Death by Effigy by Karen L. Abrahamson, 2017

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A traditional Burmese puppetry troupe is more than meets the eye: these puppets hold living spirits.

Disaster strikes on the eve of a performance for a royal wedding, when one of their puppets is murdered - his neck broken, his spirit gone. They cannot perform without him, but failure to perform could cost them their livelihoods, or worse, their lives.

Aung, the troupe's elderly singer, must navigate the labyrinth of court intrigues to solve the mystery and appease the angry spirits: goals which might be at odds. Assisting him - or is that, hindering? - is the troupe's enthusiastic but youngest puppet.

Can they salvage their performance and save their lives?

A story of magic and traditions of south-east Asia.

(129 pages)

I'm embarrassed to admit that it would take me quite a while to find Burma on a map, and that my knowledge of Burmese culture is . . . well, let's just say it's nothing to brag about.

Which means I didn't really know at all what I was in for when I started Death by Effigy. Its entire frame of reference is different from my own. I did my best to shut off the analytical part of my brain, though, and simply enjoy the ride through unfamiliar terrain. The Foreward contextualized the story by providing a short summary of the cultural and religious history of Burma leading up to the time period of the novella, painting such a fascinating picture of the country's past that I honestly would have loved if it had been expanded to fill the entire book.

Death by Effigy is an engaging, unique little novella, featuring–of all things–an old puppeteer and an ancient (though carved to be silly) living puppet as the protagonists. I would normally have taken issue with some of the outlooks espoused by characters in the story (especially Aung's sense of revulsion upon finding his childhood sweetheart has become a Christian, and the central plot of a royal wedding in which a polygamous old king is marrying a thirteen-year-old!). But I managed to shut down the parts of my brain that were offended by such things and simply focus on enjoying the story I was being presented with and appreciating the glimpse into a culture I don't usually know anything about. Once I put the book down I took a moment to recognize and acknowledge that I don't agree with these parts of the story,  but as long as they are truly authentic I wouldn't choose to remove them; it's important to honestly represent the attitudes and practices of other peoples–even if the idea of a thirteen-year-old girl marrying anyone turns my stomach.

Actually, speaking of honest representation, I should point out that the author is not actually Burmese, but is Canadian. The book's tone and content "feel" authentic to me, a complete novice, and the author sounds like she really did her research in the Foreward, but without talking to people actually from that culture I don't know for certain that it really reflects the culture or lifestyle of 19th-century Burma.

All in all, Death by Effigy was an engaging story that held my interest, exposed me to a little piece of the world that I'm unfamiliar with, and offered an exercise in setting aside my own worldview to fully enjoy my foray into a new one. Its short length made it a quick and painless read, never lagging (though I did have trouble telling some of the puppeteers apart) and the story was an interesting and engaging one. I'm glad I had the chance to read it.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this novella from the publisher, who is a family friend.

Sherlock Mars by Jackie Kingon, 2016

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A riotous concoction: fine dining, virtual reality, and murder.
Molly Marbles runs a successful bistro on terraformed Mars. But a virtual restaurant opens near her place, offering the experience of delicacies from across the Solar System with none of the calories. What will this do to her business?
Then its owner is murdered in her kitchen. Molly, an amateur detective, springs into action to help the police solve the mystery, while also planning her pop-star daughter's wedding, keeping her kitchen staff from feuding, and protecting her cyborg friend from the humans-only mob. Meanwhile, the infamous Cereal Serial Killer has escaped prison on Pluto and has everyone worried. Things are getting hectic, but Molly is a resilient and resourceful woman. And her knack for mysteries sees her nick-named 'Sherlock Mars'.
A rollicking science fiction, mystery, comedy.

(266 pages)

Sherlock Mars is a really hard book to describe because it's so many things at once. Sure, it's a "science fiction, mystery, comedy" as the synopsis describes it. But there's much more to it than that. It's a futuristic envisionment of what will happen to the universe when human technology catches up with our addiction to colonization; it's also a philosophical take on the extent to which technology will replace lost body parts, and about the hateful prejudice/political turmoil that always springs up when the majority party feels threatened by the growth of a powerful minority–in this case, the development of androids who not only have electronic bodies but have also been given some huge functionality enhancements from their "natural" states. It's a really interesting scenario, watching the horrible hate that springs up between androids and the anti-enhancements groups. I can see both sides of the debate: androids are still human beings, and they shouldn't be discriminated against, but all the upgrades they get aren't exactly fair. It's one thing to save someone's life by giving them a new body, but it's another to give them software that provides them with unfair physical and mental advantages over non-enhanced humans, you know? That's just my take on things, though–and, taking a step back from things, I do feel slightly ridiculous getting into a political argument about androids of all things. It's a fascinating topic, though, and I honestly would have loved if the whole book had revolved around it.

Actually, the biggest trouble I had with Sherlock Mars was that there were just too many interesting storylines floating around. There are way too many characters, most of whom walk onto the page just a handful of times but who the reader is expected to recognize after the first time they show up. There were several times throughout the book when Molly would start talking to someone, and I would have to sit back and wrack my brains for a minute to figure out who they were. This also made it harder for me to recognize the important people (like suspects for the murder), because I'm too busy trying to keep straight all the myriad of people who work at Molly's bistro. Honestly, I suspect that Kingon was more fascinated by the futuristic world and culture that she had created than with the storyline herself; a few times, it definitely felt like she was just using the plot as an excuse for having Molly explore different parts of this world. Not that I'm complaining, though, because it was really fascinating to read about it (and Nirgal Palace, the resort where Molly's daughter is getting married, is absolutely amazing!).

Before I end, I should probably throw in a few negatives. First, I didn't like Molly's family–like, at all. Her daughters were prejudiced prima donas who only showed up to demand help for Becky's wedding or to groan and make rude faces whenever Molly mentioned her friend Trenton–just, as far as I can tell, because they didn't like associating with androids. Plus, Becky's future in-laws run with an extremely anti-android crowd (we're talking anti-android-rights protests). The other main negative is more of a content warning than anything: this is an adult book, not MG or YA, and it shows. Most of the content is fine, but once in a while the characters (who are all married) bring up questions/comments (never detailed) about having sex. Also, though it's never addressed in too much detail, one character is trans. These things barely hurt my enjoyment of the book, but I wanted to bring them up in case they'd affect your decision to read it.

This is getting incredibly long, so I'm going to stop. If you're interested in Sherlock Mars, then give it a try. I'm not going to scream "read it!" from the rooftops–I liked it, but the characters/pacing were a little strange, and as a rule of thumb I don't recommend adult books with racy comments/content–but I did enjoy Sherlock Mars. It made for a nice, silly (but still thought-provoking) break from my normal MG historical fiction and fantasy fare.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My mom's also old school friends with the company's founder (which is how he knew me to send it in the first place), but I tried not to let that influence my review too much.