Tag: SF/F

Review – Caliban’s War

Posted October 28, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Caliban's War by James S.A. CoreyCaliban’s War, James S.A. Corey

After reading the first book, I was still intrigued, I liked the series, and I wanted some more women to actually take an active part in the plot (and not be fridged like Jim Holden’s girlfriend at the beginning, whose name I can’t even remember). Naomi doesn’t quite get to shine, though she does at least keep Holden and the Roci on the right moral track, but we get Bobbie Draper and Avasarala, both of whom are awesome and kick butt in so many ways. And Avasarala is a grandmother, so it’s not like she’s a nubile young beauty.

In terms of the emotional heart, it’s still Jim Holden and his crew, but the new characters do help to make the rest of the action riveting. I kind of hope I’ll see more of them, but having glanced through the chapter headings for Abaddon’s Gate, I haven’t seen Avasarala or Bobbie there…

In terms of the plot, it mostly ticks along at a good pace, mostly driven for me by curiosity about the protomolecule and what it’s doing, what it’s done, and what’s going to happen next. Holden’s crew just sort of bounce around as always, while Avasarala does politics and Bobbie waits to shoot things. So far so good, for a space opera. Just… one major quibble, which is a bit spoilery. So some kids are abducted and that provides the impetus for Holden and the Roci to bounce around the solar system a bit more, helping Prax, a botanist, get his daughter back. Yet nobody seems to ask why the kids were adopted until about 500 pages into a 600 page book, where the biologist — who mentioned having dissected bodies, etc, so he’s not just a botanist — finally realises that hey, they’ve abducted his kid who doesn’t have an immune system because she’ll make a good incubator for the protomolecule: her body won’t fight it.

Guys, I was there 400 pages ago at least (and I’m just an undergrad biologist, not some kind of professional). As soon as you know Mei’s condition, the reason she’s been abducted makes perfect sense. And it makes no sense for people to keep bouncing around without actually stopping to figure that out.

Nonetheless, I just kind of… chew it up like popcorn for my brain. Works for me.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Under the Pendulum Sun

Posted October 27, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette NgUnder the Pendulum Sun, Jeannette Ng

Received to review via Netgalley; publication date 3rd October 2017

I didn’t really know what to expect going into this book. Fairyland, with missionaries? Hm. And then it kept sounding like a Gothic novel, too. Really, it delightfully combines all of that stuff: deep philosophical ponderings about the nature of fairies, fairies which are cruel and truth-telling and difficult to understand, and Gothic atmosphere and twists. The pace can be a little slow at times, and I’ll admit I called both of the twists regarding a certain character… but I enjoyed the atmosphere and the way the various puzzles built up and came to a conclusion.

If you’re not interested in something dark and twisted, step away. And if you’re really allergic to theological stuff, bear in mind that the main character is really pious, and the other main character is actually clergy. The fact that Jeannette Ng knows her stuff re: medieval and missionary theology is really clear, and the characters wonder about it and struggle with it to an extent that you might find boring. I was a little lost by it, honestly, but interested enough in the overall puzzle of it to keep going. And I really love the way the Fae are portrayed: confusing and cruel and capricious and, yes, beautiful but alien.

Overall, it does a lot right and I’m pretty intrigued by the world. The pacing is sometimes a little off, but that’s pretty much part and parcel of the Gothic atmosphere.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Tiger’s Daughter

Posted October 24, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 8 Comments

Cover of The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault RiveraThe Tiger’s Daughter, K. Arsenault Rivera

Received to review via Netgalley; publication date 3rd October 2017

I wanted to love The Tiger’s Daughter, because there’s queer protagonists with a love story, a non-medieval-Europe fantasy setting, etc, etc. The writing at first promised to be beautiful, but I found the segue into the series of letters from one of the characters really off-putting. It makes it all second person (which can be done wonderfully, but wore on me here), and it requires one protagonist to tell the other stories as if she wasn’t there… despite them actually being present. So “you said to me, we did x, I did y to you”… It just feels too contrived at that point. It’s also rather slow-paced: this is less a fantasy story with romance, and more a romance story with fantasy. Which is fine, but the other things dragged it down for me.

