Author: Nicky

Review – Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh

Posted February 9, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Hatchepsut by Joyce TyldesleyHatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh, Joyce Tyldesley

The problem with Hatchepsut, compared with the subject of another of Tyldesley’s biographies, Cleopatra, is that there just isn’t enough to go on. While Tyldesley does a good job at presenting the information we have about Hatchepsut, there just isn’t enough of it. Given the way the female pharaoh’s reign was hidden deliberately and by the misunderstanding of scholars and the pillaging of Egypt’s antiquities, I’m not sure if anyone can write a satisfying biography of Hatchepsut. Even where Tyldesley tries to look for the personality of Egypt’s female pharaoh, it seems so thin and speculative that it doesn’t work very well.

The benefit of all this, of course, is that this isn’t sensationalised. There’s no absurd speculations about Hatchepsut’s gender and sexuality — an approach I could really imagine from some less source-based biographies, in this world where such things are endlessly fascinating to many. It sticks to the facts, presenting something as close to authenticity and truth as we can get from this distance.

It’s just, even if you don’t want something sensational, that can be less than satisfying. This book is enjoyable if you’re into Egypt and Egyptology, but perhaps less so if you’re looking for an inspirational story about a woman overcoming patriarchy. Personally, I enjoyed it, but I can understand those who have found it dry.

Rating: 4/5

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What are you reading Wednesday

Posted February 8, 2017 by Nicky in General / 7 Comments

What have you recently finished reading?

I just finished reading Barry Strauss’ The Death of Caesar. It was interesting, but not as good as his previous books — it felt a bit drier, somehow. But it did teach me some stuff I didn’t already know about Caesar and the people around him. For example, I knew nothing about Decimus Brutus — who is not the Brutus everyone remembers via “et tu, Brute?”

What are you currently reading?

Uh, let’s see. I’m partway through The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams, which I’m rereading. It’s a bit of a chunky book, so I’m making fairly slow process. I’m still only halfway through The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley, too. I had that as an ARC and it’s out now, so maybe I should get to that. And I accidentally started reading Ellen Klages’ Wicked Wonders, which I just got an e-ARC of via Tachyon.

What are you planning to read next?

I haven’t really decided yet. I’m tempted to read some more non-fiction, but on the other hand I’ve been hitting that fairly hard lately. Maybe if I get my hands on a copy of Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology, I’ll go with that. On the other hand, I have a book that’s due back at the library pretty soon, so maybe I should read that — The Dark Mirror, by Juliet Marillier.

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Review – The Masked City

Posted February 8, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of The Masked City by Genevieve CogmanThe Masked City, Genevieve Cogman

With The Burning Page coming out, I decided to reread these two books. Just, you know, to refresh my memory… and because they’re a lot of fun. The Masked City was similarly fun this time round, giving the reader more of the fae and the dragons, more of the background. We get to know a little more about the importance of the Library… and we get adventures and hijinks with Vale and Irene. (Mostly. Kai gets captured early in the book, so we don’t see as much of him.) There’s a nicely high-stakes plot, and everything rattles along at an incredible rate, as you’d expect. And satisfyingly, for a reader, words — Language — give Irene one of her most powerful tools.

The books play in a fun way with tropes, and the concept of the library is bound to appeal to any bookworm.

Now let me hurry up and unearth the third book from my box of books.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Memory of Water

Posted February 7, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Memory of Water by Emma ItarantaMemory of Water, Emmi Itäranta

Memory of Water is a slow story, a story which takes all the time it needs to unfold. Although it’s post-apocalyptic and dystopian, the focus is more on the emotional journey of the protagonist, who comes to understand her world and her place in it. The background is really fascinating, amalgamating a Finnish setting with Asian tea ceremonies. The prose and the pacing all echo those tea ceremonies: deliberate, considered, every movement relevant and part of the whole.

It’s not about dramatic clashes between armies and civilians, sudden revolutions or dramatic government takeovers. Instead, it’s about surviving day to day, about choosing who you betray, about making your own path despite the constraints around you. It’s a slow dying of thirst, not a brutal death at the hands of strangers. It’s about seeing the world change around you, but so slowly you’re almost lulled into not reacting.

It’s about humans wrecking the world, and then making it hard for other humans to live with the consequences. It’s introspective, slow. The main character might well annoy most readers because of that slow narration and its philosophical bent.

I thought it was gorgeous — and I’m extremely impressed that Itäranta wrote it in both Finnish and English. In English, at least, it’s lyrical and beautiful and carefully crafted in a way that, yes, recalls that theme of the tea ceremony.

