strange and random happenstance: Da Vinci

Recipe for Treason by Andrea Penrose
Published by: NAL
Publication Date: December 4th, 2012
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Renard, that most elusive of spies, is up to something incendiary. Which is why Arianna, her husband Sandro, and their medically inclined friend and comrade Baz are headed north to Scotland on winter blasted roads at the behest of Lord Grentham. Behest might be too kind of a word. Grentham has threatened Baz's nephew who is currently in prison in Scotland for his "radical" tendencies and if they venture north then they can free said nephew as well as investigate on Grentham's behalf. The only problem is that they are attacked on their way north, their lead turns up dead, Baz's nephew turns up dead, and a bad character, Lord Stoughton, who is the colonel in command of the region, shoots Baz. After the failure that is their trip to Scotland the only thing they know for sure is that Renard appears to have developed a method of delivering death from the sky with a new flying machine and an explosive incendiary device. Something that must not end up in Napoleon's hands. Which leads them to think that perhaps they can find answers back in London at the Royal Institution. While it is nice to go home the problem is Baz is too ill to travel and they need someone who can understand the scientific nature of their investigation and open doors that would otherwise be closed. Enter Sophia Kirtland. Arianna had learned of Miss Kirtland and her husband's weekly visits to her during their previous investigation when Lord Grentham was trying to pull Arianna to heel. She knew her marriage to Sandro wasn't a love match, even if he says he loves her now, so she assumed that Miss Kirtland is his mistress. She couldn't be more wrong. Miss Kirtland is a delightful female scientist who lives outside the conventions of society. She's a genius and a recluse, and as soon as Arianna meets her she decides that she will not only use this woman to help in their investigation but she will help Sophia become more daring, more like Arianna herself. Thankfully Sandro doesn't realize this plan because one Arianna running around England is terrifying enough. But as the two women cut a swath through the ton and make all the right scientific connections Renard isn't keeping his head in the sand. The noose is tightening but whose neck will be in it is anyone's guess.

Recipe for Treason has a lot of absurdity going on in it's pages. There's more of Arianna doing improbable disguises and cross-dressing and getting involved in chases with hot air balloons, which at times could veer towards the slapstick if it wasn't so well grounded in reality even if Arianna's feet aren't anywhere near the ground. Because science and it's discoveries were, as Andrea Penrose points out in her Author's Note, discussed by all and the men who made the discoveries were rock stars. So if you're thinking "but that couldn't possibly be happening in 1814," you're wrong. As I previously learned years ago when reading Lauren Willig's The Garden Intrigue, there were proto-submarines in the Regency so why not proto-airplanes? I mean, if you think about it Leonardo da Vinci was drawing planes in his lifetime, which ended THREE HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE this book takes place. But the science itself wasn't what I loved about this book but the scientists, and one in particular, Miss Sophia Kirtland. While Arianna is an interesting heroine, she's at times very off-putting. She's too confident, especially in her ability to disguise herself, and while it might be overcompensation to hide her insecurities, it doesn't endear me to her. I can't relate to who she is and the life she's led and every once in awhile that pulls me out of the story. She's like that friend you have that you're not quite sure you like because while she has all these interesting adventures it's too much about them and the facade they want no one to see behind. Whereas Sophia Kirtland is someone I can totally relate to. She had something bad happen to her and while she removed herself from society she didn't give up. She poured herself into her studies and experiments. She improved her mind, which is formidable, and when needed by Arianna and Sandro, she rose to the occasion more than I think she even thought herself capable of. I can't wait for her to be more involved in Arianna and Sandro's adventures because she is my cup of cocoa.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: Airplanes, Andrea Penrose, Arianna Hadley, Da Vinci, Lauren Willig, Napoleon, Recipe for Treason, Regency England, Regency Romp, Science, Scientists, Scotland, Sophia Kirtland, Spies, Submarines, The Garden Intrigue

The Last Hero: A Discworld Fable by Terry Pratchett
Published by: Gollancz
Publication Date: October 18th, 2001
Format: Hardcover, 160 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

In Discworld, more then most places, what we take as myth is more literal. In the beginning, the great hero Mazda, maybe known elsewhere as Prometheus, stole fire from the Gods. Well, Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde have grown wealthy and old in the hero business themselves, but they don't like the old part, in fact, they have a beef to pick with the Gods about the whole "old" situation. So they've decided to return Mazda's ill gotten gains. With interest. The problem with most heroes though is they don't realize that sometimes their actions have consequences. The consequence of them going to the home of the Gods is that Discworld will cease to be. The Wizards bring this outcome to the attention of Lord Ventinari who quickly gets all the Disc's best minds, including Rincewind to his own dismay, to find a solution. Yet no one seems to be asking the obvious question. What if this is just another game the Gods are playing, and what if it's revenge for all those temples these so-called heroes sacked?

