book reviews

Randall Garrett, Lord Darcy. Lord Darcy is a Sherlock Holmes-type figure who lives and solves crimes in an alternate universe where most of the world is part of the British empire. I found some of the short stories contained in this volume engaging, but overall I wearied of Garrett's imaginary world fairly quickly. The constant reiterations of the background bogged the stories down, the inconsistency of the few items (such as "caffe" and "ouiskie") in the Darcy universe that were differentiated from those in our universe, and Darcy's lack of a personality kept me from being able to immerse myself in that world.

Jane Claypool Miner, Jennie. Part of a 1980s series about teenage girls in various times in American history, Jennie is about a girl who survives the Johnstown Flood. Sadly, there's very little character development, the experience during the flood is generalized and lacks urgency, and the romance is sketchy, at best. One of the lesser entries in the series.

Kathryn Kenny, Trixie Belden and the Mystery of the Missing Millionaire. This is the best Trixie I've read in a while. The later entries tend to be on the weak side, but I enjoyed this one. It's about a set of swindlers, gives Trixie exposure to the way a professional detective works, and the various characters get more to do, both emotionally and plot-wise, than usual.

Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr., and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Cheaper by the Dozen. I've read this umpteen times, and I see myself reading it umpteen more. This cozy little memoir of life in the household of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, early American efficiency experts, is funny and touching and provides a nice glimpse of the times the Gilbreths' dozen children grew up in.

book reviews

Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander. I've always wanted to read this series, knowing the excellent reputation it has. And I can see where the reputation comes from - it's carefully written, clearly very thoroughly researched, and action-packed. But it was also very dry, and the characters were not compelling or well fleshed out. I'm told that's a problem that is resolved in later books, so I may try the next one, but this first one failed to wow me.

Celia Hayes, To Truckee's Trail. I didn't get very far into this one, finding it filled with some of the major pitfalls of the self-published work. To wit, no editing, no proofreading, and it was impossible to tell whether the book was supposed to be historically accurate, based on history, or sheer fiction. From what I could gather, the author wasn't sure about that, either.

Margaret Sidney, The Adventures of Joel Pepper. My least favorite Pepper book ever. Joel's a mischievous imp, always getting into trouble, making trouble, and never listening. He doesn't improve, he whines his way through the book, and I found my impression of my least favorite Pepper had dropped significantly by the end of the book.

Vonda N. McIntyre, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. I'd read this a number of times as a kid and lost track of my copy, so Lou found me a new one. And it did not disappoint. The book hits all the important points of the movie's plot, but it adds a depth of characterization and a level of background detail that make the characters truly three-dimensional.

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