Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley: A Review

Stiletto is the second in Daniel O'Malley's (hopefully long lived) Checquy series. The Checquy is reeling from Rook Myfanwy Thomas's announcement that an alliance had been made with the agency's long-time enemies, the Grafters. A delegation of Grafters, or the Wetenschappelijk Broederschap van Natuurkundigen as they prefer to be called, arrived for negotiations, bringing with them the two youngest of their group and a whole heap of trouble. 

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I know that O'Malley struggled with this book - having technical issues, rewriting the draft several times, and so on and so forth. Stiletto does suffer a smidge from sophomore slump; it's not the tightly plotted, but rambly hysterical fun fest that The Rook was, but it retains the lighthearted center, all the while introducing new wonders from both the Checquy and the Broederschap. O'Malley's tone and turn of phrase are magical, turning what could be a taking-itself-way-too-seriously type of book into a fun romp through sci-fi and fantasy. That being said, the story drags a bit at the beginning and middle, and I'm still not quite sure I care enough about Odette or Felicity. They were both interesting, but not quite interesting enough to take the reins completely. I do hope that the series continues though because this world is so interesting and fun. Maybe the Americans can come to visit? Or Australia!

My copy courtesy of Edelweiss and Little, Brown, and Co.

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Kady Grant and Ezra Mason somehow managed to survive their breakup. And an attack on their planet, home to an illegal mining operation. Now Kady and Ezra are separated by the vacuum of space - Kady on the science vessel Hypatia and Ezra on the United Terran Alliance ship Alexander - as both ships barrel through space, trying to escape the Lincoln, the BeiTech dreadnought that attacked their home. Told through a series of chat logs, internal memos, and surveillance footage, Illuminae is an no-name-taking, ass-kicking entry into the growing field of young adult sci fi. 

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I still can't even. I got a digital chapter sampler of this from First in Line and once I'd read the first couple of pages I knew I needed to read the whole thing. In my humble opinion, Kaufman and Kristoff have done what so many other YA authors have tried to do - make a readable, believable science fiction novel for young adults. So many times I've picked up what I thought was science fiction for YAs only to find the hard science aspect (the thing that makes hard SF) completely pushed to the side in favor of a love triangle. Kaufman and Kristoff manage to maintain the teenage connection between Kady and Ezra without it overtaking the main thrust of the novel. Not only is she successful in that, she takes this one action and manages to spin it out into a hugely complicated conflict. The attack by BeiTech results in complete catastrophe for the Kerenza refugees, but the actions and problems that arise from that never feel contrived or shoe-horned in. This is compulsively readable and like the tagline says: You've never read a book like this.

My copy courtesy of First in Line and Netgalley.