In addition, this isn’t really my area, but I did notice a few warning signs. It’s not “own voices”, and it shows; it’s the typical flower-petals-and-beautiful-calligraphy version of Japan we keep getting served up, and several people from East Asia or of East Asian descent have been writing highly critical reviews about the racial stereotyping. I don’r know enough to really understand what’s going on there, but I believe people that it’s made them deeply uncomfortable.

That and the pacing meant I didn’t finish this, in the end. It’s a shame, because the cover is gorgeous, the concept sounds fun, and I did get somewhat into the relationship between the two characters. And yet. So my writing is very much for “as far as I read” — it’s possible the pace picks up and that issue at least is resolved. I wasn’t willing to hold my breath for it.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – The Language of Thorns

Posted October 23, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Language of Thorns by Leigh BardugoThe Language of Thorns, Leigh Bardugo

Received to review via Netgalley; publication date 26th September 2017

While these stories are set in Bardugo’s Grisha-verse, you don’t really need to have read those books (or remember them in great detail) if you fancy reading this: it’s a little collection of twisted fairytales, somewhat shaped by the world of the Grisha, somewhat just by Bardugo’s responses to old stories. There’s a version of Hansel and Gretel, a sort of prequel to ‘The Little Mermaid’, a retelling of the story of the Nutcracker…

Each story has a certain magic, and Bardugo handles them well: they feel like fairytales, while also feeling fresh and new. I liked Ulla’s story in particular, the last one in the collection — but I liked the perspective Bardugo took on each of them. For example, the sting in the tail of her Hansel and Gretel retelling… But I’d better not say too much.

Suffice it to say it’s a great little collection, and it’s probably going to be a beautiful book in hardcopy, too. I recommend it if you love fairytale retellings as well as if you’re a fan of the Grisha-verse.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Beautiful Ones

Posted October 20, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of The Beautiful Ones by Sylvia Moreno-GarciaThe Beautiful Ones, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Received to review via Netgalley; publication date 24th October 2017

I wasn’t a huge fan of Moreno-Garcia’s Signal to Noise, though I liked it well enough, but I wanted to give more of her work a try. I wasn’t disappointed! The Beautiful Ones is a sort of Heyer-esque romance, only with magic as well — maybe Austen. You get the vague idea. It’s alternate universe, but there’s enough parallels that I just sort of nodded and accepted it as our-world-but-with-different-names. I’d have loved more world building about that, but it might have taken away from the character study and the romance, so I’m not too disappointed.

The characters, well. I spent a fair amount of time wanting to shake them into being sensible and communicating properly, but I enjoyed them and rooted for them — except of course for Valerie, who I didn’t quite hate (Moreno-Garcia does a reasonably good job of pointing out why she is the way she is), but who definitely isn’t a character to love. I found the lengths she ended up going to a bit unconvincing and unpleasant — sucks that it’s a guy who at the end decides to do the decent thing and come clean, and Valerie ends up being pretty irredeemable.

If you don’t like romance and novels of manners, this probably won’t appeal; if you do, then I recommend it. Even if you’re not so much into fantasy, really; that aspect is relatively slight.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – First Grave on the Right

Posted October 18, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Cover of First Grave On the Right by Darynda JonesFirst Grave on the Right, Darynda Jones

Received to review via Netgalley

I didn’t have high hopes for this, I admit, but what people said about it made it sound like some light fun.

Guys, this needs to come with trigger warnings. This review needs a trigger warning because it describes the problematic stuff. It opens with the main character having a sexy dream. Only it’s not just a dream: there’s some kind of supernatural agent behind it and it is actually a person who she knows. Okay… I’m a little dubious about the consent here because it sounds like he just jumps into her dreams and goes at it, but I’ll hold off. It’s clear she thinks she knows who the guy is and that she’s more or less okay with him having sex with her.

That’s fine, but I’m not along for the ride because it’s revealed later that they’ve met once before. She tried to help him in a situation which appeared to be horrific abuse, and he pinned her against a wall and groped her while asking if she’d ever been raped (read the scene quoted here).

THIS IS NOT ROMANTIC. THIS IS NOT LIGHT FUN. I DO NOT WANT TO BE HERE.

Now, I’m not judging people who find bad boys sexy or whatever, and maybe somehow all that is dealt with. But it didn’t look like it was being dealt with, and I was very uncomfortable.

