Full Metal Wheelbarrow

I went to have a blood test this morning (Ick. But at least it's done now).

They're short of a nurse at my GP's practice so I had to go to a walk-in clinic in Derby for the test and I was quite amused to find that they had a cardboard cut-out nurse by the loos to remind people to wash their hands. Even more so, when it spoke its recorded message as I went past, since the cardboard cut-out was decidedly female, but if the voice was hers, the poor lady must have had severe bronchitis :-)

Child of the Grove by Tanya Huff

I suspected, reading this, that it was one of the author's earlier books, and it seems I was right - as far as I can tell from the bibliography on her website, this was her first novel.

Which is not to say it's bad, because it isn't, it's just a bit more generic fantasy than her later books where she's developed her voice much more clearly. There's also far less of the wry humour that features in many of her books and whch is one of the things I like most about them.

It tells the tale of the royal family of a land called Ardhan and its conflict with the neighbouring Melacian Empire, which is under the control of the last living wizard. The early part of the book is quite episodic, which is necessary to understand the background for later events, but still a bit irritating as you get to know one set of characters, only to move on to a later time when most of them are long dead.

In places things felt rather rushed, as well, as if there was a decided word limit that the book had to fit into.

All of which sounds very negative, but I did like this book - just not as much as I like the rest of Huff's books. The sequel is on my to-read pile at the moment and I'll be interested to seehow that compares.