Author: Nicky

Review – The Boy Who Lost Fairyland

Posted February 14, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

The Boy Who Lost Fairyland, Catherynne M. Valente

I just want to eat Valente’s words. All of them. They’re like cream cakes and jam-covered scones and fairy cakes with buttercream and cookies with gooey centres still warm from the oven and… Yeah, as usual, Valente’s writing is great in The Boy Who Lost Fairyland, and I’m not sure, but I think I may well prefer it in these self-aware, charming, cheeky fairytales than in her adult novels. It’s beautiful there, too, but here it’s stripped down to suit the audience and genre, and that works really well for it.

As for the story, well. It’s not about September, really. Most of the time. It’s about another Changeling — a Changeling in the opposite direction, who finds our normal world just as strange and magical as his own, and yet… and yet he always knows something is missing, and he does want to find it. He really does. I’m just a little sad that we don’t see him being bothered about being separated from Gwendolyn, his human mother, at the end. That would have been an awesome opportunity for some of Valente’s wise words on children and hearts and home.

I didn’t, perhaps, love it quite as much as I love the books which feature September more heavily, Changeling-child as The Boy Who Lost Fairyland itself is in the series. But I did enjoy viewing everything aslant, and not once but twice — both our world and fairyland turning out to be strange to Hawthorn. (And how will he cope? Will he miss his human family? Will Tamburlaine? I hope we find out.)

And now there’s only one more book? I want it, I want it now — but I don’t want Fairyland to end, not ever.

Rating: 4/5

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

Review – Soundless

Posted February 13, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Soundless, Richelle Mead

I had pretty low expectations of Soundless, based on other people’s reactions, which perhaps helped me enjoy it a little more. I certainly don’t dispute that for something “steeped” in Chinese culture, it’s rather thin on it, and that the magical cure for deafness — coming right at the start of the book, as if all the rest of the plot couldn’t have been carried by a deaf protagonist — is kind of icky. On the other hand, at least the love interest remains deaf, and despite the star-crossed lovers thing it tries to pull, at least it’s never about the fact that Fei can hear and Li Wei can’t. It’s also nice that this is a standalone, with a self-contained plot.

It’s my first Richelle Mead book, so I can’t comment on the style and skill level as compared to her other work. It’s rather simplistically written, and for a book which involves the miraculous return of a character’s sense of hearing, it’s a little thin on the sensory descriptions apart from at key moments — there are some moving descriptions of spontaneous displays of grief, and an interesting section where Fei is beginning to realise she can hear and working out what exactly each noise means… but I feel like I should have been able to smell the paint, taste the tea, feel the grain of wood when she touches Li Wei’s carvings. That richness definitely isn’t there, and it would have added a lot, I think.

Also, on a purely technical note, I know magic is involved, but Fei has actually missed the critical period for learning to hear by a long, long way. You need the experience of hearing as a baby to really be able to understand and interpret it as an adult. At the very least, it’s much more painstaking, and I didn’t see that here either.

The set-up is also pretty simplistic: it’s only a stone’s throw from Panem, really, but less complex. There are only three classes of worker, plus beggars: miners, servants and artists. In a larger social situation, the artists’ importance would probably make more sense, but we’re given to understand it’s a pretty darn small community. Word of mouth (so to speak) works just as well in that setting, and wouldn’t be a drain on resources or manpower. Also, the division of labour versus the division of food makes very little sense.

Still, if you read Soundless as a kind of folk tale, a fable, it kind of works. I didn’t dislike reading it — and I did read it practically all in one go.

Rating: 2/5

Tags: book reviews, books, SF/F

Stacking the Shelves

Posted February 13, 2016 by Nicky in General / 20 Comments

Happy Saturday, everyone! I do look forward to my Saturday posts and going round the regular blogs and some new ones, saying hi, so don’t be shy to leave a comment here — I’ll always reply and comment back on one of your blog posts too. It’s been a quiet week, really: reading-wise, anyway. I did have a friend visiting from the US, so Monday and Tuesday were spent pretending to be a tour guide.