Given the importance of sex and who likes whom to the apparent plot (which is otherwise jerky and felt oddly paced), it’s perhaps not a surprise I didn’t get along with it in other ways either, but… yeesh. At the very least, I’m shocked no one I know has brought up that aspect of the plot/characterisation/pile of problematicness before.

Rating: 1/5

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Review – A Wrinkle in Time

Posted October 17, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 7 Comments

Cover of A Wrinkle in TimeA Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle

I’m sorry. I don’t get it. I think I might’ve loved it if I read it at a formative age, but the basic concepts of fighting a great evil (and even some of the relationships between characters) reminded me mostly of The Dark is Rising, which I’m afraid has first place in my heart. I didn’t get the sense of wonder and fascination that I think it could’ve invoked, encountered at the right time, and I just felt rather impatient with the protagonists.

I’m not sure if I’ll read the other books or not – I know that if I’d gone on Over Sea, Under Stone alone, I’d never have finished Susan Cooper’s series. On the other hand, I just don’t enjoy the half fantastical, half scientific backdrop, and part of the reason I didn’t connect with the characters was because I couldn’t pin them down – one minute they seem painfully young and naïve, and the next I seem to be expected to root for a romance between them.

Really, it reminds me of so many other books — The Wizard of Oz, The Railway Children, The Dark is Rising, Little Women… It never quite became its own story for me.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – Just One Damned Thing After Another

Posted October 15, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi TaylorJust One Damned Thing After Another, Jodi Taylor

The title pretty aptly describes the book. It is a fun romp, as others have described, but I seriously think the writing needs tightening up — the plot jerks ahead with little sense of time passing (all of a sudden, two characters have known each other for five years — since when?! I thought they met a couple of months ago!) and there doesn’t seem to be a comfortable ending. It sort of goes, “Oh, and another thing.” And a couple of events rely on sexual assault, which… jdnsjgn. The author deals reasonably well with the character’s feelings afterwards, but it’s used twice as a vehicle for “this guy is really nasty, and oh the plot is moving”. Not my favourite trope, by far.

Also, also, the love interest once yells at the main character for very little reason except that someone told him she lost his baby, when she wasn’t intending to tell him she’d ever been (briefly) pregnant. He loses it and calls her a slut, etc, as do other people in the building. It’s more or less out of nowhere and out of character — and she forgives him with shocking ease.

It just didn’t quite come together for me, and honestly at times I wondered if I was reading the same book as other people. I don’t think I’ll be continuing with the series.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – Jhereg

Posted October 14, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Jhereg by Steven BrustJhereg, Steven Brust

Ages ago, I read Jo Walton’s reviews of the Vlad Taltos books and resolved to read them immediately. I did pick up this first book, but after that failed to carry on, even though the first book is good and Jo’s reviews fascinating. There’s a lot going on in this world, and I really want to read more of the books to get a better grasp on it. In the meantime, Vlad Taltos himself is snarky, moderately capable, and definitely capable of getting himself into trouble. A winning combination – even without Looish, his jhereg companion.

It’s a fun beginning, which leaves a lot of questions unanswered (and sometimes even barely posed). This time, I mean it; I’ve gotta get on and read the rest!

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Bear and the Nightingale

Posted October 11, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine ArdenThe Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden

I struggled a bit with this book, which surprised me. It’s not the fairytale-like narration, because that worked for me, nor the choice of setting (semi-historical Russia), or the characters, or the choice of fairytales to invoke. Perhaps it’s just that I felt I knew where it was going and how it would unfold, and I am so very tired of stories all about taming a wild young woman who doesn’t belong among her people.

It’s well written, and I enjoyed the Russian flavour – probably helped by the fact that I don’t know Russian well at all, so the words chosen to give a flavour didn’t contradict each other in the way they were Romanised or used. I do enjoy Vasya and her determination, her basic goodness, her love for her family and duty to the people who, unknowingly, relied upon her. I enjoyed the little snippets that joined it to history.

I just… didn’t quite click with it in some way I can’t put my finger on. I’m glad I read it, and I’ll probably pick up the second book to see how I get into that, but… something didn’t work for me.

Rating: 3/5

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