everything, it'll take Quinn everything she has just to get out of this one alive.

This story is guaranteed to serve up lots of laughs and no small amount of raised eyebrows. This is not your typical urban fantasy, folks. The author's note pretty much says it all; if you're looking for romance, likeable heroes, seductively attractive werewolves and vampires, or books in general that don't come with a warning label, then this series is probably not for you. But if you're down with checking out a side of this genre which has never been seen before, Kathleen Tierney (nom de plume of renowned speculative fiction author Caitlín R. Kiernan) will seriously rock your world.

I still remember my first encounter with Quinn, which was such a refreshing experience. She's a pure riot! I think the first time I heard her describe herself as a "werepire" I almost fell out of my chair. A self-admitted coward, shamelessly compulsive liar and a terribly unreliable narrator to boot, she's nonetheless an anti-heroine you can't help but love. She will make her own rules when telling her story, and won't give a crap if you don't like it. Always fond of breaking the fourth wall, throughout the book Quinn will even tell you that herself -- though I assure you she is much less polite about it! This is a protagonist who will blast away all your expectations with the shocking things she says and does.

It's this tongue-in-cheek, almost parodic take on urban fantasy that makes me love these books so much. This series breaks the mold in more ways than one, and is perfect for those needing a quick breather from the more traditional UF tropes. The fast-paced, volatile and unpredictable nature of the story means there is never a dull moment. Red Delicious is a worthy sequel, just as amazing as Blood Oranges!

A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Roc Books!

Waiting on Wednesday 11/20/13

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can't wait to get our hands on!

Wendy's Pick

The Barrow by Mark S. Smylie: March 4, 2014 (Pyr)

By being in the right place (Goodreads) at the right time, I discovered that the Artesia prequel story my friend Mark Smylie is writing isn't a comic, but an epic new fantasy.

"To find the Sword, unearth the Barrow. To unearth the Barrow, follow the Map.

When a small crew of scoundrels, would-be heroes, deviants, and ruffians discover a map that they believe will lead them to a fabled sword buried in the barrow of a long-dead wizard, they think they've struck it rich. But their hopes are dashed when the map turns out to be cursed and then is destroyed in a magical ritual. The loss of the map leaves them dreaming of what might have been, until they rediscover the map in a most unusual and unexpected place.

Stjepan Black-Heart, suspected murderer and renegade royal cartographer; Erim, a young woman masquerading as a man; Gilgwyr, brothel owner extraordinaire; Leigh, an exiled magus under an ignominious cloud; Godewyn Red-Hand, mercenary and troublemaker; Arduin Orwain, scion of a noble family brought low by scandal; and Arduin's sister Annwyn, the beautiful cause of that scandal: together they form a cross-section of the Middle Kingdoms of the Known World, brought together by accident and dark design, on a quest that will either get them all in the history books, or get them all killed."

Mogsy's Pick

Red Delicious by Caitlín R. Kiernan: February 4, 2014 (Roc)

I'm really looking forward to this sequel to Blood Oranges! This is one wild series by Caitlín R. Kiernan writing as Kathleen Tierney. Siobhan Quinn is definitely not your run-of-the-mill urban fantasy heroine. Not at all. 

"Half-vampire, half-werewolf Siobhan Quinn survived her initiation into the world of demons and monsters. But staying alive as she becomes entangled in underworld politics might prove to be more difficult. When the daughter of a prominent necromancer vanishes, it's up to Quinn to find the girl. But her search will land her directly in the middle of a struggle between competing forces searching for an ancient artifact of almost unimaginable power..." 

Book Review: The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan

The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan

This novel was our book club's choice for July, the theme of which was "Nominees for the 2012 Nebula Awards". Though this book hadn't been on my to-read list, nor had I a clue what it was going to be about, I'd looked forward to checking it out.

The Drowning Girl, described as dark fantasy and horror mixed with strong elements of magical realism, stars protagonist India Morgan Phelps, or Imp to those around her. Imp also has schizophrenia. As such, much of the novel's themes are centered around the nature of reality and human perception, exploring the duality of fact vs. fiction or truth vs. myth.