Received to review:

I still need to read Garden Spells, so hopefully First Frost will be an impetus to read both! I’m quite hopeful given a couple of friends’ enthusiasm for them. I got Lois Lane Fallout via maximumpop, who have an astounding amount of good book giveaways.

Bought:

Well, City of Blades actually came via my friend from the US, so it would match my copy of City of Stairs, and The Buried Book and Lone Survivors were gifts from another friend. All of these come from my wishlist, so I’m looking forward to getting stuck in. Especially The Wicked + The Divine!

Library:

I am feeling like a Heyer binge, so I am pleased to note my local library has a bunch in stock at the moment. I need to finish reading Mary Stewart’s Arthurian books, for sure, and I’m a completist, so I had to pick up the Age of Ultron Prelude. Demon Road is Cait @ Paper Fury’s fault.

Read this week:

Reviews this week:
–Rose Cottage, by Mary Stewart. A quiet romance I reread for the familiarity/comfort factor. 3/5 stars
–The Collectors, by Philip Pullman, read by Bill Nighy. Atmospheric and creepy, and the narrator really worked. 4/5 stars
–Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey. My first encounter with Lackey’s Valdemar, surprising as that may be considering how long I’ve loved this genre. I quite enjoyed it, but the writing can be weak. 3/5 stars
–The Midnight Queen, by Sylvia Izzo Hunter. A little bit of Sorcerer to the Crown, a little bit of Jonathan Strange & Norrell, and a lot of sweet romance. 4/5 stars
–Song for the Basilisk, by Patricia McKillip. Lovely, though not the most accessible of McKillip’s books. 4/5 stars
–Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude, by Joe Bennett and Will Pilgrim. Unfortunately, rather a waste of time unless you seriously need an update. 2/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: Camelot’s Sword, by Sarah Zettel. Third in the series, and seeing these posts go up is making me really want to reread them… oops? 4/5 stars

Other posts:
–Blog accessibility. A really important post for me, suggesting quick tips to make your blog easy for readers with visual issues to read.
–Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Romances I’ve Loved. Some fairly predictable ones here…

What’s everyone else been up to? Any book sprees, or have you been more restrained than me?

Tags: books, Stacking the Shelves, weekly roundup

Review – Camelot’s Sword

Posted February 12, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Camelot’s Sword, Sarah Zettel
Originally reviewed in February 2010

I’m liking all of these books in my second reading. It’s interesting to see all the different threads of Arthurian myth and Celtic myth brought together in this way — this book especially weaves so many things together: Tristan and Iseult, Lyonesse (Laurel) and Lynet, Lancelot and Guinevere, Morgaine, the Celtic Otherworld… I think I’m focusing a lot more on that, in this reading, instead of on the romance — which isn’t actually as central as I thought. It could do with more time spent on it, actually, because Gareth’s transformation from a womaniser into Lynet’s faithful knight is very hasty and not really given the time and space it should be. Perhaps the scene on the moor could’ve been expanded — another fifty pages would probably have made the love story much more engaging and satisfying. There were some parts of the relationship with Ryol that were glossed over a bit too much — that was closer to the centre of the story, I think, and didn’t suffer too much, but there were a few places where I wondered why the heck it was happening like that. For example, how did Guinevere figure out that the mirror was the problem? Whence came her sudden decision to confiscate it?

One thing that is becoming clear to me is that the relationships aren’t as cookie-cutter as I thought, my first time through. The relationships between Gawain and Rhian, Geraint and Elen, Gareth and Lynet… they’re much more distinct than I thought at first, and the brothers are less alike than they thought at first. I’m not sure why I thought them so cookie-cutter the first time through, actually. Possibly because all the romance is that bit hastier than I’d like. Possibly I’m a slightly more discerning reader. Possibly my taste has just changed!