In Neil Gaiman's introduction to A Slip of the Keyboard he says that "Terry Pratchett isn’t jolly. He’s angry." This to me is the truest thing I've read about Pratchett. Some might place him in the jolly elf category, but to me he is in the cantankerous wizard one. When I met Terry Pratchett he reminded me of someone very close to me, my mother. Like Pratchett she is ill and old before her time. She survived two rounds of cancer in my childhood to have Parkinson's arrive early because of the chemo that saved her rapidly aging her body. Here are two people who know the truth that life isn't fair. You might have a good life, you might have a bad life, you might have an easy life, but in the end death comes for us all. The indignation of the Horde at this universal truth is both poignant and relatable.

While this book was written prior to Pratchett's diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's he understood how the world works so it seems even more of a cruel joke that this would happen to him. One wonders if he has railed against the Gods as his heroes did. Because what would you do if you could actually accuse the Gods of being unfair? Would you gather yourself a posse and head into Mordor with a keg of explosives? The anger just sparks off the page at the unfairness of life. This will to live, this rage, fuels the book and makes it more vital and alive then any book I have read in a long time. It might be about turtles and wizards and old men who were heroes in their day who want sagas written about them, but the human truth behind all that pageantry is what makes Pratchett's books so universally wonderful, if heartbreaking at the same time.

Though Pratchett isn't one to not let the Gods have a say. Sure they might be blind and think of people as pawns in their games, but all the Gods live together and therefore have similar vested interests. It would be like Jesus hanging out with some Egyptian Goddess like Isis, with a few Roman and Greek deities on the side. All Gods, while not necessarily equal, are aware of each other and take an interest in what they each do. So to look at the "heroes" from their point of view, they see a rag tag group of people who have spent their lives looting and pillaging their temples and places of worship. They might be heroes to us mere mortals, but to the Gods, they are a nuisance, and Pratchett is will to show us this in all his irascible splendor.

But in amongst the hard truths Pratchett peppers his story with little asides, little jokes, that if you get them they're wonderful. Besides the battle of Gods and man, here he takes aim at the space program, Leonardo da Vinci and his inventions, science, but my favorite of all was the discussion of Schrödinger's cat. This is a quantum-mechanical paradox wherein a cat is placed in a box with a substance that may or may not kill the animal. The cat being in the box and unable to be observed means that the cat is both alive and dead simultaneously. It is the observation of the cat when the box is opened that determines the cat's state of being. DEATH and his manservant Albert get into an argument about this theory. Albert is trying to point out the two states of simultaneous being while DEATH just thinks it's cruel to the cat, and anyway, he's DEATH so he'd be aware the instant the cat died, and therefore it makes no sense to him. This scene is worthy of a vaudeville stage and top billed act with the subtlety and wit. Priceless.

What sets apart The Last Hero from any of Pratchett's other books is that this is an outsized format with beautiful illustrations by Paul Kidby. While I actually have many issues with the layout of the book, text lines being set too long, sepia drawings not getting the attention they deserve being set behind type, drawings badly placed within the story (ok, the graphic designer in me will stop now), the illustrations add so much. Kidby has this way of channeling Pratchett so that his drawings sync up with the images that have always been in your head. You see this picture of DEATH with one of his beloved kittens and you think, yes, that's right. Carrot Ironfoundersson has proved difficult to dream cast, like I am wont to do, but there he is rendered flesh by Kidby's pen! I hope this symbiotic relationship lasts for many years, and above all I am grateful that the US Publishers have FINALLY started to release Pratchett's books with Kidby's covers stateside. Why would you do otherwise?