The Stars Dispose

Rating:
Summary: The Stars Dispose is a magical brew of Renaissance fantasy
Review: Tomasso is twelve years old & his world, as an apprentice to his father the Chef of the House of Medici, is in the great kitchens of Renaissance Florence - where bastards roam & astrolgers rule; heirs plot & marriages are made. Caterina de' Medici's world is in the upstairs shadows, learning with her handmaid, Tomasso's sister, to survive long enough to attain her inheritance. Amid the layers of master & servant lies the world of the Occult - older than Christianity working its astonishing magic. Meanwhile plague & barbarians are knocking at the doors of the pretty Italian city.

I am in awe of this author's writing craft. She has the skill to sketch before you a great feast, a magnificent sculpture, a dazzling spot of magic & enchanting cats! I would disappear for hours into the worlds she has created, fed by her well chosen words, authentic details & breadth of view.

If you love historical fantasies with just the right balance of fact & fantasy as to make the read seamless, then this is a book for you. For my full review & eInterview with Michaela Roessner do visit my site [...].


Rating:
Summary: The Stars Dispose is a magical brew of Renaissance fantasy
Review: Tomasso is twelve years old & his world, as an apprentice to his father the Chef of the House of Medici, is in the great kitchens of Renaissance Florence - where bastards roam & astrolgers rule; heirs plot & marriages are made. Caterina de' Medici's world is in the upstairs shadows, learning with her handmaid, Tomasso's sister, to survive long enough to attain her inheritance. Amid the layers of master & servant lies the world of the Occult - older than Christianity working its astonishing magic. Meanwhile plague & barbarians are knocking at the doors of the pretty Italian city.

I am in awe of this author's writing craft. She has the skill to sketch before you a great feast, a magnificent sculpture, a dazzling spot of magic & enchanting cats! I would disappear for hours into the worlds she has created, fed by her well chosen words, authentic details & breadth of view.

If you love historical fantasies with just the right balance of fact & fantasy as to make the read seamless, then this is a book for you. For my full review & eInterview with Michaela Roessner do visit my site [...].


Rating:
Summary: The Stars Dispose is a magical brew of Renaissance fantasy
Review: Tomasso is twelve years old & his world, as an apprentice to his father the Chef of the House of Medici, is in the great kitchens of Renaissance Florence - where bastards roam & astrolgers rule; heirs plot & marriages are made. Caterina de' Medici's world is in the upstairs shadows, learning with her handmaid, Tomasso's sister, to survive long enough to attain her inheritance. Amid the layers of master & servant lies the world of the Occult - older than Christianity working its astonishing magic. Meanwhile plague & barbarians are knocking at the doors of the pretty Italian city.

I am in awe of this author's writing craft. She has the skill to sketch before you a great feast, a magnificent sculpture, a dazzling spot of magic & enchanting cats! I would disappear for hours into the worlds she has created, fed by her well chosen words, authentic details & breadth of view.

If you love historical fantasies with just the right balance of fact & fantasy as to make the read seamless, then this is a book for you. For my full review & eInterview with Michaela Roessner do visit my site [...].

Rating:
Summary: I didn't expect to love this as much as I did!
Review: When I first read the back cover, I thought this was one of those books I would use to pass the time waiting for the bus, but which wouldn't hold my attention for long. To be honest, the appeal was in the size, not the content... I found that I could not put it down. It took me a little while to figure out who the little kitchen goddess is (I won't reveal the secret; besides, I suspect I was just slower than most on the uptake...) but I was certainly drawn into the family's lives. The relationship between Tomasso and Michaelangelo felt a little contrived, but it didn't bother me enough to detract from the appeal of the book. The atmosphere of the book seemed authentic and sometimes I could almost smell the stew bubbling away. (Now, I'm a sucker for any book that includes recipes, but that's not the only thing I liked...) When I was finished, I did not put THE STARS DISPOSE into my pile of finished paperbacks (the ones I'll be taking to the used book store to trade in on more paperbacks.) It's a keeper, so I can read it again and relive the magic.

Rating:
Summary: good idea, falls short in execution
Review: When I read the description of <<The Stars Dispose>>, I hoped I was getting a book along the lines of something by Ellen Kushner or Guy Gavriel Kay: historical or semi-historical fantasy with an interesting setting and a sophisticated plot.

Unfortunately, Roessner falls a little short. I'd give this 3 1/2 stars if I could, because <<The Stars Dispose>> has its good points: it's well-researched, a wide variety of historical actors interact on a lot of levels, and who wouldn't be interested in an alternate-universe version of Renaissance Florence? <<The Stars Dispose>> is a bit better than your average fantasy read.

Still, the plot meanders. Even worse (and several reviewers below have picked up on this), there's a bit too much fact packed into, or worked awkwardly into, what's supposed to be a work of fiction -- it's as if someone tried to turn a master's thesis into a novel. Most jarring of all, however, is Roessner's weakness when it comes to writing dialogue. Like a lot of fantasy authors, she mistakes stilted speech for sophisticated repartee. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that several of the major characters are pre-teens. There aren't many college professors who talk the way Roessner's characters do, much less ten- or eleven-year-olds!

Most of the ingredients for a good novel are here (this is something of a pun, because food's quite important in <<The Stars Dispose>>, to the point that there are recipes in the back of the book). Maybe with more practice -- and especially with more natural dialogue -- Roessner will get better in future books at stirring those ingredients together.

Rating:
Summary: good idea, falls short in execution
Review: When I read the description of <>, I hoped I was getting a book along the lines of something by Ellen Kushner or Guy Gavriel Kay: historical or semi-historical fantasy with an interesting setting and a sophisticated plot.

Unfortunately, Roessner falls a little short. I'd give this 3 1/2 stars if I could, because <> has its good points: it's well-researched, a wide variety of historical actors interact on a lot of levels, and who wouldn't be interested in an alternate-universe version of Renaissance Florence? <> is a bit better than your average fantasy read.

Still, the plot meanders. Even worse (and several reviewers below have picked up on this), there's a bit too much fact packed into, or worked awkwardly into, what's supposed to be a work of fiction -- it's as if someone tried to turn a master's thesis into a novel. Most jarring of all, however, is Roessner's weakness when it comes to writing dialogue. Like a lot of fantasy authors, she mistakes stilted speech for sophisticated repartee. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that several of the major characters are pre-teens. There aren't many college professors who talk the way Roessner's characters do, much less ten- or eleven-year-olds!

Most of the ingredients for a good novel are here (this is something of a pun, because food's quite important in <>, to the point that there are recipes in the back of the book). Maybe with more practice -- and especially with more natural dialogue -- Roessner will get better in future books at stirring those ingredients together.