I really wish this book had received a little more attention from a proofreader. The little nags I have about grammar and punctuation are really little. For the most part I like the writing. But it’s so distracting to keep thinking, “But where is the comma?”

Rating: 4/5

Tags: Arthurian, book reviews, books, Flashback Friday, romance, Sarah Zettel

Review – Age of Ultron Prelude

Posted February 11, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude, Will Pilgrim, Joe Bennett

This is probably the most disappointing of all the prelude books. If you know a little about the Avengers and you’ve seen all the other films, you’re covered. Don’t bother with this. It becomes especially pointless once you’ve actually seen the film, because it includes background on the Vision and Ultron which doesn’t apply so much anymore. Okay, it’s kind of cool to see a much more diverse team, including Jessica and Carol, but nearly all of this stuff is available elsewhere, and a big chunk of the book is just a retelling of the first Avengers film. Only it makes it a lot flatter and just lacks everything that made that a great spectacle: dialogue, fight scenes, team scenes… it’s all condensed down and drained.

Just… don’t waste your time.

Rating: 2/5

Tags: book reviews, books, comics, Marvel

Review – Song for the Basilisk

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

Song for the Basilisk, Patricia A. McKillip

I’ve mentioned before that I had a somewhat difficult time getting into Patricia McKillip’s books, and Song for the Basilisk is definitely one of the more difficult ones, in my opinion. I wouldn’t suggest starting with it. It contains many characteristics that the other books share — Ombria in Shadow, the tyrant ruling the city; The Bards of Bone Plain, the bards of Luly; the lyrical, reflective prose. I have to be in the right mood to read McKillip’s books, I think: The Changeling Sea was the gateway for me, where I really learnt to appreciate her work.

Song for the Basilisk is rather more abstruse than that one, though it is — as you might expect if you like McKillip’s work — beautiful and entirely worth spending the time with, at least by my lights. Somebody wrote a review which makes a comparison between this and Guy Gavriel Kay’s Tigana, and that’s apt: there are similar themes and even images. I disagree that Song for the Basilisk goes deeper than Tigana, though: they’re different in that in Basilisk the vendetta is more targeted and personal, against a single family, rather than erasing the culture and identity of a whole people. Your response may vary depending on personal taste and experience, but for me the denial of Tigana as a wellspring for identity hits pretty hard — harder than “tyrant hated powerful family because power”, which is more what I got from Basilisk.

Some things about this book I was unsure about: I’m used to feeling some ambivalence about McKillip’s characters, but Luna Pellior threw me for a loop. I was sort of expecting the ending, but I find it difficult to connect the dots. There’s a kind of opaqueness about the book, about Luna, that made it difficult to see things from her perspective — or anyone’s. I felt like more of an observer than a participant.

If you already know what you’re getting into with McKillip’s work, I don’t think this will disappoint. It wouldn’t be my choice of starting point, though.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Patricia A. McKillip, SF/F

Review – The Midnight Queen

Posted February 9, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

The Midnight Queen, Sylvia Izzo Hunter

I can’t remember exactly when or why I picked up The Midnight Queen, but I think I was attracted by the references to the scholarship of magic. After Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, that’s proven to be something I enjoy reading about, particularly in alternate-history settings. This book reminded me of that, and of Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown in the sort of approach to integrating magic and history, while being on the lighter side — more Heyer than Dickens, if you want an idea of tone and style.

The Midnight Queen moves between London, Oxford and Brittany, and delighted my heart in a small, unobtrusive way by referring to the Welsh language as Cymric, and the country as Cymru, rather than Wales. (It’s a small touch, I know, but “wealas” in Saxon meant “foreigner”, so it’s nice to see a book using our word for ourselves as a matter of course.) It does the same with Breton, too, which proved interesting — there’s quite a few references to Breton customs and settings which is a little different in fantasy, I think.