The book gets a bit difficult to describe beyond that, because of certain factors like the writing style or the jumble of ideas within. Imp, being an unreliable narrator, had much to do with this. Suffice to say, The Drowning Girl is a ghost story viewed through the lens of mental illness, and is a rather provocative yet critical look into our understanding of consciousness and perception.

The way this story is narrated, which I initially fretted over when I first heard about it, actually turned out to be much less distracting than I thought. I won't deny that at times it could be frustrating -- indeed, by design the book lacks "flow", and there were a couple chapters where I just wanted to grab my head and scream, "I just can't bloody do this anymore!"  Imp will also sometimes go on these long, rambling tangents and talk in circles. But still, it wasn't that bad. For the most part, I think I was able follow the main thread.

As a literary horror novel or ghost story, however, it was a very subdued haunting and in my opinion fell a bit flat. Reading this, I became so absorbed by the intricacies and inner workings of Imp's mind that everything else in the story became white noise, almost irrelevant. Which, I suppose one could argue, is the point. Whether or not it was what the author intended, I personally viewed this book as more of an in-depth character study of Imp rather than an actual tale of the paranormal.

In the end, I can't say this book was my cup of tea. In spite of that, however, I can recognize its literary merits, and not the very least of those is the the bold and disjointed way the author chose to tell the story. This stylistic choice which at times annoyed the hell out me is also at the same time what I felt was the book's greatest strength. From my time as an occupational therapy student working in an outpatient mental health clinic, one thing that's always stayed with me is the constant struggle people with schizophrenia have with the breakdown of thought processes and their connection to what can be perceived. Reading Imp's memoir brought me back to all the people I've met and worked with, and she feels very real in that sense. So while the writing style may be unconventional, it's also very realistic.

3 of 5 stars

Review Bites: DNF

I make a point of finishing every book I pick up. There have been some that I haven't made it through in the past, but since founding a book club and working on this site, I've felt compelled to make sure I get through every book, even if it sometimes means skimming pages of the less enjoyable ones.

But lately, I've had a few that, even after a significant chunk of pages under my belt, have failed to pull me in. I'm certainly not alone on this. Goodreads recently polled members on their "did not finish" reading habits. You can see the results here. It's not uncommon for books to start slow and end extremely well, but in these cases, my problem has been as much with style as with content. The content might become more interesting later on, but can I endure the style for 200+ more pages?

Reading is supposed to be an enjoyable hobby. If the thought of picking up that book on my currently-reading shelf is weighing on me, it means I have to reconsider my life choices. My to-read mountain is filled with lots of other books that are demanding my attention, so why should I waste my time on books that are not pleasing me?

The particular books in question are all critically acclaimed, but acclaim does not mean they are for everyone and no one should ever feel obliged to finish, much less like a book just because the rest of the world does. I'd intended these books to be part of my Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge, but I'd rather free up their slots for more enjoyable reads.

These three books all have one thing in common though: They are unique entries into their genres - in fact, their individuality might even transcend their respective genres and for that, I can appreciate the acclaim they receive. But at the end of the day, they just aren't for me. As LeVar Burton says, "Reading is a trip," but these aren't trips I really want to take.

The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan

This is actually the book that made me decide to write this post and create a DNF shelf on Goodreads. A recent Nebula Awards nominee, it won the vote as this month's read for my bookclub. While I like the concept of a haunted schizophrenic girl and the way art and fairy tales play so heavily in her memoiors of her own madness, I just could not take the writing. I didn't even mind the moments where Imp seems to stop and instruct herself. I just didn't enjoy the meandering, long paragraphs of her stream of consciousness.

This book is heading to my library for donation. hopefully someone else will find and enjoy it far more than I did.

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

This is as far away from urban fantasy as you can get, which is what made it appeal to me. Zinzi December lives in Zoo City, a slum for criminals, easily identified by the animal familiars emotionally/psychologically bonded to them. The creatures are manifestations of their guilt, though not necessarily their culpability. Somewhere along the way, we eventually learn that Zinzi's sloth is the result of her guilt over her brother's death that she did not seem to have caused, which makes it a little difficult to understand why she was imprisoned in the first place.

