Last Ones Left Alive by Sarah Davis-Goff

Last Ones Left Alive brings the zombie-genre to Ireland. Orpen, the daughter of Muireann and Maeve, spends her life training, running, and learning to throw knives. The end has come and humanity has, for the most part, been wiped out by zombie-like creatures called “skrake.”

“I’m to put away the stories about the monsters that are not real and to hear about the others. They’ve got worse as I got older; heroes are caught, turned, burned, throttled, they die of hunger and cold. Children same as me.” pg 33

Orpen lives a sheltered existence on an island. But she dreams of going to the mainland, once-Ireland, and finding the fabled “Phoenix City,” which she learned about through flyers rotting in abandoned buildings. Phoenix City is touted as a paradise with women warriors protecting the walls and weak from the encroaching skrake.

Orpen’s mother and Maeve have drilled rules into her head since the day she turned seven. Some of these rules are: Don’t go near tall buildings. Count your ‘Just-in-Cases’. and Beware people.

“Beware people. I can’t stay on my own, though, I can’t. If they’re men, I will run.” pg 71

But is life worth living without the interaction of other people? Orpen doesn’t think so. She dreams of the day she’ll leave the island… and wanders the land with the skrake.

I enjoyed Last Ones Left Alive but it felt like more of an homage to Ireland than a truly scary horror novel. Much of the gore and scares felt done as readers have been exposed to them all before in such series as The Walking Dead, Book One or Saga, Vol. 1.

The narration is related in two parallel lines with the past woven among the present by alternating chapter. It’s not my favorite way to read a story, but I can see how it could appeal to some readers.

The female characters in this broken world are unapologetically strong. Readers looking for books with self-reliant female characters may really enjoy this read. It may also be a great pick for a book club to pick apart and discuss.

Personally, I wanted more details about the dangers this world had to offer rather than focusing on Orpen’s journey, which is the main part of the story. There’s something to be said for unknown horrors… true. But when you peer deeply into the darkness, there’s the feeling that it looks back into you.

That’s what I felt was missing in this excellent debut novel by Sarah Davis-Goff. I wanted more looking into the shadows.

Thank you to the publisher for an advance reader copy of this book. The short quotations I cited in this review may vary in the final printed version, which I believe is available today (August 27, 2019).

Thanks for reading!

A Rule Against Murder (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #4) by Louise Penny

When a body is discovered near a retreat in the woods, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache happens to be staying at the Manoir Bellechasse, the lodge, with his lovely wife, Reine-Marie. Now, their peaceful get-away has devolved into a murder investigation. Someone at the hotel is a killer.

Can Gamache figure out who before it’s too late?

“But just as their waffles arrived they heard a faraway sound, something so unexpected it took Gamache a moment to recognize it. It was a scream.” pg 84

As delightful as this entry is in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, I had trouble getting into the story. It has Louise Penny’s usual eccentric characters and thoughtful insights into universal emotions like love and despair.

And, as usual, I guessed completely wrong on the resolution and enjoyed the nail-biting conclusion.

“His team had a near perfect record, and they did it by sorting facts from fancy from wishful thinking. They did it by collecting clues and evidence. And emotions.” pg 95

I think what I was missing from the mystery was the setting of Three Pines itself. Honestly, it was nice to branch out a little and see many of Penny’s beloved characters in a different place, but Three Pines is so delightful that I missed it.

To be fair, it does make a bit of a cameo with a village festival, but it wasn’t the same. The irascable poet, Ruth Zardo, is almost completely absent, except for a one-liner, and I missed her. I’m also inordinately fond of the bed and breakfast owners, Oliver and Gabri. But we didn’t see much of them because the action was taking place at a different hotel.

Here’s hoping the next book takes place back in Three Pines. I’d still recommend this one to readers who love cozy mysteries. Louise Penny has a gift for writing them.

Thanks for reading!

Fall, or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson

“Not only can we defeat entropy, but the universe, in a way, wants us to use our powers as conscious beings to make things better. And part of that is defeating death.” pg 50

I finally finished Neal Stephenson’s latest book, an opus about the nature of reality that uses mythology, archetypes and technology as the instruments of that examination. Coming in at a hefty 896 pages, it will most likely be the longest book I read this year.

