Author: Nicky

Review – The Bread We Eat in Dreams

Posted May 15, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

The Bread We Eat in Dreams, Catherynne M. Valente

If you’re a fan of Catherynne M. Valente’s work, then you probably know what to expect: prose that touches poetry at times, often an influence of Japanese folklore, strange dream-like logic… This is a wide-ranging collection which includes some stories I read elsewhere, or could’ve read elsewhere, like the Fairyland novella about Mallow. The writing is generally beautiful; that’s never really something I doubt with Valente. The choice of stories is also generally good, even though I have encountered some of them in multiple other collections.

It’s probably most worthwhile for the pretty cover and for people who either haven’t read much Valente and want a sampler, or people who read everything she writes and don’t want to miss anything.

Confession: I mostly skipped the actual poetry. I prefer the lyricism of Valente’s prose to anything about her poetry.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Catherynne M. Valente, poetry, SF/F, short stories

Review – Captain America: Civil War Prelude

Posted May 14, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Captain America: Civil War Prelude, Corona Pilgrim et al

So if you were wondering if this is worth getting, the answer is — unless you’re a fanatic collector of the MCU tie-in comics — no. It really doesn’t present much new material: I counted eight pages of new stuff, if we’re being generous. The rest was either recaps of the movies (which, if you’re enough of a fan to be grabbing the tie-in comics, you’ve probably seen) or excerpts from the original Civil War comics. And sure, that might prepare you for the film, I guess, but so would rewatching the movies so far. The movie adaptation (which I have now seen) is different enough from the original comic that it’s not at all necessary to read the comic as a companion.

So there you go. Save your money.

Rating: 2/5

Tags: book reviews, books, comics, Marvel

Stacking the Shelves

Posted May 14, 2016 by Nicky in General / 13 Comments

Yay, it’s the weekend! How’s everyone been this week? I have not got enough reading done, because assignment hell. It’s nearly done, but… gaah, a few more days.

Books acquired:

Because I read Rosemary & Rue and haaad to get the next lined up.

Books finished this week:

Reviewed this week:
–Bryony and Roses, by T. Kingfisher. An interesting take on Beauty and the Beast, with an angle I didn’t quite expect. Much more clear about the curse and the hows and whys of it than is often the case. 4/5 stars
–Lady of Mallow, by Dorothy Eden. A potentially good source of new comfort reads for me, Dorothy Eden’s basic plot/writing style reminds me of Mary Stewart’s suspense/romances, except with less of a sense of place. 3/5 stars
–All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders. Not quite sure what to make of this one; it’s an interesting fantasy vs technology scenario, but I didn’t connect much with the characters. 3/5 stars
–The Farthest Shore, by Ursula Le Guin. A reread of a less-liked book in this series. I can see the beauty in it, but I’m just… not a fan in the same way. 3/5 stars
–Silver on the Tree, by Susan Cooper. Maybe I liked this one a little less than I usually do, because this time I so much wanted more. I do love the books, but… 4/5 stars
–Ink and Bone, by Rachel Caine. Interesting alternate universe: what if the Library of Alexandria was not destroyed, and preserving books and the Library became ever more important? 3/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: The City and the City, by China Miéville. I think I like the idea of some of Miéville’s ideas almost more than the execution sometimes. It’s always worth (for me) hanging on and seeing how it all plays out, but the main draw is the idea. 4/5 stars

Other posts:
–Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Feels. I went off with my own theme this week, rather at random.

Here’s to a good reading week ahead!

Tags: books, Stacking the Shelves, weekly roundup

Review – The City & The City

Posted May 13, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

The City & The City, China Miéville

Originally posted 30th November 2010

I read this one in bits. The last half or so was all in one go, on a long train journey, but for the most part, I just read it in bits, a few pages at a time, and didn’t really get involved with it. I didn’t really care how it ended, for most of the time. I did get tense during the last parts, and I was sad for the main character about the ending, but I didn’t really care, for the most part. I wanted to care more about Corwi and Dhatt, but I didn’t really see enough of them, or enough positive about Dhatt…