The characters are likeable enough: the awkward Gray, and the lovely but trapped Sophia; lively Joanna, and Gray’s kind sister… they all work well as a cast you can root for, or in the case of the antagonists, hate. The magic is interesting, featuring various different types of magic — including Sophia’s own magic, wrapped in the power of song, like a Siren. It requires exploration on both Gray and Sophia’s part, though Gray starts off with a good grounding in it which allows him to guide Sophia and the reader.

I can see some readers finding it rather slow paced, particularly at the beginning; aside from a quick burst of initial action, there’s a longish section where not much seems to happen except Gray and Sophia talking to each other. I quite liked it anyway: it builds the relationship, which you do need for the later chapters to really work. The romance is sweet, without too many stupid setbacks due to lack of communication. Hurrah!

This is listed on Goodreads as a series, and I’ll be interested to see where it goes next — whether it follows the same characters, or perhaps takes a little detour into Joanna’s doings, or perhaps into the past with Laora. Personally, I’m up for it!

Rating: 4/5

Tags: alt history, book reviews, books, SF/F

Top Ten Tuesday

Posted February 9, 2016 by Nicky in General / 15 Comments

This week’s theme is a Valentine’s Day related freebie, so I’m going to put together a list of fictional romances I have loved! And probably no one will be surprised by my choices.

Gawain and Dame Ragnell. Sarah Zettel’s Camelot’s Shadow is the only contemporary book I can think of that uses these two in the way I’d like. I love that, in the original(? oldest extant might be a better word) medieval version, it’s all about equality. Gawain gives Ragnell a choice about her own life, her own body. How can that not appeal?
Roux and Vianne, from Joanne Harris’ Chocolat. I used to think of this book as a guilty pleasure, but having given that whole concept up, I have to cop to this one (and why not?). The undemanding connection between these two really works for me — and reminds me of a favourite song, Suzanne Vega’s ‘Gypsy’.
Joscelin and Phèdre, from Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Dart. I want a Joscelin of my own! Okay, they take some time getting there, but they come to an understanding and they are devoted to each other.
Pilar and Loup, from Jacqueline Carey’s Santa Olivia. They’re just… adorable. Puppy love and all.
Anluan and Catrin, from Juliet Marillier’s Heart’s Blood. A lovely Beauty and the Beast retelling, and I really believed in the way these two damaged people came together.
Marco and Celia, from Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus. This book is just… gorgeous. I need to reread it.
Lord Peter and Harriet, from Dorothy L. Sayers’ Strong Poison. Well, the whole series, of course. The patience he has with her, and the way they finally, finally get together… “If I should once give way to Peter, I should go up like straw.”
Kate and Curran, from Ilona Andrews’ Magic Bites. Again, the whole series. They’re just… such good banter and also passion and irritation and… yep.
Phryne and Lin Chung, from Kerry Greenwood’s Away With the Fairies. I might wish for Phryne to flirt with someone else again, but I do enjoy the bond between these two.
Simon and Baz, from Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On. Okay, I haven’t even read it yet, but I’ve peeked, and eeeeh.

And of course, every Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart and Susanna Kearsley romance feels perfect as I read it — they just don’t tend to stick in my head separately the way these do.

Tags: books, romance, Top Ten Tuesday

Blog accessibility

Posted February 8, 2016 by Nicky in General / 14 Comments

It’s time to have a quick chat about something: blog accessibility. It’s particularly important to me because my mother has macular degeneration and I’ve been a volunteer for two charities which advocate for people who have sight-related disabilities, and because I know I have at least one regular reading my blog who uses a screenreader. It’s something you might not be very conscious of — especially if, as I found was pretty common, you assume that people with sight issues don’t (can’t) read.

Well, the technology for disabled people to keep on reading is definitely out there — magnifiers, audiobooks, ereaders, even plain ol’ being read to. And likewise, there’s plenty of assistive technology available for participation online, from screenreaders to browser extensions. I’m willing to bet there are some bloggers who use these technologies, maybe without talking about it, and probably there are people who are frustrated about participating because of issues, like pages with teeny tiny fonts, grey on white text, twiddly fonts, no alt text, etc, etc.

