Author: Nicky

Stacking the Shelves

Posted February 25, 2017 by Nicky in General / 27 Comments

Hey everyone! It’s been a busy week for me again, and I haven’t done that much reading, but thankfully I should have a bit more time for myself now. Here’s hoping, right?

And oh, hey! Look what I just achieved on Netgalley…

Reviews Published

Received to review

Cover of The Ship Beyond Time by Heidi Heilig Cover of Frogkisser by Garth Nix Cover of Behind the Mask by various

Looking forward to the sequel to The Girl from Everywhere, and Frogkisser should be fun. Behind the Mask was an impulsive pick, but hey, we all know I love superheroes.

Bought

Cover of The Planet in a Pebble by Jan Zalasiewicz Cover of Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher

I felt like I deserved a treat after the report I just had to turn in! As far as possible from protein assays and statistics, I hope.

Books finished this week:

Cover of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin Cover of Brother's Ruin by Emma Newman

Not much read, I know. Still, finishing On the Origin of Species was an achievement! Rating preview:

Five stars to… On the Origin of Species.
Three stars to… Brother’s Ruin. 

Reviews posted this week:

–The Family Plot, by Cherie Priest. Priest takes on a haunted house! Solidly entertaining and I enjoyed that those haunted were a salvage crew going over an old house. 3/5 stars
–Dreadnought, by April Daniels. Danny’s dreams come true when she receives superhero powers and the transformation she’s always wanted. Not all the existing superheroes are so great about it. Enjoyable stuff, though Danny does struggle in realistic but upsetting ways. 4/5 stars
–Passing Strange, by Ellen Klages. Wistful, hopeful story set in an incidentally magical sort of world, which is mostly 1940s San Fransisco. Really enjoyed this. 4/5 stars
–Adulthood is a Myth, by Sarah Andersen. It me! 4/5 stars
–Murder on the Ballarat Train, by Kerry Greenwood. Though I’m noticing some inconsistencies as I reread, this series is still so much fun, and this outing brings a few more people into Phryne’s found family. 4/5 stars
–Virus Hunt, by Dorothy H. Crawford. A pretty in-depth look at HIV and how it moved from animals to humans. I enjoyed it a lot, but it is definitely focused on the epidemiological side rather than the social. 4/5 stars
–Scarlet, by A.C. Gaughen. I really wanted to enjoy this take, but the love triangle was weird and the narration didn’t work for me. Alas. 2/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Five Books I Liked Less Than I Hoped & Five I Liked More Than I Expected. That title pretty much says it all.
–What are you reading Wednesday. The weekly update.

How’s everyone else been doing?

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Review – Scarlet

Posted February 24, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Cover of Scarlet by A.C. GaughenScarlet, A.C. Gaughen

I wanted to love this. It’s Robin Hood, and it puts a female character at the heart of the band, working directly with Robin as capably as any of the guys. In fact, she is one of the guys — she’s Will Scarlet. The idea of a woman becoming part of the band in disguise isn’t a new one — Marian has joined the band in the disguise of a page, there’s Djaq in the BBC’s Robin Hood series, etc. I’m not sure if it’s ever been Will Scarlet before, but it’s a known and loved trope.

Honestly, I’m not sure how well it works here. Everyone and their mother seems to know that Scarlet’s a girl, and it isn’t hard at all to guess about her past and her real identity — even for people within the story. I know this is YA, but I’d still hoped for a bit more subtlety, if not mystery. I was pretty uncertain about the Robin-John-Scarlet love triangle, though it does have its interesting moments.

(And horrifying ones. There’s a scene where Robin calls Scarlet a whore for basically no reason. I couldn’t believe in the fascination of him from that point on. I’m also really over the abusive relationship between Scarlet and a character from her past.)

There’s also interesting stuff about Scarlet’s character: her difficulty with eating when people around her are starving, her coarse ways contrasted with her care for the people around her, her prickliness at the same time as she badly wants to belong.

