Rating: 
Summary: Quite a lively group....
Review: I like books about the extraordinary in life. My husband found this book for me and I devoured it in one sitting. Much like Truddi Chase, the body of Toni Beauchamp is occasionally inhabited by some very strange characters. In this story, however, the characters are inherited from her mother, not as the result of child abuse, as in Chase's tale. These "gods" were Toni's mother's burden for years and when she dies, they choose to take up residence in Toni's body. The entire story is well-written...and it was difficult for me to believe a male had written it because of his great insight into the workings of the female mind. I liked the story and would read anything by this author again. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Quite a lively group....
Review: I like books about the extraordinary in life. My husband found this book for me and I devoured it in one sitting. Much like Truddi Chase, the body of Toni Beauchamp is occasionally inhabited by some very strange characters. In this story, however, the characters are inherited from her mother, not as the result of child abuse, as in Chase's tale. These "gods" were Toni's mother's burden for years and when she dies, they choose to take up residence in Toni's body. The entire story is well-written...and it was difficult for me to believe a male had written it because of his great insight into the workings of the female mind. I liked the story and would read anything by this author again. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Best Fantasy Novels Of The Year
Review: A friend gave me this novel, telling me I would enjoy it. She was right; I haven't even returned it yet. While this novel occasionally indulges in sentimentalism it is also insightful and full of love. The characters are both quirky and down-to-earth, their plights believable, and their lives touching.
Rating: 
Summary: Strangely Unfamiliar
Review: A magical-realism-Southern-family-saga, with voodoo thrown in, thought it's never called voodoo, and isn't the popular image of voodoo...and many, many intriguing twists. Set in Houston, it's the story of the daughters of Elena, recently deceased, who could foresee the future, cast small spells, even raise the dead, but mostly--terrifyingly--is the host to six Riders, small gods, the eerie fetishes of which she keeps in a chifferobe in the living room. When she is being Ridden, then it's these small gods' turns to walk around, change lives, give advice or orders which no one would think opf disobeying...And after she dies, it's the responsibility/curse of her elder daughter, a practical, plain, money-making actuary, to take over...
Really well done. Strange and intriguing without being mad-slasher-esque.
Rating:
Summary: A high-wire act that works
Review: Go to the "look inside the book" function above, and click on "excerpt;" that takes you to the first page of Sean Stewart's Mockingbird. (You can also get there through the "intro pages" links.) Read the first paragraph. If you're hooked, like I was, you'll love this book.
Like me, you may instantly flip to the bio to check the author's gender. Sean, Sean, isn't that a guy's name? And is he really writing from the first-person perspective of a woman who, the book's first sentence makes plain, gets pregnant in the course of the story?
Yep. And most of the other main characters are women, too. This is a high-wire act, and boy does Stewart pull it off. I found his characters and their magical-realist situation very believable, and he writes with style, and humor that's richer than wit or cleverness.
I can't say I'm surprised by any of that, except the first-person thing. What brought me to Mockingbird is, of all things, Stewart's entry into franchise fiction: his book Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, a Star Wars novel set very shortly before the upcoming movie "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith." I've read dozens of Star Wars novels, and this is one of my two or three favorites, again for how Stewart fleshes out characters' inner lives and for the color in his writing. (The book feels like he had a *great* time writing it.) I'm going on about it at length here to bring it to the attention of Stewart fans who might not otherwise try a Star Wars novel. If you saw Ep.II in 2002 and plan to see Ep.III, try it out. You don't need any more background than that, and it'll enhance your enjoyment of Yoda, Count Dooku, and the movies' other characters.
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Best Fantasy Novels Of The Year
Review: I really enjoyed this book, zombie frogs, voodoo Riders, and all the perils and tribulations possible while being pregnant when I wasn't pregnant yet. After getting pregnant, though, man, it's *really* funny and it's really obvious that the man did some real research into the problems. Mockingbird is more easy going than some of Stewart's other books, warmer, funnier, and much more involved with the everyday things that go with someone's life with all the complexities, absurdities, and joy that goes with it. It still has that touch of magic he brings to everything, and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: It's even funnier if you're pregnant
Review: I really enjoyed this book, zombie frogs, voodoo Riders, and all the perils and tribulations possible while being pregnant when I wasn't pregnant yet. After getting pregnant, though, man, it's *really* funny and it's really obvious that the man did some real research into the problems. Mockingbird is more easy going than some of Stewart's other books, warmer, funnier, and much more involved with the everyday things that go with someone's life with all the complexities, absurdities, and joy that goes with it. It still has that touch of magic he brings to everything, and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Hot read with wit and brains
Review: If I were going to vote, I'd vote for this one. Stewart writes great stuff, none of it the same, all of it nifty. Readers should buy all his titles.
Rating:
Summary: The dysfunction dance
Review: If you grew up in a dysfunctional family--and have developed a gallows humor about it--you should find something to relate to in this novel. Even if you did manage to escape the dysfunction dance while growing up, Stewart's characters are so true to life and the magic is woven through the story in such an easygoing and natural way that the novel is very entertaining--and believable. Toni Beauchamp lives in present day Houston and has always been the responsible one in her family, taking care of everyone, and cleaning up the family's dirty laundry when her troubled mother is periodically possessed by one of the voodoo gods who inhabit the household. But when Momma dies, Toni's responsibility takes on new, unwelcome and magical dimensions. It couldn't come at a worse time, as Toni has just gotten pregnant. She is forced to confront a range of emotions and a whole new set of experiences. Most of the major characters in this novel are women and Sean Stewart did not hit a false note, in my opinion, in the portrayal of these very different feminine psyches. Stewart manages to make you laugh at the wreckage without downplaying the pain, to lament without getting maudlin, and--without lapsing into melodrama--portrays the razor's edge between love and hate which exists in many families. Strangely enough, this novel is a kind of loving tribute of the messiness of families, showing how surviving the source of our weakness and terrible pain is also the source of our individuality and our ultimate strength. It is an admirable tightrope walk, sometimes profound, sometimes laughable, very human--and fun.
Rating:
Summary: The dysfunction dance
Review: If you grew up in a dysfunctional family--and have developed a gallows humor about it--you should find something to relate to in this novel. Even if you did manage to escape the dysfunction dance while growing up, Stewart's characters are so true to life and the magic is woven through the story in such an easygoing and natural way that the novel is very entertaining--and believable. Toni Beauchamp lives in present day Houston and has always been the responsible one in her family, taking care of everyone, and cleaning up the family's dirty laundry when her troubled mother is periodically possessed by one of the voodoo gods who inhabit the household. But when Momma dies, Toni's responsibility takes on new, unwelcome and magical dimensions. It couldn't come at a worse time, as Toni has just gotten pregnant. She is forced to confront a range of emotions and a whole new set of experiences. Most of the major characters in this novel are women and Sean Stewart did not hit a false note, in my opinion, in the portrayal of these very different feminine psyches. Stewart manages to make you laugh at the wreckage without downplaying the pain, to lament without getting maudlin, and--without lapsing into melodrama--portrays the razor's edge between love and hate which exists in many families. Strangely enough, this novel is a kind of loving tribute of the messiness of families, showing how surviving the source of our weakness and terrible pain is also the source of our individuality and our ultimate strength. It is an admirable tightrope walk, sometimes profound, sometimes laughable, very human--and fun.
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