Anna Katharine Green, The Mayor's Wife. This one had a bit more complicated plot than the others, twisting some threads together pretty deftly, but at the same time, the themes continued to be very Victorian, and the overall plot actually moved very little. It's interesting to contemplate what you can actually get away with in plotting without your characters actually doing anything. Green did it well - but is that a reflection on her writing, or the time in which she was working?
Anne Perry, Brunswick Gardens. I found this one a bit disappointing - in all, it seemed to promise a lot more than it delivered. There were many possibilities for this to go interesting places, but all in all, it failed to get very far. Plot holes, unsatisfying resolutions, general lack of imagination, and a repetition of an interpersonal plot line from a number of books before, all combined to make this a particularly lackluster entry in the series.
Richard Kennedy, Amy's Eyes. I haven't read this in years, and was stunned while reading it to the boys by how well-written it is. The prose is simply elegant, the storyline inventive and emotional. I had forgotten a few key plot elements before I started reading it to the boys, but they seemed to enjoy it as well, and I loved having the chance to rediscover such a lovely book.
David Gaider, The Calling. I found this one slightly less interesting than The Stolen Throne - I thought the plot was less thoroughly thought through, the character of the King hadn't advanced much since the first book, and overall the story felt rushed in a lot of ways. The problem, really, is that while Gaider is an excellent world-builder, his skills aren't really that of a novelist. The Stolen Throne read like the novelization of a game, while The Calling really just felt like he stretched toward a level he wasn't quite ready for. They're entertaining, but the places where they could be made better are fairly obvious.
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