Online MLIS Programs, Community (or Lack Thereof), and Twitter

After a wonderful time at ALA MW, during which I was lucky enough to meet many of the awesome librarians I follow on Twitter, I came back to a fair clusterfuck in my final semester of grad school. All that good feeling and fuzzy happy conference feels that I’d gathered over the last few days were replaced my a desire to slam my head repeatedly against my desk in frustration. At which point I started talking to my cat.

And that was when I realized what the problem was.

My MLIS is my second graduate program. I did a MA in English Literature at UNCG back in 2006-2008. All my courses were night classes since I was teaching full-time. So my day was often, teach all day, grade papers, pick up a sandwich, eat said sandwich while circling for a parking space, go to class, go the library, go home. Rinse. Repeat. It was stressful and busy and often made me want to pull my hair out.

One of my classes was super small; there were just four of us and the professor. The professor was a guy who wasn’t always super with it. Sometimes kind of an ass to be honest. He would say these really ridiculous things sometimes and we would all give each other side eye like “Did he really just? What? What is happening?” We never really talked about it outside of class but it was nice to have that eye contact and know that it wasn’t just me.

In another one of my classes, we all signed up for rotating snacks. That way, every week we got a nice little snack and chat break in the middle of class. We’d all stand around and make jokes about those soft sugar cookies that must have drugs in them because they really aren’t that great but YOU CAN NEVER STOP EATING THEM.

It’s amazing the kind of community you can build through body language and sugar cookies. It was a sense of knowing you were never really alone. There was always someone who would understand why you had the “WTF?” look on your face or who was around to have long, ridiculous conversations about that one time that guy asked your prof if the pearl in the Shakespeare sonnet was a metaphor for a clitoris and we all almost cried we laughed so hard. And those are the things that matter because those are the things that get you through. And that is exactly what is missing for me from an online program.

Online programs often struggle to offer their students a way to build community. Students are scattered across the nation with schedules that have no sense of normalcy whatsoever. There are discussion boards and student forums but my experience with those has been largely negative. Oftentimes if someone posts an issue or a concern it turns into a huge argument with people being rude and abusive. It became even worse once students could post anonymously. Christ on a cracker, you’d think a bunch of a adults in a graduate program would know how to be kind to one another but apparently not. So then no one wants to post anything that might invite abuse or mockery. On top of that, you have students who will tell professors if a student says anything about them on the board. So now we have abuse and snitching. Not exactly an environment conducive to building supportive relationships. Not everyone does this. Some people are wonderful and kind and do their best to be supportive and helpful but we all know how much more likely people are to be impacted by the negative than the positive.

So what are online students to do? Oftentimes we’re at points in our lives where most of our family are friends aren’t in school, so while they may be sympathetic it can be hard for them to fully relate. Sometimes what you need is someone who is in the same position. Enter the Twitterverse.

Up until maybe 6 months ago, I wasn’t on Twitter much but a combination of people (I’m looking at you D) unknowingly motivated me to be on there more and I got hooked. Because see, here’s the thing a lot of people don’t know: There are a lot of really cool and nice library-world people on Twitter. There’s a whole bunch of other people on there too, some neat, some jerky. But I’m pretty sure we’re all pretty up-to-date on that fact.

So yeah, the Twitterverse and the Library World. So I start following some people. And I mostly just lurked at first. I, unsurprisingly, run my mouth about a few things, but I primarily lurk. And as I lurk I start to come across amazing things, like #libchat and #libtechgender and #librarylife. So I start to poke a two in, drop a comment here or there and this really odd thing started to happen where all of sudden I had followers. Like actual ones, not just friends who absentmindedly followed me because they’re my friends. And then it became not just dropping a comment here or there but having actual conversations with people. And I went, “Oh. Huh. I sort of belong here.” And it was wonderful.