I suppose it was pretty realistic, in that, but what actually kept me reading was the core idea — and, to some extent, the mystery. I’ve always said that cities were the most interesting thing about Miéville’s work: he’s really good at making them feel alive, I think. Less the individual parts, more the whole life of the city. This is a particularly interesting one, especially the way he navigates it: nothing here is overtly fantastical or sci-fi ish, really. I mean, it sounds completely far-fetched, but we know how deeply cultural conditioning can affect people, and if you just take it as a thought experiment…

Still, I like the idea — and Miéville evokes his worlds well — but it really didn’t have me on the edge of my seat, or caring about the characters, or needing to read more.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, China Miéville, Flashback Friday, mystery

Review – Ink and Bone

Posted May 12, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Ink and Bone, Rachel Caine

Ink and Bone is an alternate history which starts with a simple change: the Library of Alexandria survived, and protecting it became the main focus of society. More than the church, the Library is the thing which holds society together, which has access and immunity, which controls technology. I thought there would be more about love of individual books, rather than books as a concept, since people talked about this as a book about books, but it isn’t, really. While the characters do read and study, and books are protected and valuable (and illegal to own an original copy of), it feels like the point is more the politics and the alternate history.

Which is fine: it turns out to be quite interesting. I found the supporting characters, like Wolf and Thomas, more interesting than Jess himself – and definitely wanted to see more of Jess’ twin, whose role and potential importance is kept very much in the background. The different way the world develops, with some types of technology (like the printing press) suppressed every time someone comes up with it, is pretty fascinating. The magic/technology is also pretty cool; I definitely want to know more about that, how it works and how much of it is magic, how much technology. The political background, with Wales’ war on England, is also pretty interesting, and I’d love to see Caine’s timeline of how exactly that would come about in the changed conditions of this Europe.

The end of the book leaves things very open; I’m quite impatient to read the next book and see where it all goes. I didn’t so much get involved with the characters as with the overall plot, so I won’t mind if the next book jumps POV. I just want it already!

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, SF/F

Review – Silver on the Tree

Posted May 11, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Silver on the Tree, Susan Cooper

Finally finished my yearly(ish) reread with this book. The conclusion to the sequence is full of its own magic and beauty, but because of the ending, it just can’t be my favourite. (Perhaps in a similar way that The Farthest Shore doesn’t work for me; I don’t like it when the magic comes to an end!)

The whole sequence in the Lost Land is gorgeous, and probably my favourite thing about this book. Then, of course, there’s the interactions between the group – such disparate kids, and brought together for a quest beyond their understanding. As always, Cooper’s handling of the children and the way they react to each other, particularly the Drews, feels spot on and realistic. Of course they’re going to bicker. And of course the Welsh/English divide feeds into it, setting Bran apart. The whole sequence has had history intruding on the present and the present intruding into history; it’s appropriate that that fraught history also touches the story.

Reading it this time, I wasn’t sure about the pacing. It might just be that I want more, more adventures, more of the Six together, but everyone spent so much time in ones or twos rather than together. There’s so much hinted at – Bran’s relationship to Herne the hunter, for just one – that I would love to explore. That’s why I come back to the book, I suppose, and yet…

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, SF/F, Susan Cooper

Review – The Farthest Shore

Posted May 10, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

The Farthest Shore, Ursula Le Guin

This has always been my least favourite of the Earthsea books, and I think that’s sort of inevitable given the central conflict, the issue that the whole book centres around. It’s about magic dying out, about death and fighting death and being afraid of death, where few people are whole and entire and able to see the world as it is rather than wishing it was something else. Ged is one of those people, of course: he’s the Archmage for a reason, and more importantly, he’s faced the dark part of himself and accepted it.

But it’s not primarily about Ged: it’s primarily about Arren and his journey to kingship. We saw Ged from an outside POV in The Tombs of Atuan, and it’s not as though Tenar completely trusted or respected him instantly… but Arren’s distrust and indifference at times grate, especially set against his hero worship at first.

I can see the beauty of the story, of what Ged does, but I don’t enjoy it. It’s a shadow of a story, a feeling of foreboding – the shadow at the door. It’s, in part, an ending to an adventure that I wanted more of. It makes sense that Earthsea has to change, but that doesn’t reconcile me to the fact.

