Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers

I liked this Lord Peter mystery. In some ways it seems unfair to the reader, as a motive for the murder appears midway through as the result of a change in inheritance law. Lord Peter is brilliant as ever, of course, and I didn't see the mode of death coming at all. It raises some interesting moral questions, but answers them pretty well by the end. Overall an enjoyable mystery.

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

The second installment in His Dark Materials clarifies the Miltonian and Biblical roots of the series. Lyra meets a boy, Will, who also functions as an orphan. At times, the use of both the alethiometer and the subtle knife seem a bit forced, and the power of the forces of the Authority seems a bit exaggerated as they respond so quickly to some things and completely miss other things. Overall, an enjoyable middle book that moves the trilogy along.

The Golden Compass (Northern Lights) by Philip Pullman

I found this book intriguing. Lyra lives in a world very much like our own, except that consciences take external, animal forms called daemons, and the roots for electricity and amber have been switched (though we don't find that out till The Subtle Knife). The book is frankly anti-authoritarian and anti-church, although one has to keep reading to get the full extent of Pullman's alternate theology. This book is carefully plotted and well written. It is much more subtle and sophisticated than the movie.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

I found it difficult to get into this novel at first. Although I was hopping into the middle of a cycle, I think it would have been as difficult as if I had come at it with more experience with the fictional universe: the world of Winter is certainly eccentric, and the explanations don't really come until mid-way through the book. I found the book bizarre, but rewarding eventually. I liked the development of the relationship between Genly Ai and Estravan, but didn't recognize it as central to the book until at least halfway through. Le Guin's speculations on pronouns at the back are interesting, though I think "e" (say: eh) reminds me too much of "he" to be effective as a non-gendered singular pronoun. Worth pursuing even if the first chapter doesn't grab you.

The Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin

I enjoyed the last, at least for now, book in the Earthsea Cycle. Like Tehanu and Tales from Earthsea, it retains the psychological focus, and continues reworking and re-imagining the connections between magic and gender, between humans and dragons, between life and death. It's exciting to see Earthsea grow and change as Le Guin matures and spends more time thinking about it. I do think, despite their flaws, the first three books work so well as a unit, that the big plot that develops in the second three feels a bit off. J.K. Rowling said of her Harry Potter series that she doesn't want to write any more novels because she has already written her epic battle for good and evil, and anything else would either make that battle less important or be less important itself. So it feels a little funny to me, to write a series where Ged breaches the wall between life and death, then heals it, and then, only after you've gone through all that thinking the world is healed but Ged isn't, to find that the wall is the problem in the first place. But, loving the characters and the world as I do, it's always a delight to return.

Tales from Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

This collection of short stories continues the Earthsea cycle in the direction of Tehanu. Le Guin uses these stories to investigate and challenge the sexism inherent at the school on Roke. The stories span a wide range of history: they begin with the founding of the school on Roke and end after the events of Tehanu. Unfortunately, this collection does not include two of Le Guin's Earthsea stories, which are published in The Wind's Twelve Quarters, but otherwise, the collection is solid, and well worth the read.

Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin

I enjoyed this installment in the Earthsea (trilogy no more) Cycle, but it's very different from the first three. The magic, to the extent that it exists at all, is very understated: Ged has lost his (and is absent for much of the book anyway), Tenar, to the extent that she participates in Hardic magic is untutored, and Therru/Tehanu only shows hints of power. Instead, this book is much more psychological, focusing on the healing of three wounded and scarred individuals. Although Le Guin says that this book brought Earthsea up to present-time as she was writing, and she apparently meant to stop, its ending has an unfinished feel to it: it's more like a pause than a full stop.