**** Neal Stephenson – Anathem
*** Eric Garcia – Anonymous Rex
***** Patrick O’Brian – The Commodore
*** Natsuo Kirino – Real World
Anonymous Rex is your basic throwaway hard-boiled detective book, except that the detective is a raptor and lives in a world where dinosaurs did not, in fact, go instinct, but live among us, wearing clever disguises that make them look human. It’s pretty well done and stays amusing. There’s another book featuring this same raptor detective; I’ll keep an eye open for it, though I’m curious whether the gimmick wears out its welcome after one go.
Another great O’Brian book. In this one, we learn that Maturin’s daughter, who was born and has been around for several years while he was at sea, is autistic. There are some very good scenes of her initial remoteness and then gradually learning to relate to Padeen and then others, which were very touching (if not very realistic, I’d think). The main adventure itself involves the freeing of slaves, the defeat of some French, and a lot of clever sailing, so that’s good too.
I’ve really enjoyed the Natsuo Kirino books I’ve read so far, but nothing has compared to the total cool of “Out” (I think her first novel translated into English; the first one I read anyway). This one is concerned with a bunch of teen girls and their interest in a boy who’s killed his mother. It seemed almost formulaic: teens + violence + casual attitude of teens toward violence = shocking! I don’t know, I’m starting to wonder if Kirino isn’t more known for her ability/desire to shock! than for her writing. This one was interesting enough, but the constant teendom got a bit annoying after a while.