I get a lot of grief some from of my friends about how much I love Twitter but Twitter filled a professional and programmatic community need for me that most of my friends aren’t looking for. They have fully fleshed out professional networks. They’re either not in school or they’re in an onsite program with other students. I am also significantly more of a socially awkward turtle than most of my friends. So to find this incredibly welcoming and kind community was a big deal for me. And then I went to ALA MW and would introduce myself to people as someone who followed them on Twitter and it was much less weird than I anticipated. Everyone was so nice and encouraging and polite. Because see, when you only have 140 characters it becomes hard to fake being a good or nice person. So those awesome people that you have found on Twitter are probably just as awesome in person.

So, long story short, Twitter provides a great opportunity for community, especially in the Library World. One of the things that comes up on Twitter sometimes is the fact that there are a lot of issues with MLIS programs the way they are now. People are very concerned about programs not being challenging or selective enough. Programs are turning out far too many graduates, especially online programs where it becomes easier to fill a class and expectations may not be quite as rigorous as in other programs. But I think another issue we need to worry about is how we can better build community amongst online students. Because I hate to break it to online programs, but that shit actually matters. My ability to communicate with my peers and form networks will translate into how well I can communicate with my professional peers and create a professional network. Which ultimately can have a huge impact on my future job potential as well as my future participation in my field as more than just a worker bee. And yes, in an ideal world all students would be naturally motivated and eager to reach out to their field, but let’s face it, it’s not an ideal world. Students need to learn how to network and it’s not a skill that’s typically covered anywhere in secondary or post-secondary curriculums. The professional world is a scary place and I think schools have a responsibility to help prepare their students for it so that it’s a little less scary.

Until then, I’m grateful for Twitter and the many Twitter-librarians who have helped me start to build my own community and have helped provide some encouragement to continue doing so. I’m doing my best to encourage others to give it a shot and to try and be more social at conferences. After all, every little bit helps and small steps here will hopefully lead to bigger and better things in the future. 

REVIEW: Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye

Title: Seven for a Secret

Author: Lyndsay Faye

Publisher/Publication Date: Putnam, Pub. date Jul. 11, 2013

Seven for a Secret, the squeal to Faye’s Gods of Gotham, is set in New York City in 1845, shortly after the creation of the New York Police Department. Timothy Wilde, a talented detective, who gets pulled into a missing persons case by the lovely Lucy Adams. But there is much more to case than Wilde originally realizes since Lucy and her sister are of mixed heritage and New York isn’t exactly a staunch defender when it comes to preventing people from snatching supposed runaway slaves. Of course, there is always much more to the story than it first appears and Wilde quickly finds himself, his brother Valentine, and Lucy’s family, her sister Delia and her son Jonas, embroiled in a much larger conspiracy. The mystery as well as Timothy Wilde’s conflicts of conscious keep the plot moving along at a quick pace and never give the reader a chance to get board or distracted.

Not having read Gods of Gotham, I get the feeling that there were a number of things I may not have necessarily picked up on but overall the story is told skillfully enough that I wasn’t distracted by what I may not have known. For those of you that have seen Copper, there is a very similar tone given the comparable settings. Faye does an excellent job building her world and the descriptions of places and people serve as a real draw into the story. Her characters are also well fleshed out and tend to be good but flawed. One of my favorite things in a story is a character who is far from perfect but still manages to be a truly good person. Timothy and Valentine both fall into that category and it makes it wonderful to see how they navigate inside of a not necessarily upstanding world. Faye also isn’t shy about highlighting the issues present in the society of that time. 

Overall I was thrilled to have picked up Seven for a Secret and I am extremely eager to get ahold of Gods of Gotham and any future books in the series. Timothy Wilde strikes me as a character with real staying power and Faye obviously has the talent to develop storylines and characters to keep the series moving. 

REVIEW: Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Title: Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells

Author: Edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Publisher/Publication Date: Tor Books, Pub. date Mar. 19, 2013

Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling have once again put together an amazing anthology with stories from a fabulous group of talented authors. The fairy tale re-telling anthologies by them have always been some of my favorite. Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells focuses on Gaslamp fantasy (a personal favorite of mine) and includes tales from some of my favorite authors, including Jane Yolen and Tanith Lee. The entire collection reminds me a lot of Susanna Clarke’s Ladies of Grace Adieu and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell so if you enjoyed either of those this collection should be right up your alley.

