Author: Nicky

Stacking the Shelves

Posted January 14, 2017 by Nicky in General / 12 Comments

Hey everyone! It’s been a pretty good week, and now I’m back in Belgium with my wife, which is nice. Also a 13.5kg box of books I sent via courier is already here, so hurrah!

Received to review

Cover of The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams

I still need to catch up on the Copper Cat books, but looks like this stands alone? And I love the cover.

Books bought

Note to Mum: before you lecture me, I got these with the Amazon card I got from Laura, okay?

Cover of Mesopotamia by Gwendolyn Leick Cover of Dusk or Dark or Dawn Or Day by Seanan McGuire Cover of Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire Cover of The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire

By which you see, yep, yet more Seanan McGuire, since I finished An Artificial Night this week and loved it.

Books finished:

Cover of Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly Cover of I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong Cover of Green Mill Murder by Kerry Greenwood Cover of Blood and Circuses by Kerry Greenwood

Cover of An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire Cover of The Prince of the Moon by Megan Derr Cover of Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris Cover of Dusk or Dark or Dawn Or Day by Seanan McGuire

And a little preview of my opinions…

4 stars to… Hidden Figures, I Contain Multitudes, The Green Mill Murder, Blood and Circuses, An Artificial Night and Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day.
3 stars to… The Prince of the Moon
1 star to… Dead Until Dark

Reviews posted this week:

–The Steerswoman, by Rosemary Kirstein. Slow, but satisfying, with some very good female characters and a fascinating central concept. 4/5 stars
–How to Clone a Mammoth, by Beth Shapiro. Okay, the answer is mostly ‘you can’t’, but the book is still informative about cloning and rewilding. 4/5 stars
–Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell. A reread for the comfort factor, so no surprises I loved it again. 5/5 stars
–Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson. Entertaining, and also poignant about the road Wilson has taken to get where she is. 4/5 stars
–The Assassin’s Blade, by Sarah J. Maas. Probably not so entertaining/relevant if you’re not a fan already. 3/5 stars
–Ayiti, by Roxane Gay. A collection of stories set in and about Haiti. Fascinating and vivid. 4/5 stars
–The Magician’s Nephew, by C.S. Lewis. A little too preachy, and definitely not my favourite Narnia book. Nor my least favourite, though. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: 2016 Releases I Didn’t Get Round To. Aka, The Guilt Trip.

How’s everyone’s week been? Reading plenty? Let me know in the comments!

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Review – The Magician’s Nephew

Posted January 13, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of The Magician's Nephew by C.S. LewisThe Magician’s Nephew, C.S. Lewis

When I planned a reread of the Narnia books, this isn’t one of the ones I was especially looking forward to. It’s so blatantly allegorical: it’s basically Genesis, Adam and Eve, etc. It’s preachy too, more so than my preferred Narnia books. As a myth on its own merit, I think it was Tolkien who complained about the mishmash of influences in Narnia, and he wasn’t wrong. It’s not so noticeable in The Magician’s Nephew, but it’s still a little weird. I think ultimately, I come down on the side of liking it; it’s a mess, but it’s a joyful one.

Diggory and Polly aren’t the most likeable characters, but Jadis makes an excellent villainess — and even Uncle Andrew’s weakness and vanity is well-drawn. The Pevensies are more engaging as heroes, but the villains here might just be the highlight.

Despite the allegory, there’s still something warm and engaging about Lewis’ writing. That’s the only reason this isn’t slipping down to two stars, I think.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Ayiti

Posted January 12, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Ayiti by Roxane GayAyiti, Roxane Gay

I find myself not sure what to write about Ayiti. It’s a collection of short stories set in Haiti, or with Haitian characters. It evokes Haiti as a place of both beauty and struggle, the sun and the salt of the sea and the stench of blood. The inevitability of kidnap, of beggars, of hunger, of a need to leave. The stories are sensual, some sexual; packed with feeling and meaning.

