Reviews: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Furies of Calderon, Academ's Fury, The Age of Napoleon, Changes, Empire of Liberty
Well, we're moving back to Washington D.C. (actually, Virginia) this week, so if I want to not lose track of what I've read I better get it down!
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson - 9/10
A superlative finale to the "Girl Who" series by Larsson. It's a damn shame he died, I have to say; although it's kind of obvious that he wrote these books at least partially as wish-fulfillment fantasy, they are nonetheless compelling reading, with intriguing characters and well-paced action. I'm sorry to have reached the conclusion, but I am eminently satisfied with that conclusion.
Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher - 6/10
I wanted some light fantasy reading for an airplane trip, and this was it. Somehow it never grabbed me - the characters were not very interesting, nor was the fantasy world they were set in. I enjoy Butcher's other work but this series wasn't intriguing.
Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher - 6.5/10
Of course, it was a five-hour flight so I'd bought the first two. This one was somewhat better, introducing more complex characters and a more intriguing world, but the way he shuttled back and forth between ongoing battles at the end was annoying rather than gripping, and ultimately I doubt I will continue the series.
The Age of Napoleon by J. Christopher Herold - 7.5/10
I've been looking for a good book on the Napoleonic period, and Napoleon himself, so I picked this up. It's a bit dated at this point (containing asides to cold war and decolonization themes, the book was published in 1963) but offered quite good baseline coverage of the period and of Napoleon himself. I'm still seeking an excellent book on the subject, but Herold's entry did good work, was enjoyable to read, and particularly succeeded at stitching all of the disparate elements of Napoleon's arc through history together into a single coherent story.
Changes by Jim Butcher - 7/10
The latest in the Dresden Files novels, it was a good read but grimmer than earlier novels in the series, and that doesn't make it more compelling. Despite the fact that "important things happen", this one felt like filler.
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 by Gordon S. Wood - 8/10
Another excellent entry in the Oxford History of the United States series. What happened after the American Revolution and the ratification of the Constitution? A surprisingly forgotten period of turbulence, uncertainty, and long-reaching precedents. Wood approaches the period more from a societal than a chronological or event-based narrative, and it serves him well; knitting together dates and events with societal change is a difficult art and Wood succeeds well if not flawlessly. My personal predilection is for a more event-driven narrative, but nonetheless an excellent and worthy book.