My favorite thing about short story anthologies is how easy it is for me to devour an entire story at a time but still always have something to look forward to on my next reading. They are the ideal book for busy people. The other wonderful thing about anthologies is the chance to discover new authors, such as Theodora Goss and Elizabeth Bear. With anthologies there are always some stories that you like more than others and, sometimes, stories that you just really aren’t fond of. Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells was the first anthology in a long time where, while I did have my favorites, I enjoyed every single story included. I’m going to touch on just a few of my favorites.

“The Memory Book” by Maureen McHugh is the story of Laura Anne, a governess for the Finches. Laura Anne does well with the children but these is something just a little off about her and the Memory Book that she creates and cherishes may be much more than it seems.

“For the Briar Rose” by Elizabeth Wein is a tale that beautifully mixes art and literature. The story focuses on Margaret Burne-Jones, the daughter of Edward Burne-Jones who painted the Briar Rose series. Wein cleverly blurs the lines between reality and magic that is so often seen around beautiful works of art and how that creation can tie into motherhood. 

“The Governess” by Elizabeth Bear examines the darker side of that career when one is part of a household in which the master believes himself entitled to the staff. Bear looks at what happens when a mother becomes desperate for the safety of her children and the choices that cross a moral or ethical line but must still be made. 

“The Vital Importance of the Superficial” by Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stevermer is a delightful and adorable epistoloary between Ms. Charlotte Fleming, the daughter of a master of the Experimental Arts, and Lord Ravenal, a talented inventor of a magic sort. They correspond quite humorously as Lord Ravenal attempts to thwart the evil plans of his arch-nemsis, Wulfstan, and rescue his sister, Priscilla. Charlotte’s quick-witted nature comes through clearly in her letters and she proves that she is more than a match for the many intelligent men populating her world.

So, as I mentioned, a really wonderful little collection of stories that I’m sure I’ll revisit time and time again. Well worth picking up for your own collection. 

REVIEW: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Title: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Author: Neil Gaiman

Publisher/Publication Date: William Morrow, Pub. date Jun. 18, 2013

Neil Gaiman is an author that I’ve been reading for years and one where I tend to love everything he has written. My love of his books is tied up with a number of things in my life so I’m going to take a moment and discuss a little about that before I actually get to the review.

I actually come upon Gaiman’s work because of Terry Pratchett. My father loved Terry Pratchett and the fantasy genre in general. When I was a kid, my mom would bring home books for my dad and we had a system where I would start at the bottom of the pile and he would start at the top and we’d work our way through. As a result, I ended up reading things way above my grade level for a long time but it always meant that many of the warm and fuzzy feelings I have about reading are tied directly to those books. So enter Terry Pratchett and the fabulous Discworld series. I don’t remember the first time I read a Discworld novel but I know that I’ve loved every single one of them. So of course, when I stumbled across Good Omens there was no way I wasn’t going to read it. At some point during college a friend introduced me to the Sandman series but I didn’t really make the connection to the co-author of Good Omens. Fast-forward a few more years to a blind date just before a trip to London. The guy, very nice with a name I can’t for the life of me remember, shows up to our date with a copy of Neverwhere. I read that and then picked up a book of his short stories while I was in London and it was all downhill from there.