It’s such a small collection that I feel like all I can remember of it is a cluster of sense-memories: sweat, sugar, blood. For me, it just seemed purely evocative, calling up a Haiti both beloved and hated, with a surprising vividness. If this is the quality of Roxane Gay’s writing, I’m definitely down to read some more.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Assassin’s Blade

Posted January 11, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. MaasThe Assassin’s Blade, Sarah J. Maas

The stories contained in this volume are much more meaningful if you’ve already read at least the first book of the series, Throne of Glass. They fill in details referenced in Throne of Glass about Celaena’s background, and how exactly she came to be in the position she’s in at the start of that book, but they have more impact if you already know Celaena. If this was your first outing with her, you probably wouldn’t get to know her well. Each story is connected and leads fairly logically from the previous one, though it doesn’t quite have the cohesive feel of being a novel — it’s definitely episodic.

If you enjoy Celaena, it’s worth picking up; it fleshes out details about her past and gives more weight and meaning to some of the things she says and does in Throne of Glass. It’s an easy read, too; for all that it’s 450 pages worth of storytelling, it seems to fly by.

The books themselves… I’ve never been quite as in love with them as a lot of YA bloggers are, or were, so the collection remains exactly what I expect of Maas: an entertaining story (or in this case, set of linked stories), with an engaging but not perfect female character. (Come on, though; Celaena’s a highly trained assassin, yet she trusts the wrong people, she can be spoilt and petulant, etc. Sam Cortland, I think you deserved better.)

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Where Am I Now?

Posted January 10, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Where Am I Now? by Mara WilsonWhere Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame, Mara Wilson

Of course I loved Matilda — both the book and the film. I was that kind of child. I probably strained my eyes squinting and trying to do Matilda’s ‘Whammy’ on various objects. (Mostly books I wanted to come closer…) So as an adult, perhaps it’s not surprising that I looked up Mara Wilson and ended up following her twitter, despite her complex relationship with Matilda (covered, for example, in one of the chapters in this book, which is a letter to Matilda).

I did feel that while it was easy to read, it felt a bit scattered: it’s not chronological, so she discusses the death of her mother, then recounts events which happened before that, leaving me briefly confused. I feel like it lacked an overall structure somehow; without chronology, it needed something else unifying. But it was still compelling, especially reading about her fears and anxieties, the development of her OCD. (Our disorders’ acronyms might only share one letter, but GAD has a fair amount in common with OCD, and I definitely have tendencies of the latter too.) Her relationships with the people around her during filming and after were sweet too — her attachment to Danny DeVito, her reaction to Robin Williams’ death, and her mother’s close involvement with the early years of her career.

I read it all in one go, appreciating the frank and honest person I met here. Mara Wilson is fairly clear about portions of her life where she was pretentious, unpleasant, unwontedly angsty, etc. Her tone both accepts it as normal and gently scolds her younger self for that behaviour. I feel like I would quite like to sit down and have a quiet drink and a bun in a bookshop coffee area with her.

Rating: 4/5

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted January 10, 2017 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

This week’s theme is “2016 releases I meant to read and didn’t get round to”. I didn’t think I’d manage this, but then I had a look at my list, and… ah. Right.

Cover of Revenger by Alastair Reynolds Cover of Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal Cover of Necessity by Jo Walton Cover of Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay Cover of Lois Lane: Double Down by Gwenda Bond

  1. Revenger, by Alastair Reynolds. I need to apologise to my sister. All the excitement, and I never got round to this one…
  2. Ghost Talkers, by Mary Robinette Kowal. I’d been anticipating this since it was announced, and yet. Still love that cover so much, too.
  3. Necessity, by Jo Walton. I’m just hiding my face in shame here, guys.
  4. Children of Earth and Sky, by Guy Gavriel Kay. I even had an ARC. But nope.
  5. Double Down, by Gwenda Bond. I loved the first book. Why haven’t I picked this up yet? Whyyy?
  6. A Gathering of Shadows, by V.E. Schwab. I think I need to reread the first book, first. Oh no, etc.
  7. Magic Binds, by Ilona Andrews. Again, I even had the ARC. Whyyy, self.
  8. Red Right Hand, by Chris Holm. I feel bad about this, because I promised a review, but it got caught up in being busy with my wedding.
  9. Ninefox Gambit, by Yoon Ha Lee. The author is my mother’s penpal and even sent a signed review copy. I’m a bad person.
  10. Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer. I’m sorry, okay?

