Author: Nicky

Review – Genes, Peoples and Languages

Posted January 5, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Genes, Peoples and Languages, Luigi Cavalli-Sforza, trans. Mark Seielstad

I’ve been meaning to read this for a while — even before coming across it in Steven Pinker’s The Language Instinct — because genes and languages are two interests of mine. I’m not much for statistics and I found it difficult to follow some of the analyses of the data in this book, but fortunately, Cavalli-Sforza and his translator managed to put the conclusions across quite clearly. I’m surprised to see opposition to the idea that the spread of genes and languages can be mapped onto each other fairly closely, with some exceptions; Darwin predicted it, and according to the data here, it’s fairly clear.

I think the book might’ve benefited from a tighter focus, all the same; it seemed like the language chapter/s went off on a tangent somewhat. Still very interesting, and no doubt out of date by now — my edition says 2001 — so I really should look for more up to date stuff.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, non-fiction

Top Ten Tuesday

Posted January 5, 2016 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

This week’s theme is, of course, about your Top Ten resolutions. I’m trying to keep mine bookish this year — let’s see how I do.

Read 200 books bought pre-2016.
Beat buying average from 2015.
Listen to audiobooks instead of music when out walking.
Write reviews immediately.
Remember to read non-fiction when I’m anxious — curiosity is the antidote to anxiety.
Don’t keep library books more than two months.
Review ARCs before release date.
Finish all series in progress.
Don’t buy duplicate copies (e.g. a paperback when I have the ebook) until I know whether I like and want to keep the book.
Put a book on Bookmooch or the donation pile if I’m not likely to reread it within five years.

That’s not a bad list! What’s everyone else resolving?

Tags: books, Top Ten Tuesday

On deadlines, GRRM and consequences

Posted January 4, 2016 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

This weekend, I saw George R.R. Martin’s post about the next book in his series, The Winds of Winter, apologising for further delays to the deadlines and explaining what’s going on. You can find that here. Not shockingly, I have opinions on this.

I’m a freelance writer. I have deadlines and they’re pretty set in stone. I have to get up and go to the computer no matter how I feel when there’s a deadline coming up, or there’ll be a penalty: bad feedback, no re-employment, cuts in pay. If I have copy to write, I don’t get to run out of ideas. If I say I’ll deliver an article on a topic, I can’t change my mind (at least not without consulting my client, and being prepared to deliver the article I originally pitched anyway). When I’m ghostwriting, I don’t get the luxury of saying that the inspiration isn’t there. It’s as stark as that: I don’t deliver, I don’t get paid.

So I totally feel the argument that if you commit to deadlines, you should deliver by the deadlines or face the consequences.

Thing is, for me, the consequences aren’t a horde of angry fans with whom I have no contract, no agreement, no protection. The consequences are between me and my employer, and possibly potential future employers. There are rules which govern the way I interact with my clients, and if they break those rules, I have recourse.

Not so much for Martin. He’s got this big amorphous group of fans who he is palpably worried about upsetting, in addition to his publishers. And it’s fandom, which has proved itself fully capable of all kinds of insanity in revenge for slights real or imagined. I wouldn’t want to be the person sorting through his email inbox: I’m willing to bet there’s abuse, threats, all sorts, because this has just got that big.

But look. He owes his readers nothing.

There’s no contract binding him to entertain them at their command. He no doubt has a contract to deliver the work to his publisher, who will have given him an advance, and they’re the only ones who have any right to hold him to a deadline. The deadline argument is a fair enough one to make… if you’re his publisher.

If you’re not, then please consider this: you’re adding additional pressure. As well as having to negotiate with his publisher, with HBO, with anyone else who has a financial stake in the books, now Martin has to be his own public relations department. And speaking from experience, having even one person chasing you up for work sucks your energy, your motivation, your time. Nobody is actually sanguine about missing deadlines. We know there are consequences.

I would be willing to lay money that the additional fan pressure, the constant speculation that he’ll die before finishing the books, the rumours that he hasn’t written anything… that all of that is contributing to making it more difficult for Martin to write, not less. That all this pushing and shoving is hindering progress.

This isn’t about financial consequences, it’s a sense of entitlement. False entitlement. Authors don’t owe us new books on a regular basis. Leave the consequences to the publishers — as fans, we should surely support the authors instead of adding more resistance.

Obviously, supporting the authors can include wanting to read their next book, being excited about it, being disappointed when it’s not going to come out on time. But authors are people and have lives, and we’re not their employers. Personally, I would rather my favourite authors be okay, be satisfied, and write good books, than deliver to a deadline.