Part of what I love so much about Gaiman’s books is the mix of magic and realism. Even at the most fantastical, there is always an element of the real world in his books. It gives me eternal hope that no matter how dark reality may get there is always the potential for a little bit of magic somewhere. This is something that comes up prominently in The Ocean at the End of the Lane. The narrator has returned to his childhood home after attending a funeral. He wanders down the road to the Hempstock farm and begins to remember the summer 40 years ago when he met Lettie Hempstock. The Hempstock’s are old, old magic and the darkness that Lettie and the narrator inadvertently bring back is also an old evil. This primal evil, known in the novel as Ursula, creates numerous problems in the narrator’s house between his parents and between him and his parents. But these problems, while new and odd to the narrator, are not terribly unusual to many readers. This idea that unhappiness and dysfunction are things which have been around forever and will be around forever is a sobering thought. But the Hempstock women are a sound counterpoint of hope, as is the adorable kitten that pops up throughout the novel. It is often the small things or the individuals that we meet throughout our lives that can make the biggest difference. Lettie, her mother, and grandmother are magic, but they are also kind and strong and a force to be reckoned with anyways. They are the family we choose, the hope that we find when we connect with others. And because of that they are beautiful and wonderful in the way that the universe is. 

I am an unabashed fan of Gaiman and Ocean at the End of the Lane is one of the best books that I’ve read recently. It is beautiful and sweet and sad and one that I will easily re-read every year. 

REVIEW: The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason

Title: The Clockwork Scarab

Author: Colleen Gleason

Publisher/Publication Date: Chronicle Books, Pub. date Aug. 16, 2013

I was so excited when I picked up The Clockwork Scarab at ALA Annual 2013. I stumbled across the coupon for it in the book and was instantly smitten with the premise of Bram Stoker’s half-sister and Sherlock Holmes’s niece teaming up to solve mysteries.  Evaline Stoker and Mina Holmes are both quick-witted, talented, and intelligent girls with a real passion for crime solving while still dealing with the kerfuffles that come from being sixteen-year olds in 19^th century London. The book reminds me a lot of Gail Carriger (which is high praise indeed coming from me) in that it combines humor, adventure, mystery, and manners.

Their first case involves a series of mysterious deaths of young women of means, the only link seeming to be an Egyptian scarab. Mina and Evaline must figure out how the girls are connected, what the scarab means, and who is behind these inexplicable tragedies. There is a small bit of romance thrown in but nothing overly heavy handed and the girls remain the focus of the story throughout. Though the time-traveling nature of Dylan Eckhert did feel a little out of place to me. I felt that the story was more than strong enough to stand on its own and the time-traveling didn’t really seem to fit. Gleason ties it in with other elements of the plot so that it makes sense, it just didn’t seem to fit to me. I would have preferred that little storyline be left out, but not enough that it took away any real enjoyment from reading. It will be interesting to see how that storyline continues to develop throughout the series.

The narrative goes back and forth between Mina and Evaline as narrators which is a great way to give them both a strong voice as well as to help the reader get a better sense of the ups and downs of this new partnership. It’s fascinating to watch as Mina and Evaline learn to navigate around each other and work together, no easy feat for two such strong-willed characters who are both more than aware of their exceptional nature. Sixteen is such a great age because the girls have firmly developed personalities but are still dealing with the awkwardness that comes from being an exceptional sixteen girl, especially in the 16^th century where expectations were pretty narrow.

I would definitely recommend this book for a good read. It’s thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable and I am greatly looking forward to reading more in the series as they become available. 

REVIEW: Help for the Haunted by John Searles

Title: Help for the Haunted

Author: John Searles

Publisher/Publication Date: William Morrow, Pub. date Sept. 17, 2013

Help for the Haunted follows the story of sisters Sylvie and Rose in the aftermath of the horrific murder of their parents, Sylvester and Rose Mason.  Sylvester and Rose made a career of investigating spirits and possible hauntings, attempting to drive bad spirits out of the lives of people. As Rose tries to figure out how to be her sister’s guardian and Sylvie struggles to fit in at school, a place where she was already the odd one out because of her parents’ career, questions begin to arise about what actually happened to their parents and how guilty the accused murderer actually is. Adding an additional level of stress for Sylvie, she begins to suspect her house maybe haunted by some of the evil spirits her parents dealt with during their lives.