“Far from being a source of frustration, this comforted him, and made him happy — perhaps even a little smug — that he lived in a universe whose complexity defied algorithmic simulation.” pg 19

Richard “Dodge” Forthrast, one of the many protagonists from Reamde, suffers an unexpected injury and dies — to the horror of his loving family. Immediate complexities reveal themselves in his will, which contains very specific instructions on what is to be done with his corpse and living brain.

These instructions will lead to a technological coalition of companies and big money in an effort to create another reality for the “recently diseased”. And, what happens in that new world is beyond anyone’s (among the living) control… isn’t it?

Stephenson, as usual, has created a complex science fiction novel that not only makes you think again about where technology is headed, but also compels you to ask yourself what that exponential development means.

“It’s really only since wireless networks got fast enough to stream pictures to portable devices that everything changed,” Enoch said, “and enabled each individual person to live twenty-four/seven in their own personalized hallucination stream.” pg 236

And lest one think such changes are so far off, you only need to take a look at someone else’s Facebook newsfeed. The difference between what I see on that platform and what my husband sees is shocking. Our “own personalized hallucination stream” is already a reality.

Stephenson is at his best when he’s mixing science fiction and fantasy in Bitworld. He’s at his worst when he’s clocking the changes going on in the real world or “meatworld”, as his characters call it. One likes to think that he had reasons for including the myriad of details that he includes, but readers could also suspect that he needed a good editor.

The first portion of this book moves agonizingly slowly, which prevented it from being a five-star read for me. But that was its only downside in my view.

“So he went into the room where the disciples of Greyhame and Pestle scratched out words on paper, and told them to go through all of their documents and make him aware of any mention they might find of angels, or the One Who Comes, or Daisy, or death.”pg 482

I can’t say I completely understand the ending of the story, but it is epic. I find myself still thinking about it and taking pieces apart in my mind. And, for me, that’s one of the hallmarks of a good read.

Recommended for science fiction readers who can tolerate a very slow build-up for a potentially puzzling end.

Thanks for reading!

The Test by Sylvain Neuvel

The Test is a science fiction short story detailing a sinister new type of citizenship test and a possible dark future humanity could face.

“I am the only one taking the test. Only men. Only between the ages of sixteen and forty-five. She said it was unfair. I told her it was a blessing. I do not care what their motivations are; it is a simple matter of probabilities.” pg 12

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Idir Jalil was a dentist in Teheran. He wants to immigrate with his wife and children to the United Kingdom. But first, he has to pass the test.

“Guns and impunity. This is why we’re here.” pg 21

As technology advances, one can’t help but wonder what sorts of new programs are going to be created. Passports with radio frequency identification chips already exist. Will we soon start putting computer chips in ourselves?

And with all of these changes, how do we hold on to our essential humanity? The test Idir receives has significant consequences for him.

Beyond the question of technology, Sylvain Neuvel also tackles how immigration procedures have a dehumanizing effect. When you’re reducing people to statistics and probabilities, you dismiss everything else that makes someone a person.

Countries around the world continue to struggle with immigration issues. I wish there were easy answers. Aren’t we all citizens of this planet?

Thanks for reading!

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

Alice and her mother live their lives on the road. Everywhere they go, they’re haunted by misfortune. Alice calls it bad luck. It could be something worse.

“We moved at least twice a year and sometimes more, but the bad luck always found us.” pg 12, ebook

Her grandmother, Althea Proserpine, was the creator of a whispered-about collection of fairy tale stories. For almost her entire life, Alice has wanted to read the collection but her mother forbids it and copies are impossible to find. Althea lives the life of a hermit on a secluded property called the Hazel Wood.

“My grandmother’s estate, which I’d only seen in photos, felt like a place I remembered from some alternate, imaginary childhood. One where I rode horses and went to summer camp.” pg 10, ebook

One day, Alice’s mother disappears and, in order to find her, Alice is going to have to go into the Hazel Wood, a place that holds secrets darker than she’s ever imagined.