So! What can we do to fix this? It’s a lot of information to take in, but there is a website specifically teaching web accessibility, if you want to go the whole hog: the Web Accessibility Initiative. There’s also an accessibility evaluation tool called WAVE, which might help. And there’s a checklist I run through in my head (which I spent entirely too much time making into an acronym):

ACCESS

Alt(ernative) text. If you include an image, describe that image in the alt text. All you need is to add alt=”Description” to the HTML. Then screenreaders will read out the description instead of skipping the image entirely.
Contrast and colour. Have you got grey text on a black or white background? If so, there’s a good chance some people can’t read it at all, and others will get headaches trying! Black against white (and white against black) are a good contrast, obviously, and I can’t imagine anyone wants to go with black on neon yellow, which is supposed to be very readable. But try and think about contrast when designing your blog.
Ease. Is it easy to find things on your site, or do people have to trawl through miles of menus to find something?
Size. This is somewhat adjustable by the end-user, but if you have BIG TEXT for reviews and tiny text for comments, people will need to zoom in and out depending on which part of the page they’re on. Keeping things more or less the same size should help, and you can check this easily yourself by zooming in and out in your browser.
Style. If you’re using a font with serifs (little extra strokes on the letters), this can be difficult for people with dyslexia and visual issues. There’s a good page here about font choices and how to present text on your webpage.

I am sure there’s a ton of stuff which that leaves out, but it’s a good jumping off point, I think, along with using evaluation tools. The benefit of all this is that your site will look good to all your visitors, if you plan for them in the first place, and more people can participate in our community and share their views and experiences. Can’t see a downside to (book) blog accessibility!

As for my own blog accessibility, I have already worked on it somewhat (with my mother’s feedback and web evaluation tools), and I’m always open to making more modifications, too. My skills with css and coding and so on are non-existent, so I might be limited in exactly what I can do. Still, that’s what the internet/my techy partner is for, and I will do my best to accommodate any disability needs!

Tags: accessibility, discussion

Review – Arrows of the Queen

Posted February 8, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Arrows of the Queen, Mercedes Lackey

I’ve always vaguely known about Mercedes Lackey’s work, but rarely read any, so this was my first experience with Valdemar. I’m aware that there are tons of problematic things about Mercedes Lackey’s body of work, though I haven’t looked at details. Still, Arrows of the Queen is a book I wish I’d had when I was younger. It has a couple of queer characters, who are treated pretty much like the other characters — okay, things aren’t all rosy for them, but not for other characters, either. And the main character is a young girl who loves books, and turns out to belong to something bigger than herself — that scullery maid to (almost) princess sort of transition which can be so fun (and which so often brings forth cries of “Mary Sue” when the character is female, and yet no such complaint is made if the character is male).

It’s fun, and Talia is capable and compassionate, while also learning and growing throughout the book. There are some things which jar a little now, for example her casual use of corporal punishment with the spoilt young princess, even after coming from a rather abusive background herself. It’s pretty commonly agreed now that corporal punishment doesn’t really go any good, but here it’s treated as a valuable tool in the arsenal of unspoiling a child. I’m dubious, and I’m sure there are people who would hate that section, but at least Talia has a general common sense approach to dealing with the Brat.

On the less positive side, the writing seriously falls down in places. Large chunks of time fly by, without any real framing, so that you think she’s been at the school for a month and it turns out it’s been a year, and such things. Worse, Lackey is — at least at this point in her career — very prone to “telling, not showing”. This sometimes wrecks the pacing and makes sections seem rather dry and didactic.

Still, I read it in one go and did enjoy it, and I’m planning to read more in the Valdemar universe. And I still wish I’d actually picked this up as a kid, and given it to my sister too. It might have made us feel less alone.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Mercedes Lackey, queer fic, SF/F