While the mystery of who killed Sylvester and Rose Mason does drive some of the plot, there is significantly more focus on examining how family does or does not come together in grief, how we all mourn differently, and how we reconcile who we are with some of the secrets we are forced to keep. Guilt and grief are powerful emotions that have the potential to change who we are. Searles does an excellent job delving into these difficult topics in a way that makes the characters sympathetic but still aware of the mistakes that they’ve made. Grief can be extremely isolating and it often seems easier to block ourselves away than actually deal with the pain. Putting two people in the same house who are dealing with this type of tragedy, neither in a very healthy way makes for an interesting dynamic.

Interspersed with the chapters on Rose and Sylvie are flashbacks to their childhood and how they were impacted by their parents’ career, specifically those instances dealing with Albert Lynch (the man accused of killing their parents). These flashbacks help the reader begin to make sense of how the girls were impacted by growing up with parents who had such a unique livelihood. Rose, daughter not mother, was especially impacted as her search for identity often butted up against what her parents, specifically her father, wanted for her and believed was appropriate for her. As Sylvie begins to better understand the dynamic between her sister and her father she begins to understand more and more about the hows and whys of what happened the night her parents died.

I really enjoyed this book, even though it did make me cry on a number of occasions. Searles has a real talent for creating believable characters with the many depths and foibles we see in real people. The book is definitely worth a read and would make an excellent book club selection since it offers numerous avenues for discussion. 

REVIEW: The Grim Company by Luke Scull

Title: The Grim Company

Author: Luke Scull

Publisher/Publication Date: Roc, Pub. date Feb. 4, 2013

The Grim Company has many of my favorite things in a book: fantasy, fighting, dysfunctional characters, and a fair bit of hilarity. And I did enjoy the book for the most part. Brodar Kayne was definitely my favorite part of the book. The Highlander is well advanced in age, has had a really shit time for the last few years, but just keeps on trekking. The rest of the pack have their ups and downs. Sasha was an enjoyable character but her last minute drug habit was oddly placed and then sort of overlooked. The Half-Mage is a great anti-hero. He supposedly acts for the betterment of all and yet, his weak willed nature always seems to get the better of him. Cole’s massive ego makes him ridiculous but since everyone else is aware of this it makes it a little easier to swallow. Jerek, the other Highlander, was part of where the book took an unfortunate turn for me. But I’ll discuss that more in a bit.

Plotwise, the book moves at a good pace. The evil overlord and the megalomaniacal nature of many of the so-called leaders of other lands, all of whom were responsible for killing the gods, serve as a good focal point for dislike. Every book needs someone you can really hate, and these jerks are definitely it. Our intrepid band of heroes end up in some sticky situations and Scull does an excellent job of questioning what really makes a hero. Our group sometimes behaves in a manner not consistent with heroic behavior but often aren’t given much of a choice. In a land that is ruled by the morally bankrupt, how do we determine who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? The head Augmentor falls into a similar category. Not a bad man in and of himself but forced to do distasteful things. Loyalty to the state or to a cause and an “ends justify the means” type of mentality make it impossible to peg many of the characters are truly good or truly bad. Since this tends to mirror real life, I find it an interesting concept in fantasy novels. Michael Sullivan’s Riyria Revelations series tackles some of the same issues in a fantasy setting, though his “heroes” aren’t quite as off the beaten path as some of Scull’s. So, overall, I enjoyed the plot and most of the characters.

Which leads me back to Jerek, who is quite the sticking point for me in this book. Jerek is an unapologetically awful person. Yes, he displays extremely commendable loyalty to Kayne, but he is a really awful person. Which I am actually okay with. I have no problem with awful characters. Books need awful characters. Awful characters do a lot to help drive a book or to address issues that should be talked about. That being said, there is, in my opinion, a way to make characters awful and still sympathetic. Make him an outspoken and crass jackass. Make him violent with a vocabulary worse than every sailor and pirate who has ever lived. You can do all those things and I can still find him sympathetic. Jerek, however, comes across as a misogynistic rapist, or at the very least a would-be rapist. There are repeated implications that he’d as soon rape Sasha as he would look at her. He repeatedly refers to her as “bitch”, among other things, and views her with an anger and vitriol that we don’t see towards other characters. Does he like or respect the other characters? By and large, no. But they never seem to incur the same hatred that Sasha does solely because she is a woman. And that is where my issue is. I cannot find a character like that sympathetic. His behavior and language throughout the book took me out of the story every single time. I was constantly distracted by how uncomfortable I was by the author’s desire for me to somehow find this character sympathetic. So yes, while I enjoyed much of the book, it is highly unlikely that I’ll pick up the sequel.