Rating: 4/5

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted February 7, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 8 Comments

I feel like fewer and fewer of the Top Ten Tuesday lists lately are things I’m really interested in doing — possibly because now I’ve done so many that a lot of it feels like repetition. The theme this week, “books I wish had more or less X in them”, is fun, but my brain is dead because I have an ear infection. So noted for the future and here’s ten books I can see from where I’m sat and how excited I am about them.

  1. The Dragonbone Chair, by Tad Williams. Currently rereading this; 200 pages in. I do love the world and characters, and I remember thinking it was amazing the first time… but the fact that there’s four 900+ page books is a little daunting. I’m currently just trying to read 100 pages a day while also reading other things.
  2. Late Eclipses, by Seanan McGuire. Actually, I finished this one yesterday. I enjoyed it a lot — finally, some answers about Amandine!
  3. Deadline, by Mira Grant. It seems to be the year of Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant for me, so I think I’ll probably pick this up soon. Though I know I don’t like the protagonist as much as I liked the protagonist of the first book.
  4. Illuminae, by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman. I have been meaning to read this for over a year now. I like the idea of the format, but I don’t know how I’m going to feel about the execution…
  5. The Vital Question, by Nick Lane. Apparently, it’s dense as heck. Buuut, it’s asking the big question about life: why? Why is it the way it is? So I’m rather intrigued.
  6. Europe in Autumn, by Dave Hutchinson. The idea of Europe splintering into dozens of tiny kingdoms feels a bit too on the nose right now…
  7. The Dark Forest, by Cixin Liu. I didn’t love the first book, but I did enjoy it, and I’m curious to see what happens now.
  8. War for the Oaks, by Emma Bull. I keep being told to read this, and now it’s been reissued and I have a copy, so… soon!
  9. Od Magic, by Patricia McKillip. It’s Patricia McKillip: I will get to this sometime, by hook or by crook. Her writing is gorgeous.
  10. A Darker Shade of Magic, by V.E. Schwab. It’s been long enough that I’m going to reread this before reading A Gathering of Shadows or the third book. Soooooon.

I hope you’ll all forgive me for going off the topic! My head is spinning a bit and I have work to be getting on with. Gah. Hope everyone’s doing well!

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Review – Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day

Posted February 6, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Dusk or Dark or Dawn Or Day by Seanan McGuireDusk or Dark or Dawn or Day, Seanan McGuire

The title is a bit of a mouthful, but once you think about the rhythm of it, it does work. I don’t get it wrong much anymore. Anyway…

I think this novella is the sort of story which actually works perfectly well as a novella. I seem to recall feeling more or less the same about Every Heart A Doorway; it fits within the shape and size of the novella, delivering a resolution at the right time. It’s not so sprawling that it doesn’t fit, but there’s lore and background which keeps you aware that there’s a world outside the story. Which is, of course, just the way I like it.

The central idea, of a ghost being able to give or take time from people as a way of working towards their own originally destined time of death is an interesting one. Then McGuire complicates it with all kinds of witches and a whole interconnected world which makes it into a story, instead of a neat concept. Ghosts can do this — someone can exploit it. Some people will exploit it — some people oppose doing that. Nobody’s quite sure on the ethics of any of it, but everyone stumbles along doing the best they can. Taking years from tired people on the street to revitalise them, for example, and then bleeding them off onto a criminal who took someone’s life, pushing him that bit closer to death.

For a novella, the characters are pretty distinct too. The main character has a moral code, has a purpose, has regrets and wishes. All of this plays into how she deals with the situation she finds herself in. And while she’s not that great at making connections with those around her (keeping the cast list down), there’s enough that she feels like a person. Obviously, we don’t get a huge amount of depth. But what we do have is enough.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Silver Chair

Posted February 6, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Silver Chair by C.S. LewisThe Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis

One of the least magical Narnia books, for my money. Puddleglum is a delight, but Jill and Eustace aren’t the best of the protagonists, particularly in their continued selfishness and quarrelsomeness. And Rillian never really gets over his terrible first impression, for all that you know he’s enchanted. And the antagonist, well. She’s more of the same type as Jadis, if more the seductress type. Actually, that point is what makes her less pleasant — her power is in seduction and sensuality, and there’s a kind of Christian horror of that which definitely hasn’t aged well, if it ever worked.

I do wish we’d had more of the gnomes and their land of Bism, though! That bit of magic and adventure might have been enough to elevate the book, if it had actually been followed through.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – One Plus One Equals One

Posted February 5, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of One Plus One Equals One by John ArchibaldOne Plus One Equals One, John Archibald

The origin of complex life is endlessly fascinating, and various evolutionary innovations made it possible. This book covers an extraordinarily important moment: symbiosis between existing cells which produced the organelles on which most cells rely. We wouldn’t get far without mitochondria producing ATP for us. And yet it’s been clear to me for a long time that mitochondria had a separate origin. Some of the DNA in our cells exists solely within our mitochondria. That DNA doesn’t even obey the same rules as the rest of our DNA when it comes to producing gametes.