“My situation hit me hard. Homeless. Without my mom. Being stalked, by something I couldn’t see the breadth of or understand.”pg 79

Melissa Albert has created a fairy tale for young adults that I think would have been more fun if she’d gone the non-YA route.

My favorite parts were the fantasy stories themselves within the story. I found them to be very reminiscent of Catherynne Valente, whom Albert lists as one of her favorite authors in the back of this book.

They’re hard-edged, glittering things. These are creepy fairy tales, not made for children.

“On a cold day in a distant kingdom, a daughter was born to a queen and king. Her eyes were shiny and black all over, and the midwife laid her in the queen’s arms and fled.” pg 69

I can understand why some readers didn’t like this book with its twisted stories. They’re unnerving, popping in and out of the narrative. And, as I said before, I felt like this book twisted itself into knots trying to be a young adult read when, in reality, I think it could have just been dark fantasy.

There’s a love interest who, I thought, sort of gets in the way except as a young adult plot device.

The main character, Alice, is a cold young woman with little concern for anyone in her life except her mother. I can also see why readers didn’t warm up to her, but it didn’t bother me all that much. I figured, with someone moving around as much as she did, how would Alice figure out how to have normal relationships? It fit.

In conclusion, I liked The Hazel Wood but didn’t love it. Personally, I think it’s worth the read for the interesting short fantasy stories alone. But if you’re not into that kind of thing, this book probably won’t appeal.

Thanks for reading!

The Trespasser (Dublin Murder Squad #6) by Tana French

“The case comes in, or anyway it comes in to us, on a frozen dawn in the kind of closed-down January that makes you think the sun’s never going to drag itself back above the horizon.” pg 1, ebook.

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And so begins the final book (so far) in Tana French’s masterful Dublin Murder Squad series. This entry follows Detectives Antoinette Conway and Steve Moran, the duo readers met in the last book, as they try to solve, what at first appears to be, a simple domestic disturbance. Little do they know, what they discover will challenge all of their assumptions about their roles in the Murder Squad and their own investigative skills.

“Before we check out the rest of the cottage, I squat down by the body and carefully, one-fingered, hook back her hair from her face. Steve moves in beside me. Every Murder D I’ve ever known does it: takes one long look at the victim’s face.” pg 24

The investigation, especially the interrogation scenes, are intense and what I’ve come to expect from this series. It’s a thrilling who-done-it with complex characters and relationships. I really enjoyed it.

“The pressure level means Murder is balanced so finely that it only takes a few new heads to shift the whole feel of the squad: turn that big cat rogue and edgy, set that rifle warping towards its moment to blow up in your face.” pg 23, ebook

Conway, the only woman on the murder squad, feels as if she has been singled out and shut out of the camaraderie of the rest of the group. So, she feels like she has more to prove when the investigation becomes more complex than she expected.

Conway, the narrator this time around (they change in each book), isn’t my favorite character, but she’s someone I’d respect and give plenty of space so I didn’t come into her crosshairs.

“Unless I missed your promotion, we’re on the same squad, and this is my investigation. Which means you’re the cheeky little bollix who’s getting above himself, and you’re the one who needs to bear in mind who’s who here.” pg 138, ebook.

Frankly, I’m sorry I’ve read the final book French has written for the murder squad. However, in a May 2019 interview, she didn’t dismiss the idea of writing another book for the series at some point in the future. So, readers can rejoice!

It’s just not written yet. Sigh.

Highly recommended for fans of thrillers and mysteries. Thanks for reading!

The Just City (Thessaly, #1) by Jo Walton

When the god Apollo seeks to understand the workings of the mortal mind and heart, he asks his sister, Athene to help him. She reveals a project in which she has gathered together philosophers from across time and space and put them in a settlement called, “The Just City”. In this city, set near a volcano that will one day explode and destroy all evidence of the project, a group of men, women and children will try to recreate the hypothetical state described in Plato’s “Republic”.

Apollo asks to join this group. And our story begins.