REVIEW: Backward Glass by David Lomax

Title: Backward Glass

Author: David Lomax

Publisher/Publication Date: Fluxx, Pub. date Oct. 1, 2013

I was really intrigued when I picked up Backward Glass. The idea is that this mirror exists that allows certain people to travel forward or backward in time 10 years. Lomax sets up a excellent little set of rules that control how the mirror operates that prevents people from moving back and forth willy nilly and help to drive the plot along. The main character, Kenny Maxwell, lives in 1977 and happens on the mirror inadvertently after his family moves into an old house and he and his father discover the corpse of a baby inside a wall. Shortly after that Luka arrives from 10 years in the future and helps Kenny understand how the mirror works. Luka leads Kenny to some of the others who can use the mirror. Kenny is convinced that he and the others can find a way to save the baby that was found in the wall.

Of course, as with all good and well-intentioned ideas, something has to go wrong. Enter Prince Harming. A child’s rhyme unique to the local area references the backward mirror and a boogeyman of sorts that kills teenagers. Think Jason or Freddy Kreuger but a little less creepy. Despite the possible danger though, Kenny remains committed to his plan to find a way to save the baby. A lot of the book revolves around watching this group of teenagers from very different times and very different lives come together and develop friendships regardless. Making new friends can be difficult and it’s often impressive how even the smallest bit of common ground can be the basis for a friendship. But as with all friendships, especially those built on more tenuous connections, tension and fallout is inevitable. The group struggles to stay together and stick to the mission but nothing seems to go according to plan. Once Prince Harming does arrive, things go from bad to worse and Kenny finds himself stuck in the past.

I really enjoyed this book. The premise was interesting to me. Lomax does a great job adhering to the rules he developed for the mirror to ensure that the plot remains consistent. The characters are believable and even flawed still have you rooting for them to succeed. Some of the bumps in the road aren’t surprising considering the main characters are all teenagers but by and large the mysteries of the plot aren’t obvious or predictable. A good read and definitely worth a look for those interested in YA lit. 

REVIEW: Betwixt and Between by Jessica Stilling

Title: Betwixt and Between

Author: Jessica Stilling

Publisher/Publication Date: Ig Publishing, Pub. date Oct. 18, 2013

Betwixt and Between is a very interesting little take on Peter Pan. Ten-year-old Preston, a fairly carefree and happy child, visits his socially awkward man-child neighbor, eats a poison cookie, and dies in the woods of his neighborhood.  He awakens in Neverland, which in this particular universe, is where little boys go after they die before moving on to the actual afterlife. The idea seems to be that as long as these boys are in Neverland, their parents/loved ones can still sense them allowing them to grieve more freely? Why this couldn’t happen if they passed on completely wasn’t entirely clear. Neverland also seems to be a place where these boys can come to grips with what has happened to them since they have all died tragically. The island is run by a boy named Peter who is not a real boy and has always lived on the island, except for a small foray into London in pursuit of Wendy. Also on the island are two groups of adults, sometimes Cowboys and Indians, sometimes Knights and Lords, sometimes Cops and Fireman, but always two groups that play fight in neverending battles as they atone for their crimes against children in life, whether those crimes were intentional or not. And of course, Peter Pan would be nothing without Captain Hook and his pirates. These foul characters live on the other side of the island and the boys are strictly forbidden to go by them. While our cops and fireman groups unintentionally injured boys, either through car accidents or simply being an observer and not stopping something, the pirates are those who willfully hurt and killed children. Preston is different from the other boys and we see him as he attempts to come to grips with what happened to him, including the realization that his strange neighbor did not actually kill him. This becomes a much more pressing issue when he best friend Peyton arrives after also having been poisoned by a now unknown serial killer.

