The Sky is Yours

The Sky is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith, 457 pages

For 50 years, the once-thrivng metropolis of Empire Island has been at the mercy of two dragons that constantly circle the skies above the island, lighting fires throughout the city whenever the mood strikes them. These dragons — one yellow, one green — never land, never eat, never sleep, and never communicate in any way with the people who live below them. While the threat of dragon-fire has led many to flee the city, there are some who remain. Among those: spoiled billionaire playboy teenager Duncan Ripple V; his arranged-marriage fiancee Baroness Swan Lenore Dahlberg; and hard-hearted drug kingpin Eisenhower Sharkey. There's also Abby, a girl who was raised alone on a neighboring garbage dump island and taught to fear all technology. These four people live isolated from one another, and from the city at large, yet circumstances force their stories to intertwine.

Along with these fantastically-named and well-rounded characters, Smith has created a nuanced world that almost becomes a character of its own. The plot, too, was excellently created, shining just a bit of light on the path forward without giving up the coming twists and turns, but with plenty of wry humor that sneaks up on the reader. I loved it!

Chasing Fire

Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts, 472 pages

I decided to read this book not because I'm a fan of Nora Roberts or romantic suspense (generally speaking, I'm neither), but because it takes place a stone's throw away from my hometown in Montana and deals with smokejumpers, the crazy forest firefighters who jump out of airplanes into the belly of the beast itself. I was curious how Roberts would handle these people who are such a huge part of a Montana summer.

So how'd she do? Meh. The story revolves around Ro and Gull, two smokejumpers who fall in love, despite Ro's rule to never date a fellow jumper. As they're falling in love, a woman with a vendetta against Ro returns to the smokejumper base, goes bananas and soon turns up dead, roasting to a crisp in a forest fire.

Problems I had with this novel: neither one of the protagonists got too much in the way of character development, which would have been nice, since issues in their past were ripe for more than just a passing mention. Also, I had the murderer figured out almost immediately; kinda lost the "suspense" element there. And finally, there were a few descriptive passages that Roberts obviously meant to be beautiful but were scientifically impossible. A low mist hanging over the bright purple lupines in a green meadow RIGHT NEXT TO a forest fire? Yeah, Montana doesn't have that much moisture at any point in the summer, much less next to a forest fire. Sounds pretty, yes, but I just couldn't suspend my disbelief long enough to enjoy it.

Fire Monks

Fire Monks by Colleen Morton Busch  256 pp.

In June of 2008 one lightning storm sparked 2000 wildfires across the state of California. One of the places in danger of burning was the Tassajara Zen Buddhist Retreat Center near Jamesburg. The Center is located 1600 feet up in a remote mountain valley. The monks had protected it with assistance from firefighters twice before. This time, however, authorities could not promise them help. During the month preceding the arrival of the fire the monks and visitors set up "rain" systems to keep essential buildings wet and less likely to burn, ran fire drills so the monks knew how to handle the fire hoses, pumps and other equipment, cleared away flammable brush & debris, dug fire breaks, and secured a communication line so they could keep in contact with the "outside world" should they become cut off. When the fire moved close, fire officials ordered the evacuation of everyone at the center because there would be no outside help to protect the center. Five of the monks, including the abbott turned back and returned to the center to protect it the best they could. Amazingly, these four men and one woman managed to save the center without serious injury to themselves and with the loss of only a few structures. The story is an amazing one and also raises the questions as to why the center was denied assistance, even water drops, when water planes & helicopters were sitting on the ground unused.  It's an interesting story.

Chasing Fire / Nora Roberts

Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts. 472 p.

You may have noticed that I'm pretty useless at describing plot, so I direct you to Marlene's post for that. As always, Nora's done a good job with her research, so the fire descriptions seemed very real to me--of course, I don't know enough to recognize whether she got anything wrong. Since she gives her female lead a backstory that provides Issues in addition to the mystery plot involving murder and sabotage, she doesn't waste time giving her male lead issues; he's ridiculously well-adjusted and centered on helping the female lead. Still, she manages to make him pretty charming rather than unbearably annoying. And we spend hardly any time inside the killer's perspective when he's plotting Evil, yay, because that's something she does sometimes that I'm not fond of.

Plus I'd much rather read about characters who are smoke jumpers than ones who are wedding planners, which is what Nora's last series of books was about. Wildfires are much more exciting to read about than endless wedding details--at least for me.

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Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: the Authorized Adaptation

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: the Authorized Adaptation/Tim Hamilton 151 pgs.

This graphic adaptation of the classic Fahrenheit 451 is beautifully drawn in the noir look that you would expect from this story. The flames burn bright but instead of lighting the scene, it throws more into the shadows. We never really get a clear look at Montag, our fireman hero and yet we can see his fear and worry. An interesting graphic take on a great novel.

Population: 485 / Michael Perry

Population: 485 : meeting your neighbors one siren at a time by Michael Perry. 234 p.

I had never heard of Michael Perry before Christa blogged about this book, but I thought it would be interesting to read about the life of a volunteer firefighter in a small town. (Even though I personally would never be able to stand living in a small town.) And his anecdotes are all really interesting. What's so striking about these essays, though, is his sense of connection to the place--this small town is his hometown as well, so every bit of it has a memory connected to it. I would find it claustrophobic, but clearly he's grounded by it. I may have to hunt down his other books as well.

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Population: 485

Population: 485: Meeting your neighbor one siren at a time /Michael Perry 234 pgs.

Michael Perry has such a way with words...who else can make you laugh, cry and think about vomiting all in the same essay. Seriously, he is amazing. I've read a couple of his other books and now need to catch up and read them all because the topics are so real and so wonderful. These selections have mostly to do with his role as a volunteer firefighter/EMT in his home town...population 485...New Auburn, WI. There are thrills and chills and the "hard" topics are dealt with so honestly and straight forward. I really can't say enough good about Michael Perry. Oprah, why haven't you featured him yet? - Christa

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San Francisco Is Burning / Dennis Smith

San Francisco is burning: the untold story of the 1906 earthquake and fires by Dennis Smith. 294 p.

There's some interesting stuff in this book, mainly about the military response to the fires--they spent a lot of time dynamiting and setting off black powder charges, which caused many more fires than they stopped, but the army didn't help fight fires at all. (The navy, particularly one lieutenant, did fire-fight, and helped save the wharves.) They did spend a lot of time forcing people to abandon their houses at bayonet-point, instead of letting them remain to fight the fires, which the author clearly thinks should have happened. He also alleges that the military shot a bunch a people. We get a lot of detail about fire-fighting, some description of the political and social situation both before and after the fires--especially about the graft trials--and some detail about individuals who were affected. The book is badly organized, though, and I found the multitude of individuals introduced at the beginning more confusing than anything--at least one of them isn't mentioned again for nearly 200 pages. Also, I found the writing style incredibly annoying, especially when the author kept describing what certain people were thinking right before they died. I'm looking forward to reading a different book on this topic.