What really killed it for me, though, was the narration. Given her actual identity, there’s no reason for her to talk like a commoner… and she doesn’t even talk like a commoner. Some of it doesn’t make grammatical sense in any dialect I know. Instead, it’s just faux-vernacular that might fool someone with no experience of dialect, but doesn’t fool me. And the other characters, for all that they have lower born backgrounds, don’t talk like her at all. It sticks out like a sore thumb.

Overall, I just couldn’t settle in and enjoy it, even if I tried to keep in mind that it’s YA, I’m rather over-versed in Robin Hood lore, etc, etc. I’m not going to continue the series. I’d probably give this one star, but I was curious enough to finish it.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – Virus Hunt

Posted February 23, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 5 Comments

Cover of Virus Hunt by Dorothy H. CrawfordVirus Hunt, Dorothy H. Crawford

It’s been a little too long since I read this for me to review it effectively, but I definitely found it a fascinating read. Not only does it go into the various theories of how AIDs hopped between primates and humans, but it goes into the evidence for that in terms of the different strains of HIV — and their virulence in humans. There’s a lot of data here, and I think it could be overwhelming for someone who isn’t that interesting, but I found it fascinating.

If you’re looking for a social history of the disease, this isn’t where you want to look, though. It’s very much about the virology: tracking down the point of zoonosis, and figuring out how the various SIVs are related to our HIVs. It even illuminates the fact that there are various strains of HIV in the human population, something I didn’t actually know — I was under the impression that HIV jumped to humans once, and that one strain spread widely. Instead, there are actually some differing strains, with differing degrees of virulence.

All in all, pretty darn fascinating, as long as you’re ready for a wild epidemiological ride. Makes a very good supplement to the less technical view of David Quammen’s Spillover and the way it covered HIV.

Rating: 4/5

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What are you reading Wednesday

Posted February 23, 2017 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

It’s only a little late! And hey, now I’m out of assignment hell… for now.

What have you recently finished reading?

Nothing, this week! The last thing I finished was a reread of Mary Stewart’s This Rough Magic, on… Thursday? Yes, I’m suffering withdrawal symptoms. I could probably do with another Mary Stewart reread, for something familiar — This Rough Magic is a total comfort read, like all Stewart’s books for me.

What are you currently reading?

On the Origin of Species is the book I’m reading most actively. So close to finishing it! It amazes me how right Darwin managed to be, given his limited understanding of genetics. I’ve also still got my reread of The Dragonbone Chair and the ARC of The Stars Are Legion on the go.

Oh, and I also newly started After Atlas, by Emma Newman, which I was devouring before my assignment took over everything. And I was also reading Brother’s Ruin, her new novella, which I got as an ARC. I’m enjoying that, too.

What are you planning to read next?

Once I’ve finished with Darwin, I’m going to focus on finishing The Stars Are Legion, After Atlas and Brother’s Ruin. Probably in the reverse of that order. I might also fit in a comfort read like a Mary Stewart book; I’m thinking maybe My Brother Michael, or Nine Coaches Waiting. After that, I’m not sure: the possibilities are endless.

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Review – Murder on the Ballarat Train

Posted February 22, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry GreenwoodMurder on the Ballarat Train, Kerry Greenwood

Another enjoyable outing with Phryne, and this one starts to really bring together her found family with the addition of Jane and Ruth. While I’m noticing some inconsistencies in characters that aren’t Phryne (Dot’s surname changes, for example, and apparently the hair colours of Jane and Ruth too), it’s still fun and those are only really noticeable because I’m reading the books all more or less together, in one glorious reread.

(Note: this is still an excellent way to consume them, though I’m now on book seven and taking a bit of a break.)