Interspersed with Preston’s story are also the stories of his grieving parents and the Wendy from Peter’s story. We begin to understand more of why these other plot lines get so much focus once we realize that Wendy spent time in Neverland while she was in a coma and that Peter managed to leave the island and go to London after Wendy mysteriously disappeared from the island. While there is a certain amount of pathos in being privy to the lives of Preston’s parents as they struggle with their grief and how they can manage to go on in the face of it, the multiple plot lines do slow the book at times. As someone who has experienced how debilitating grief can be, it’s sometimes difficult for me to invest in stories focusing on that. The emotional investment is often more than I am willing to commit to a book. Wendy’s portions of the story do fascinate me because we get some fictional insight into how her time in Neverland and the stories she told after awakening from her coma came to shape J.M. Barrie’s tales of Peter Pan. Stilling does an excellent job keeping the stories running smoothly while still intertwining them. The plotlines are connected but never become confusing or hard to follow, a feat that I always find impressive. Betwixt and Between deals with the death of a child, grief, how communities deal with a senseless tragedy, and how simple interactions between people can have a profound impact on a person. It is a deeply touching novel and one that made me cry in more than one spot. It’s more than worth a read but not one to necessarily be undertaken lightly since much of the plot could be triggering for a reader. 

REVIEW: Chimera by David Wellington

Title: Chimera

Author: David Wellington

Publisher/Publication Date: William Morrow, Pub. date July 23, 2013

Chimera introduces Jim Chapel, a Special Forces veteran who rides a desk after being fitted with a prosthetic for the arm he lost. One day Chapel gets called into a very shady meeting by a man he refers to as Laughing Boy, a fairly unhinged CIA agent. Chapel is met by two very high ranking clandestine officials of different agencies who inform him that he has been handpicked to deal with a situation. A number of extremely violent and dangerous fugitives have escaped from a secret prison and must be stopped immediately. Chapel is equipped with a Bluetooth device that connects to a tech genius he calls Angel who can seemingly find him any bit of information and ensure the availability of cars, planes, trains, and more!

Chapel sets off on his mission but arrives too late to save the first victim. He does manage to save the victim’s daughter, a beautiful veterinarian who, surprise surprise, ends up becoming his sidekick on his very classified and very dangerous mission. He takes her along under the guise of keeping her from being silenced by the big bad government goons or the fugitives. Julia is a bright and very capable woman but when tracking down unhinged and extremely violent killers, it seems a bad time to pick up a woman. In case you haven’t figured it out, I am not always thrilled with the haphazard shoving of romance into thrillers just for the sake of having a love interest. Bring on the explosions, fist fights, high speed chases and leave the kissey face at home. I do understand that many people like a little sex with their espionage and heroics and in many cases it works when it’s subtle. Julia’s presence throughout the novel is often awkward and creates more difficulties than are needed to advance the plot. Additionally, Chapel seems to have enough identity crisis going on as he deals with his prosthetic and figuring out how he fits into this more active role without throwing in his constant waffling about whether or not he’s worthy of Julia. I think had Wellington waited until the second novel, it would have been less distracting.

The book progresses at a good pace and keeps the reader involved in the action. The plot bounces nicely between Chapel’s interactions with the fugitives as well as his frowned up investigating into the larger conspiracy that locked these men up and put seven people on a hit list. While some of the twists and turns are predictable, Wellington does an excellent job keeping the reader guessing with most of it. The overall conspiracy itself is fascinating and also thoroughly disturbing. Overall, the book is a good and interesting read. The romance angle was distracting for me but might not be for everyone. I’m not sure that I’ll actively await another book in the series but if I come across it in the future I would be willing to give it a read. Chapel is an interesting character and has the potential for a lot of growth in dealing with who he is as a soldier despite his missing arm and his advancing age.