Cover of A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab Cover of Magic Binds by Ilona Andrews Cover of Red Right Hand by Chris Holm Cover of Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee Cover of Too Like The Lightning

Gah. Now I feel bad.

On the other hand, that means I still have some awesome books in my future.

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Review – Carry On

Posted January 9, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 9 Comments

Cover of Carry On by Rainbow RowellCarry On, Rainbow Rowell

Didn’t I just read Carry On? It’s true, I read it not that long ago, but after the US elections and various personal stresses (I have how many assignments due?), I needed some comfort reading. Harry Potter doesn’t work for me — for one thing, I’ve never been that big a fan, and for another, I had to read the second and third books five times each in a week on a school trip, since my mother only let me take two books. Since then, and especially considering how miserable the other kids made me, I’ve rather gone off Harry Potter.

My love for Carry On is totally separate to anything I feel about Harry Potter, though. I’m aware I’m in the minority there, but I only read four of the Harry Potter books, and never experienced the end of the series or got into the fandom. So I felt in the position to just love this: love the way the magic works, the way it permeates their thinking; the way Simon and Baz have always been drawn to each other; the way even their love scenes read a little bit like fighting in place.

There are things I don’t love — the constant POV switching, for example. It’s particularly jarring when it happens several times in what should just be a paragraph. And I don’t love feeling like Penny, Ebb and Agatha had their own stories that needed telling, and that they came so close to being able to tell them… before being cut off by the inevitability of Simon and Baz, and Simon’s victory. Particularly in Agatha’s case. I thought the descriptions of her feelings toward Simon were great, and I’d have liked to see some closure between them. In fandom, it’s always been the female characters that suffer from people’s attempts to pair up the boys, and it’d have been nice to get a fuller picture of Agatha. Simon’s still very much the Chosen One, narratively.

But these are things that could probably only be addressed by whole books that deal with these tropes, and deal with the lives of the women around Simon and the Mage. I don’t think there really was space here. Penelope Bunce still rocks the heck out of the book.

And it’s still a book I enjoy very much.

Rating: 5/5

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Review – How To Clone a Mammoth

Posted January 8, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of How To Clone a Mammoth by Beth ShapiroHow To Clone A Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction, Beth Shapiro

For a title which sounds like a how-to book, this book spends an awful amount of time pointing out the ways in which cloning a mammoth is not possible. A lot of science is stuff I was well aware of, but it’s presented engagingly and clearly, so it was still an enjoyable read. It’s not purely about mammoths, although they are one of the main species considered: after all, they’re thought to have played a significant part in the sustainability of the tundra they inhabited. A lot of the book concerns cases like that: cases where reintroducing an animal to an ecosystem might bring it back into balance.

Despite science fiction’s hopes, cloning an extinct animal is still pretty far off — but it does depend on the methods you use. Shapiro uses a fairly broad definition of cloning, discussing back breeding as well: the process by which a current species is selectively bred to restore features of an ancestral or related species.

There’s a lot of interesting stuff here, including an explanation of why you can’t clone birds in the same way as Dolly the sheep was cloned. Fascinating stuff, and well presented. And if it’s a bit of a killjoy to know that mammoths aren’t so easily cloned, I think the interest of the science and discussed ethical issues still makes it worth it.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Steerswoman

Posted January 7, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Steerswoman, by Rosemary KirsteinThe Steerswoman, Rosemary Kirstein

The Steerswoman is an interesting novel with a fantasy feel, but some hints that it might be more of a science fiction universe — especially if you see the original cover of the second book. In this book, the hints are subtle but do begin to build up, and even if you jump ahead in your guesses, it’s strangely satisfying to watch the eponymous steerswoman, Rowan, get stuck into the problem.

That’s probably starting at the wrong end, so here’s the intro: The Steerswoman is a fascinating novel which follows a character called Rowan as she investigates the world around her. She’s a steerswoman, a group of people who investigate the world around them by asking questions, making observations, and eventually forming theories. If a steerswoman asks you a question and you don’t answer, no steerswoman will ever answer you again. This can be quite a big moral dilemma and it produces some interesting conflicts.

