The Hostage

The last book I read didn't take very long at all. The Hostage (The Chicago Fire Trilogy), by Susan Wiggs.

I didn't know it was the first of a trilogy when I started it. If I happen across the others I'll read them but I don't think I'll go out of my way to find them.

It is about a rich woman who, on the night of the Chicago fire, is visiting with her father to try and get out of the arranged marriage he's forced on her. A man, who is constantly called "crazed", is also on a mission that night, to kill her father. Instead he abducts her and holds her as hostage. Now maybe it's because I knew that the hostage situation was the setting for this romance but he didn't seem like a very scary captor. I had trouble believing the situation. Until they're really falling in love they seem to stick together because... why not? I do like that she tried to escape, though. Anyway, he takes her to his home, which is an island up north, where she learns why her father is hated (his mining company didn't bother with safety and an explosion killed a bunch of people and then he paid the judge to look the other way). She fits right in with the people who were so far below her just a week ago, and learns how to quilt and hang laundry and cook and other things, all of these things, like making beds, make her feel alive and happy. And then the lake ices over and she becomes stuck on the island with her captor who hasn't truly held her hostage in some time. There is also a plot about her fiancee having raped her, and this is not a spoiler because we find out in the first few pages. It doesn't tell us that but come on, anyone can figure it out. All the loose plot threads get tied up at the end, and rather nicely too.

I enjoyed it, anyway.

Green Rider 5

I have finished Mirror Sight: Book Five of Green Rider, by Kristen Britain. I have been reading Green Rider since 2000, which I think was a year or two after the first book was published. Altogether it is a wonderful series, and I consider myself a big fan. The last book, however, book 4, was weird and had a lot wrong with it. I expected book 5 to explain away the problems with book 4. I half expected the cliffhanger at the end of book 4 to change time so book 4 never really happened, as time travel is a thing in this series and Karigan (the main character) has changed some things before through time travel. Nope. I'm going to have to hold out another 3-4 years for book 6. Book 5 was different, and it didn't fix anything from book 4. If anything it made things worse. Is it better or worse than book 4? A little of both.

The rest of this has spoilers.

The steampunk era Karigan travels to did not annoy me greatly, but it was certainly a change. I did not think much of Cade, he didn't have a lot of depth to him, and Karigan seems to only like him because she's just that lonely. I did not understand why they loved each other (except that he like the novelty of a woman who could think and fight and that she knew he was the only one who was really on her side), but I just kinda accepted it and tried to not think too hard about it. After spending the last 4 books watching Karigan and Zachery fall in love and the strains and hardships of that and their fight against the attraction it was different to see her just randomly throw herself at someone. I'm definitely on Team Zachery but it just doesn't seem to be something that's going to happen, and it is getting a bit much to see every other character in the series going "he wouldn't treat just any rider that well", so I suppose something had to happen to quieten them down a bit because at this point he either needs to get rid of Estora or Karigan needs to find someone else because the waiting is starting to be just too drawn out. So I suppose Cade was a good break from that, but since she changed the future he probably doesn't even exist anymore and if he ever does exist he's almost 200 years past her time so there's no chance for them anyway. So will the rest of the books show her getting over Zachery while idolizing Cade? Will time and distance cause her to obsess over him and hold all over men to the idea of Cade causing her to remain alone for the rest of her life as no man can measure up to this idea of perfection she will create? Will Estora die and let Karigan finally get a word in? I absolutely did not appreciate that everything Karigan wants and deserves is just handed to Estora who couldn't care less either way. It was bad enough, but forgivable, when she was engaged to Zachery, she had no say in the matter as it was a political marriage. But what really makes me mad (but not at Estora since it's still not really her fault) is this: Some magic users thought Karigan was very, very early (like implantation was still happening) pregnant by Cade, and traveling back in time caused it to disappear (as Cade doesn't exist in her time) and suddenly Estora, who was pregnant, is now suddenly having twins and it comes about by Karigan's going back in time changing everything. So again what was Karigan's is now Estora's. And, you know, for all Zachery's wishing for Karigan he sure had no trouble getting Estora pregnant, did he.

So, anyway, the point is that the book does not exist. All of Karigan's time spent in the future is gone now that she is back in the present again. She changed the future so it can never happen. And rightfully so, as the steampunk era she was in was horrible, mills and slavery, women without any rights whatsover, everything being controlled by the empire, etc. But I get it. The mirror Karigan shattered in book 4 had to give her mirror sight (which I suppose means she can see the future out of one eye?), a new dimension to her regular powers to cross time. This whole 800+ book's purpose was to give her this new power (which is also a disability as she can no longer use one of her eyes!), and possibly give her a new enemy for future books. And also, possibly, to put a damper on the Zachery/Karigan thing.

I also now understand why book 4 spent so much time with Karigan learning to use the bonewood cane, abandoning her swordsmaster training. Because in book 5 she was basically undercover and couldn't be carrying a sword around, but a cane was acceptable. So, while it makes little sense in-universe, I can see from the author's perspective of needing Karigan trained in an alternate weapon.

I did like the ending, though, I liked how she went a little mad trying to write down her memories of the future before they disappeared. I like the very last part when Karigan receives the drawings of people she saw in the future and it helps her remember. I even teared up a little.

All in all, it was a weird break from the regular Green Rider stuff, and I'm not entirely sure I like it. I spent a lot of the book thinking that what I was reading was alright but how it ended would determine if I actually liked it or not. But I still don't know. Book 6 will, hopefully, let me know whether or not books 4 and 5 are acceptable. It's just hard because now I have another 3-4 year wait.

Also, I did not re-read the prior books and it showed, there was a lot I'd forgotten about. Perhaps next time I'll go ahead and give them a re-read before book 6 arrives.