Zinzi has a talent for finding lost things but the first client in the story ends up brutally murdered and Zinzi is suspected. Only, that is not the main story line. In fact, the story walks away from this entirely and I had to go back to see if I actually had skimmed pages without intending to. But nope. Apparently, we've moved on to Zinzi finding a lost pop star despite her usual refusal to track people.

Where things go from there, well, I'm curious, but not enough to continue for now. I also have issue with the writing style, which contains a lot of local (Johannesburg) vernacular that is difficult to comprehend as the context rarely offers clarity beyond a word being an obvious insult, in some cases.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Reading The Handmaid's Tale in highschool and recently rereading and loving it made me want to finally try out one of Atwood's other books. Unfortunately, this one resulted in disappointment. I actually did finish The Blind Assassin, but I did skim a lot of pages. Or, I should say, I loved The Blind Assassin, but I skimmed the pages that weren't telling that story. This is a story within a story and I loved how everything tied together, but got tired of the monologues surrounding the story of the blind boy and tongueless girl. I just wanted to read about the latter!

July Book Club Read: The Drowning Girl

With the winners of the 2012 Nebula Award announced last month, members of the LeVar's Rainbow Book Club selected The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan from the list of nominees.

India Morgan Phelps - Imp to her friends - is schizophrenic. Struggling with her perceptions of reality, Imp must uncover the truth about her encounters with creatures out of myth - or from something far, far stranger...

Blood Oranges by Kathleen Tierney/Caitlín R. Kiernan

Blood Oranges by Kathleen Tierney/Caitlín R. Kiernan

Now here's a book that comes with a ton of caveats.

First of all, it seems whenever a title about vampires or werewolves comes out nowadays, most of us tend to automatically think, "Oh geez, not yet another YA urban fantasy." Except I don't know if I'd let any tween of mine get within twenty feet near a book like this. No question about it, it is adult fiction containing a lot of mature subjects and very naughty language, though no romance or sexual themes.

Which is also kind of the perfect segue into my next point: If you are someone who prefers a little paranormal romance in your urban fantasy, then this book is also not for you. Our main protagonist and narrator is one of those gals who would sooner kill a monster than get lovey dovey and make out with one, if you know what I mean. As all tough demon huntresses should be, if you ask me. That she also makes fun of sparkly vampires is a plus.

Actually, if you're still unsure of whether or not this book is for you, just flip through the first few pages of front matter to the author's foreword. Here's my favorite quote from it: "In fact, if you're the sort who believes books should come with warning labels, this book's not for you. Also, please note: Siobhan Quinn is not a very good writer. Fair notice."

Yes, fair notice. Good thing my sensibilities are not easily offended, because this book was a lot of fun and a riot to read. It actually made me laugh out loud a few times. There's just something about the gritty writing style and Quinn's sarcastic cynicism and that devil-may-care attitude of hers that makes me really like her. She reminds me of a female Sandman Slim.

Yeah, Siobhan Quinn is definitely not your run-of-the-mill urban fantasy heroine. Not at all. The two monster-kills that that first led her onto the demon-hunting path were complete flukes, the products of her clumsiness and sheer dumb luck. She's a foul-mouthed street-kid drug addict with serious issues who gets bitten by a werewolf and a vampire -- both in a single night! -- but her "werepire-ness" has not left her any prettier, any more cheerful, or improved her hygienic habits one whit. Not to mention she's also a junkie, a self-admitted coward and compulsive liar, and a terribly unreliable narrator.

But perhaps the thing I liked most about her character is the fact she breaks the urban fantasy female protagonist mold, in a way that's almost borderline satire. That along with the book's departure from the norm offers a refreshing change of pace for those of us who are wearying of the same-old-same-old genre tropes, and who might be looking for something different to stir things up.

By the way, Kathleen Tierney is the nom de plume of Caitlín R. Kiernan, whom I found out only after I finished this book is quite a well-known author of horror fiction. Though I have not read any of her other works, after Blood Oranges, I think I might want to.

Final Verdict:

4.5 of 5 stars