Alongside Rowan is a female warrior from the Outskirts of their world, Bel. She’s got a different and refreshing view on it, and she and Rowan are both clever and capable in their own ways. You’d think they make a bit of an odd couple (so to speak), but actually they work together pretty well. There’s also a third member of their little band, later on, a boy called Willam, who despite being common-born, knows some of the tricks that only wizards are supposed to know…

The whole point of this novel is discovery, questioning, and whether any limits on knowledge should be accepted — and indeed, whether perhaps there might be a reason for keeping some secrets hidden. It doesn’t feel like a conventional fantasy novel — in fact, Rowan is a scientist, a logician, a mathematician — though it ultimately seems to sit in that genre. I enjoyed it a lot, and look forward to reading more. The pace is a little slow, and I hear it doesn’t much speed up, but the individual arc of the book has been solved so that it doesn’t feel like a cliffhanger.

Oh, and it’s casually queer — there are a pair of wizards, brother and sister. It turns out they both love the same woman. It’s a casual detail, but it’s nice to find such casual details sometimes.

Rating: 4/5

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted January 7, 2017 by Nicky in General / 18 Comments

Good morning, folks! Or not, if you’re not in the UK/Europe. So, 2017 so far… not bad, from where I’m sitting?

Received to review:

Cover of Brimstone by Cherie Priest Cover of Birthright by Missouri Vaun Cover of With Blood Upon the Sand by Bradley S. Beaulieu Cover of The Prince of the Moon by Megan Derr

Cherie Priest! I’m looking forward to it even without knowing much about it. I’ve been a lucky pup this week, really.

Non-fiction:

Cover of The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean Cover of The Violinist's Thumb by Sam Kean Cover of The World Without Us by Alan Weisman Cover of Rosalind Franklin by Brenda Maddox

I’ve already read two of these… guess I was in the non-fiction mood.

Fiction:

Cover of Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire Cover of With Fate Conspire by Marie Brennan Cover of A Borrowed Man by Gene Wolfe Cover of Shadowplay by Laura Lam

Because I don’t have enough Seanan McGuire in my backlog…

Finished this week:

Cover of The Secret Library by Oliver Tearle Cover of The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien Cover of On Basilisk Station by David Weber Cover of Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant Cover of Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Andersen

Cover of The World Without Us by Alan Weisman Cover of The Unreal and the Real by Ursula Le Guin Cover of The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean Cover of Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen Cover of The Tyrannosaur Chronicles by David Hone

Reviews posted this week:

–City of Wolves, by Willow Palacek. A little disappointing — it’s pacy enough, but really light on substance. 2/5 stars
–The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis. I meant to post these reviews in the order I read them, but WordPress had other plans, apparently. Dawn Treader is one of my favourites of the series. 4/5 stars
–The Art of Language Invention, by David J. Peterson. A really in-depth book about creating languages. A bit much if you’re not planning to create one, but very informative! 4/5 stars
–Politics: Between the Extremes, by Nick Clegg. Somewhat self-pitying, but nonetheless an interesting analysis of the ConDem coalition and the need for a more robust liberalism in the future. 3/5 stars
–The Lost City of the Monkey God, by Douglas Preston. An entertaining and, as far as I can tell, not too sensationalised book about an expedition to find an abandoned city in Mosquitia. 4/5 stars
–Spectacles, by Sue Perkins. Entertaining, but sometimes a bit scatterbrained. 3/5 stars
–Dark Tales, by Shirley Jackson. A little collection of some of Jackson’s less well known uncanny stories. I enjoyed them. 4/5 stars
–Winter Tide, by Ruthanna Emrys. Takes the sexism and racism out of Lovecraft, with a whole bunch of strong female characters. Buuut, I did find it slow. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–2016 Wrapup, and Onward 2017! Final stats on my reading, and some upcoming challenges.
–Top Ten Tuesday: Resolutions. I didn’t stick to the given theme this week, and instead did my bookish resolutions for 2017.

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