My main quibble is still with the mentally ill murderer who suddenly loses it and snaps, ruining all his plans and exposing himself badly. The whole mentally ill killer thing is just so stereotypical; so easy a way out. I mean, it happens, but not usually in this premeditated, coldly planned way. That’s more in the line of a psychopath, which is not quite how the character read. And, people so often forget the real fact: people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of crime, not to be perpetrators.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Adulthood is a Myth

Posted February 21, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah AndersenAdulthood is a Myth, Sarah Andersen

Adulthood is a Myth is a highly entertaining and relatable book of Andersen’s various cartoons featuring all her own awkward adventures, from dating to being an adult. There’s a lot here that’s akin to Hyperbole and a Half in its sillier moments, and book lovers will find plenty in its pages that sounds a bit like someone they might know.

Like this one.

If you follow the webcomic, I don’t know if there’s anything new here, but it is kinda nice to have it one place. For one thing, that means you can point at pages like the one linked and tell family excitedly, “See?! I’m not the only one!”

It’s not profound stuff, but it’s fun.

Rating: 4/5

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted February 21, 2017 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

This week’s theme is books you loved less or more than you thought you would. I’ll do five of each!

Books I Liked Less Than I Hoped:

Cover of The Children's Hospital by Chris Adrian Cover of Hard to Be A God by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky  Cover of Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein Cover of The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia McKillip

  1. The Children’s Hospital, by Chris Adrian. A notorious failure in one of my online book clubs. Like, I don’t think any of us liked it, and I’m not sure how many of us actually finished it. For a while it was a byword for terribleness.
  2. Hard to Be A God, by Boris & Arkady Strugatsky. I enjoyed Roadside Picnic a whole lot, and then found Hard to Be a God… completely impenetrable. I’m told it’s a hard one to translate.
  3. Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps, by Kelly Sue DeConnick. It just felt so monumentally pointless. I normally enjoyed DeConnick’s run on Captain Marvel, but nope. Not this one.
  4. Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein. I know, what’s wrong with me, right?
  5. The Book of Atrix Wolfe, by Patricia McKillip. It wasn’t bad, but I just didn’t enjoy it the way I expected to, since I’ve come to appreciate McKillip’s work a lot.

Books I Liked More Than I Expected:

Cover of Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates by Kerry Greenwood Cover of The Wolf Hunt by Gillian Bradshaw Cover of Attachments by Rainbow Rowell Cover of The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer Cover of DNA: The Secrets of Life by James Watson

  1. Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates, by Kerry Greenwood. Once upon a time, I read this and hated it. Then I read it again and fell in love, and since devoured the whole series. Right time, I guess.
  2. The Wolf Hunt, by Gillian Bradshaw. I expected to be mad at how heteronormative this was set up to be, given I knew the original lai as something rather “homosocial” (as my tutor would’ve said, and did, often). But somehow it charmed me all the same.
  3. Attachments, by Rainbow Rowell. This is the first of Rowell’s books I read, and didn’t expect to be so drawn in by her warm style and her characters.
  4. The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer. I hadn’t yet admitted that I enjoyed some romance stories when I first read this. But Heyer won me over — not a bad person to convert one, I think.
  5. DNA: The Secret of Life, by James Watson. Having read his book on the discovery of DNA, I couldn’t picture getting on with another book of his. But he apparently aged well, and this book was interesting and decidedly less rage inducing.

What about you?

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Review – Passing Strange

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

Cover of Passing Strange by Ellen KlagesPassing Strange, Ellen Klages

Received to review via Netgalley; released 24th January 2017

Passing Strange is a lovely novella which takes its own sweet time. As it opens, you expect one story, one protagonist… as it continues to unfold, you see that you were wrong. In my case, I didn’t mind that bait-and-switch at all, but I imagine some people will find that shift in POV a little jarring. Though I didn’t mind, I did find myself briefly wrong-footed by it.

The novella is set in San Fransisco, 1940, among a community of queer women whose lives intersect. I’ve seen a review where someone felt that the takeaway from this book was “yeah, yeah, we know gays back then had a hard time”. There’s that, of course, but there’s also that community, and that’s what I really enjoyed. I don’t really want to say too much about it; I think it’s best if the story unfolds itself for the reader in its own time.