Needless to say, Ursula Le Guin’s writing is great and that’s not the problem.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, SF/F, Ursula Le Guin

Top Ten Tuesday

Posted May 10, 2016 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

I missed last week’s post because of travelling and busy, and neither last week’s theme or this week’s theme is really speaking to me. So! Instead, just have “Ten Bookish Things I Have Had Feelings About Recently”.

That moment when you realise you want to read a book that you’ve left behind somewhere else. Accio my copy of Heyer’s The Talisman Ring?
Trying to figure out if I liked Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin. So much going on, complex structure. I got to 85% and wasn’t sure what I thought, and then it went and dealt with most of my concerns in the last 15%. What’s with that, book?
When I need all of Seanan McGuire’s books, stat. I just finally read Rosemary and Rue and yep, I need the rest. Everyone who recced me these books totally owes me Amazon vouchers so I can get some… Whaddya mean, no?
When the paperback is really pretty and handier but you have the hardback and the ebook already. Lookin’ at you, Uprooted by Naomi Novik! It’s there and it’s taunting me, in all the shops. But I own it so…
Dinner is ready and you just want to read. I’m getting better at this; I’ve even been stopping mid-page when my partner has dinner ready. But.
Gotta love a comfort read. Contemplating digging into some of my old favourites while I struggle through the hell known as my final math assignment.
But gotta love the new ones too. I’m finally reading Juliet Marillier’s Dreamer’s Pool, for example, and I really want to know what happens and if everything turns out okay in the end for Flidais.
When you can’t find a comfortable position to read. At this rate, I’m thinking upside down in some kind of harness might be what my body is looking for, because all the usual ways of getting comfy are noooot working.
The joy of giving people books. Okay, so my partner already had China Miéville’s latest as an ebook, but the print version is pretty.
The joy of bookshops. I went to my favourite bookshop in Brussels last week (Sterling Books, Wolvengracht 23). It’s moved locations and downsized a bit since I was last year, but I still got a really good haul. And I have five euro off my next purchase…

And now to get on with queueing up some more posts so last week’s standstill doesn’t repeat the next time I’m stressed!

Tags: books, Top Ten Tuesday

Review – All the Birds in the Sky

Posted May 9, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders

Oh, dear, I still don’t know what to say about this one, having put off reviewing it to let me think it over. I know that other people found it weird, and even decided not to finish it; I was never tempted to put it down and not finish it, but at the same time, I’m not sure how to talk about it or identify what I liked.

At heart, it’s a dialogue between fantasy and sci-fi; the power of nature and the power of technology; playing out the story where natural powers have to save the world from technology, but also vice versa, and a-slant. In the end, the story comes together as a symbiosis of both, equally flawed and equally powerful. If you’re exclusively a reader of one or the other genre, you’ll probably find this profoundly unsatisfying, because as far as I can tell, it never picks a side, never decides to be one or the other. It’s both.

That aspect was probably more interesting to me than the characters, through whom it was played out. I didn’t dislike them, but I wasn’t a huge fan either, and though there was a sort of inevitability to how they came together and apart and together again, it’s not something I had any strong feelings about.

It was interesting, and definitely an absorbing read, but not one I had strong feelings about in general.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, SF/F

Review – Lady of Mallow

Posted May 8, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Lady of Mallow, Dorothy Eden

In my quest for books like Mary Stewart’s, I think I’ve found another winner. The tone is much the same, and the set-up: there’s inevitably a touch of Nine Coaches Waiting (for me) when the protagonist becomes a governness – but this time, she’s deliberately there as a spy and she has her own motivations. I actually really liked following the twists of this and trying to make my own judgements, and I like that the conclusion wasn’t simple, wasn’t black and white.

I don’t know what it is about this sort of book I find so comforting and satisfying: the smart, proactive heroine, sometimes in a time/situation where she’s meant to follow a particular role; the fact that a happy ever after is more or less assured; perhaps the safe unsafeness of the male characters who seem a little wild but are, in the end, justified and acting for the best? Regardless, I found Lady of Mallow a fun entry in the more-or-less cosy mystery genre, and I’ll look for other books by Dorothy Eden.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, mystery, romance