For me, then, this book took something incredibly obvious and broke it down into more steps than I needed. It works to convince you that symbiosis could have occurred. But to me, that’s immediately apparent from the fact that some of our organelles have clear extra-cellular origins. So that aspect of the book was quite slow for me. It’s interesting to read about the research and the people who proposed the theory anyway, though. If you’re into biology and you don’t already know/accept that mitochondria were once free-living bacteria, this is interesting and illuminating!

On a related note (not addressed within the book), it makes me wonder… How do people who don’t believe in evolution handle the existence of mitochondria? They pretty clearly show evolution and co-evolution occurred in the genesis of complex life. If mitochondria weren’t free-living bacteria that adapted to living within simple cells, why do they have their own genetic material? Did God leave it in by accident?

Don’t answer that.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – A History of the World in Twelve Maps

Posted February 4, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of A History of the World in 12 MapsA History of the World in Twelve Maps, Jerry Brotton

I was fascinated by the idea of this: of course maps are a huge part of how we understand our world, and the way we format our maps is a big giveaway to the way we feel about the world. A map covered in clearly-marked borders marks separations and national boundaries; different maps with disputed borders show areas of conflict. Maps can reveal belonging and isolation and the limits of the human imagination.

Unfortunately, Brotton’s writing is really dry, from my perspective, and I wasn’t always convinced about his choice of maps. Or rather, he would pick maps and then talk about almost everything but the map: the context the map came from, yes, the politics of those that made it, yes. But the map itself, less so. Now, context is a great thing — hello, I was pretty much exclusively a new historicist as a literature postgrad — but I wanted more about the maps. More images would probably have helped, too.

If you’re more interested in the history of cartography and geography than I am, this is probably a great book. It just didn’t quite take the angle I was looking for.

Rating: 2/5

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted February 4, 2017 by Nicky in General / 20 Comments

Happy Saturday! Not that it’s the end of the work week for me. Big project to be doing, which means a surprising amount of money and hopefully a correspondingly large number of books. Also, class.

But still, I managed quite a bit of reading this week!

Received to review

Cover of The Heart of What Was Lost by Tad Williams Cover of The Regional Office is Under Attack Cover of Masquerade by Laura Lam Cover of Final Girls by Mira Grant

Hee! I need to reread The Dragonbone Chair, stat — I’ve been meaning to for a while anyway, but now this is extra motivation. I’m not sure if The Heart of What Was Lost stands alone, but it sounds like it comes after the series?

Bought

Cover of p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code by Sue Armstrong

It’s fine, Mum, it cost £1.49, and besides, it’s always a good thing for me to read about things that scare me. Knowledge is power, etc.

Finished reading this week:

Cover of Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf Cover of Martians Abroad by Carrie Vaughn Cover of Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor Cover of Passing Strange by Ellen Klages

Cover of Final Girls by Mira Grant Cover of Birthright by Missouri Valin Cover of Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear Cover of p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code by Sue Armstrong

Not a bad week, as you see! And five of them were ARCs. Hurrah me. And the ratings sneak peek:

4 stars… p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code, Final Girls and Passing Strange.
3 stars… Proust and the Squid and Birthright.
2 stars… Martians Abroad, Binti: Home and Maisie Dobbs.

Reviews posted this week:

–Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas. A reread, which I once again found solidly enjoyable. I don’t expect great literary merit from Maas, just a fun time, which maybe helps. 3/5 stars
–The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers. A lovely space opera adventure, full of characters you get to know and love. Just one criticism: the vaguely episodic feel to each of the events. Everything feels like it gets wrapped up very quickly, with only the bare bones of a larger plot. 4/5 stars
–Weird Dinosaurs: The Strange New Fossils Challenging Everything We Thought We Knew, by John Pickrell. Very enjoyable, and not always just for the dinosaurs but also for the people — almost characters — caught up in their story. 4/5 stars
–The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I still love this, but my review this time poked at some of the flaws. 5/5 stars
–The Sense of Style, by Steven Pinker. If you’ve encountered academic technobabble, and particularly if you’re allergic to it, this makes a good antidote. 4/5 stars
–Gutenberg’s Fingerprint, by Merilyn Simonds. More of a memoir than I’d thought going in. Some interesting stuff, but… meh. 2/5 stars
–Strangers in Company, by Jane Aiken Hodge. Mystery, politics and romance, in the vein of a Mary Stewart novel. Fun, though not mindblowing. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Graphic Novels. A rundown of my favourites!
–What are you reading Wednesday. Another update from my neverending assault on Mount TBR.

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