I’ve also read a complaint that the speculative aspect isn’t integral. It is, but it’s subtle; the fact that it’s there, quietly but throughout, allows the ending that otherwise couldn’t be mysterious or touching or bittersweet. It’s an ordinary sort of magic, in the way that the women use it — it’s a tool that happens to be to hand.

I enjoyed the story a lot. And it’s another of the Tor.com novellas that feels like it was meant to be exactly this length, no longer, no shorter.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Dreadnought

Posted February 19, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of DreadnoughtDreadnought, April Daniels

Received to review via Netgalley; released January 2017

Dreadnought is an #OwnVoices book featuring a trans girl whose dreams come true when she takes on the mantle of a superhero at the moment of his death. Things don’t go easily for Danny, but nonetheless, she navigates being finally seen as a girl (in school, with her parents, with her best friend) and suddenly having superpowers. It’s a whole new world for her in both ways and I love the way the story makes you feel that. At the start, she hides in an alley to paint her toenails; at the end, well… spoilers. But suffice it to say that she’s pretty comfortable in her skin and her identity.

It’s not always the easiest read, because it’s not pure wish fulfilment. Though Danny’s transformation is outwardly perfect, she wouldn’t be able to have children, for example. And the other superheroes around her aren’t the people you’d hope they would be. Scarlet Witch — sorry, I mean, Graywytch is a trans-exclusionary feminist, while Carapace is a douche who can’t get her pronouns right and even a queer member of the team puts his foot in it. Doctor Impossible and Valkyrja are pretty awesome, though, and a young superhero called Calamity who doesn’t fall in line with the Avengers (sorry, the Legion) also befriends her.

All in all, the plot is pretty pacey and fun, and it’s not all about Danny’s transformation. It’s also about responsibility and handling any big life change, about figuring out where you belong in the world. Danny’s family aren’t great at it, and nor is her best friend, and there’s generally plenty of transphobic stuff that might be quite hard to read. But ultimately, I found it more fun than it was upsetting — and anyway, upsetting isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just something the vulnerable might want to know going in.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Family Plot

Posted February 18, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of The Family Plot by Cherie PriestThe Family Plot, Cherie Priest

Received to review via Netgalley; released in September 2016

Cherie Priest has written a whole bunch of different books, and I don’t love them all, but I have found them all to be solid stories. The Family Plot has a fun setting and concept: a salvage crew go in to get what they can from an old house scheduled for demolition. Problem is, the house has a history, and its past occupants aren’t all gone. It makes so much sense: of course old houses are creepy, and of course salvagers are going to be more interested the older it is. And of course, the older it is, the more history it has, tragedy included. The main character, Dahlia, believes in ghosts already; she’s felt them, she knows they’re there, and mostly they leave the living alone.

I won’t discuss too many of the details of the plot, because that mystery is part of the interest. It is worth noting though that every summary I can find doesn’t match with the events as they unfold in the ARC I got.

The problem with me is that I’m a total wuss, so horror isn’t normally my thing — in fact, I only picked this up because it was by Cherie Priest. Even so, I felt that a lot of the elements were pretty traditional and obvious. Doors that slam behind you and won’t open. Burials where there shouldn’t be burials. Ghosts who scratch messages into the floor. It felt like we saw it all a bit too clearly for it to be creepy. The final resolution — the whys and wherefores of the haunting — also didn’t quite satisfy me. There’s so much monstrous build-up, and then the solution is kind of… anti-climatic.

Nonetheless, the setting works really well, and I loved Dahlia. She’s capable, but not a superwoman. She knows what she’s doing, she’s decisive and smart, but she doesn’t always make the right decisions. And she’s not some fresh-faced kid with no history: she has a past which informs the way she acts now and the way she interacts with those around her. The supporting characters weren’t developed as much, but I found myself oddly interested in Bobby in particular, and how he might get his life together. At the very least, he raised a decent kid in Gabe.

Overall, it’s enjoyable, if not ground-breaking, and probably worth a look if you’re into ghost stories.

Rating: 3/5

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