The city itself shone in the afternoon light. The pillars, the domes, the arches, all of it lay in the balance of light and shadow. Our souls know harmony and proportion before we are born, so although I had never seen anything like it, my soul resonated at once to the beauty of the city.” pgs 35-36

But what is perfect in theory turns out to be not-so-perfect in practice. Among the thornier problems, the city has shared marriages and children raised by the group, not families. This causes predictable jealousies and secret romances. There’s also something strange going on with the robotic workers Athene brought from a future time to help with the mundane tasks of civilization, like raking the roads and planting the vineyards.

“We are in a time before the fall of Troy. And we are on the doomed island of Kallisti, called by some Atlante.” Even I had heard of Atlantis.” pg 45

Another major issue, caused because they were pulled from different points in history, are the different philosophers’ views on gender equality. Consent in the Renaissance doesn’t mean the same thing as consent in the Victorian Age.

“You love this city,” Pytheas said. That was what we had been debating that day. “I do,” I said, spreading out my arms as if I could hug the entire city. “I love it. But Sokrates has made me see that it’s only the visible manifestation and earthly approximation of what I really love, the city of the mind.” pg 131

Though I enjoyed this book, the pace was what spoiled it for me somewhat. It marches forward towards an inevitable conclusion far too slowly. The debate scenes are interesting, but simply too plodding.

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There’s also a rape, so please be aware if you have potential triggers.

Recommended tentatively for readers who love the classics or historical fiction and can stand a slower-paced read.

Thanks for reading!

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

An engrossing historical fiction novel about a girl with extraordinary eyes named Chiyo and how she became a celebrated geisha named Sayuri. The path of her life was not always easy, but like water flowing over bumpy rocks, she braves the rapids and, eventually, reaches the ocean of her dreams.

“But the truth is the afternoon when I met Mr. Tanaka Ichiro really was the best and the worst of my life. He seemed so fascinating to me, even the fish smell on his hands was a kind of perfume. If I had never known him, I’m sure I would not have become a geisha.” pg 13, ebook

It is a coming-of-age story but also a romance. Some have compared this book to the fairy tale of Cinderella. I see the comparison, but feel as if this historical fiction is better than Cinderella. Unlike the made-up fairy tale, the land and closed world of the geisha actually existed.

“After a block or two I worked up my courage and said to Mr. Bekku, “Won’t you please tell us where we’re going?” He didn’t look as if he would reply, but after a moment he said, “To your new home.” pg 41, ebook.

To be a geisha was to excel at the arts. It was to demonstrate excellence in dance, music and the art of conversation. It was a way of being, and dressing. As a geisha, Sayuri transports the men she is with to another world, the world of “Flowers and Willows”.

I did some research into the history of the geisha and what I found was fascinating. From what I read, the history portrayed in Memoirs of a Geisha was rather close to the truth, minus the made-up characters.

“Because, you see, when a geisha wakes up in the morning she is just like any other woman. … Only when she sits before her mirror to apply her makeup with care does she become a geisha. And I don’t mean that this is when she begins to look like one. This is when she begins to think like one too.” pg 67, ebook

The whole culture seems so exotic to me. This book is truly an escape into a different world. I, of course, adored the main character, Sayuri.

Years ago, I saw the film version of this book and remember enjoying it very much. Fortunately, I forgot most of it except for one critical moment towards the end. That, however, didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book. It is better, much better.

There’s more character development, more battles with Hatsumomo, more to the conclusion. Sayuri’s life completes a circle in the written version of the story — I seem to remember that the story felt a bit stunted in the film. I think I’ll watch it again to see if I’m remembering it right.

“We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course. If I’d never met Mr. Tanaka, my life would have been a simple stream flowing from our tipsy house to the ocean.” pg 112, ebook

There’s also the development of the theme of water. The characters in the story attribute Sayuri’s startling blue eyes to an abundance of water in her soul. Throughout the book, she’s alluding to water — how it flows, bends and can wear down rocks. You really begin to view her life through this lens of watery inevitability.

“Here you are… a beautiful girl with nothing on earth to be ashamed of,” he said. “And yet you’re afraid to look at me. Someone has been cruel to you.. or perhaps life has been cruel.” “I don’t know, sir,” I said, though of course I knew perfectly well. pg 119, ebook.

Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction. Memoirs of a Geisha is a surprising treat, like a sudden rainbow glinting off the water into your eyes. Blink once, and it’s gone.

Thanks for reading!

The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad #5) by Tana French

Tana French writes another suspenseful mystery about a school full of girls, a murder and, of course, the Dublin Murder Squad.

“Detective Moran, there’s someone to see you,” pen pointing at the sofa. “Miss Holly Mackey.” pg 15, ebook.

We’re reintroduced to Stephen Moran and Holly Mackey, whom readers of the series will remember from Faithful Place. I highly suggest reading that book before this. The context is part of what makes The Secret Place so powerful.

Like in her previous books, French builds the suspense through in-depth characters and internal monologues. They carry an intensity that I’ve come to expect from her novels. Reading her stories straight through honestly gives me a bit of a headache. They’re so complex and she brings in small details that give you these “aha” moments.

Despite those potential headaches, I love it.

I said, “You came here because there’s something you want me to know. I’m not going to play guessing games I can’t win. If you’re not sure you want to tell me, then go away and have a think till you are. If you’re sure now, then spit it out.” Holly approved of that. Almost smiled again; nodded instead. pg 18, ebook

She’s also a master at building relationships, not just between the investigating detectives, but between the readers and the story. There’s a trust there — that she’s not just leading you down this path to distract you. There’s something important you’re supposed to realize.

In The Secret Place, readers are asked to contemplate the unknowable reality of young adult friendships. We wade right in to passionate, explosive moments that aren’t that big of a deal, if you’re not the right age. The feeling, no the knowing, that magic is real is a large part of this story. Also, that friendships define you somehow and are more real than your grades or your family or your name even.

Friends delineate the boundaries of your world at that age. And, together, you can literally make magic happen, if they’re the right kind of friends and if you do the right mystical things together like, for example, sneaking outside of a locked, private school to sit in a wooded glade and gaze at the stars.

“Girls need a safety valve, Detective Conway. Do you recall, a week or so after the incident” — small snort of laughter from Conway: incident —”a group of students claimed to have seen Christopher Harper’s ghost? pg 59

As much as I loved this book, I understand readers who didn’t. It is self indulgent in the sense that you get to know almost everything about everyone and when you’re dealing with a dozen main characters, that’s a lot.

I got the feeling, when Moran was on his eighth interview, that there had been a lot of talk about editing that section down, but it wasn’t. As I said, this story hinges on the characters, why they feel the way they feel and why they acted the way they did. If you don’t get to know those minutiae, then the story isn’t as intense.

But, admittedly, it does slow the pace waaaaay down.

There’s also the “living in a teenager wasteland” feeling of the story. Who cares about who’s dating who and who’s wearing what. To get through some of it, I put myself into the mindset of the detectives. It was important to understand because murder was on the line. Someone killed someone else and was walking around like nothing happened, while his victim was forever buried in the ground. There’s your motivation.

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I think I could listen to a lot of gum-chewing nonsense to solve something that important.

My favorite character? Detective Stephen Moran. He has so much to lose and so much to prove. All he wants is to do a good job on this case. And that seems so impossible at times. I was cheering for him all the way.

“For the first time, she smiled. Little crunch of a grin, the same one I remembered. It had had something pathetic in it, back then, it had caught at me every time. It did again.” pg 17, ebook.

Recommended for readers who have enjoyed French’s work in the past. This murder-mystery may not appeal to everybody, but it did to me.

Thanks for reading!

The Help Desk Book Blog

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

Tag: Fiction

Last Ones Left Alive by Sarah Davis-Goff

A Rule Against Murder (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #4) by Louise Penny

Fall, or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson

The Test by Sylvain Neuvel

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

The Trespasser (Dublin Murder Squad #6) by Tana French

The Just City (Thessaly, #1) by Jo Walton

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad #5) by Tana French

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