Tags: books, discussion, George R.R. Martin

Review – Before They Are Hanged

Posted January 4, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Before They Are Hanged, Joe Abercrombie

It’s surprising, looking back now I’ve finished Before They Are Hanged, to discover how little progress has really been made in the book. I originally commented that this book mostly sees character development, and that’s the case again — we see more of Logen’s dark side, more of Ferro’s softer side (which is only really marginally softer), and we begin to see Jezal shaping up into a half-decent sort of person. West and Glokta continue to be conflicted figures (though all the characters, really, are conflicted), caught between their flaws and their devotion to their duties, and whether those duties are even the right thing to do in the first place. And Malacus Quai… becomes more of an enigma; I was interested by the slow hints of his development, though we don’t really spend any time in his head, and I don’t recall what happens to the character.

As with the first book, half of these characters are pretty terrible people. Either they’ve done terrible things, they want to do terrible things, they’re doing terrible things, or they will do terrible things. Or terrible things have been done to them. The tentative relationships between Glokta and Ardee, Ferro and Logen, Glokta and Vitari, the growing trust between all of Logen’s group… All of these are well done as well. Mismatches and uncertainty and snatching things where you can find them… Again, it all feels real.

In many ways, this is typical fantasy. The Shanka are basically orcs, Bayaz appears to be Gandalf, the set up for Jezal to be a king is rather obvious… But there’s also grit and realism which was absent in The Lord of the Rings, which people usually point to as the archetype. I’m not sure I wanted to know that men’s nipples chafe when travelling in a rainstorm, but I know for sure that Tolkien wouldn’t have included that in his mythology!

Yes, it’s fairly obviously a part of the tradition. But I think it comments on it, too, and stretches it a little. It’s not all typical. And if you’re expecting Tolkien’s eucatastrophe, Joe Abercrombie seems fairly set to disappoint you.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Joe Abercrombie, SF/F

January TBR

Posted January 3, 2016 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

Wait, it’s already the 3rd? Okay, clearly I need to do my January TBR post already! My 2016 goal is actually to read a book a day, on average, but I’m not going to pick too many books I have to read — I’m just going to pick out library books, challenge books and ARCs that I definitely need to get on with.

So, the list?

This Savage Song, Victoria Schwab. ARC! Not releasing until May, I think? So I do have time, but I might as well try and keep ahead of the game!
The Frog Princess, E.D. Baker. This is for the Ultimate Reading Challenge on Habitica, a book recommended by my sister. A nice easy one to polish off.
Silver on the Tree, Susan Cooper. Last one for the TDIR readathon!
Guardian of the Dead, Karen Healey. Needs to go back to the library. Plus, one of the main supporting characters is ace!
The Furthest Shore, Ursula Le Guin. Should’ve finished this by the beginning of January. Oops.
Tehanu, Ursula Le Guin. Likewise.
Tales from Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin. Aaaand ditto.
The Other Wind, Ursula Le Guin. Yep.
Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie. Last in the trilogy, and due back at the library.
Unnatural Creatures, ed. Neil Gaiman. It looks like an interesting, diverse, and very readable collection. And it needs to go back to the library.

I have a bunch of other books which I’ll probably get round to, especially since I’m taking a limited number of print books with me to Belgium to visit my partner. That includes Jacqueline Carey’s Santa Olivia and Saints Astray, Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno Garcia, City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett… But I’m only going to push myself about the ten above. Anything else is a bonus!

Crossing things out as I get to them!

Tags: books, TBR

Review – Siege and Storm

Posted January 3, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Siege and Storm, Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm, the second Grisha book, wasn’t quite as absorbing as the first, Shadow and Bone — though that would be difficult, since I read the first half of Shadow and Bone while walking back from the library. I’m not even kidding. I think the pacing was a bit off here, and the fact that the book is almost 100 pages longer did it no actual favours. It’s still a pretty quick read, but the extra 80 pages felt like unneeded bulk.

Or perhaps that’s the added time I spent disbelieving that Mal would keep being such an idiot. He plays right into the hands of his rivals. It’s like he liked Alina when she wasn’t powerful, when she needed him to look after her, and he could feel superior because he was taking care of her, he was the only one who saw her worth, etc. Granted, Alina herself is changing (and I liked that journey, the way the power is changing her and the conflict she feels about it) and of course that concerns him, but it doesn’t seem to be about that. He just doesn’t like that she’s no longer devoted to him and that she’s no longer his to protect.

Which is, well. Kinda gross.

Nikolai, on the other hand, is pretty awesome in all his guises. I like that the way he acts is carefully examined — he’s manipulative, and he knows it and uses it, but at the same time, he’s not 100% comfortable with it. He seems to care about his mother and about Alina. He also genuinely cares about his country, rather than wanting power for the sake of power. And unlike Mal, he’s very clear about what he wants and expects of Alina.

The Darkling isn’t much in evidence here, with just a handful of scenes. That leaves the book a little lacking, I think; his opposition isn’t enough felt for a good 100-150 pages in the middle. It makes the showdown at the end very sudden. I’m not mourning the loss of his manipulation of Alina — interesting parallel to Nikolai, who is at least open about it — but he felt a little… lacking in bite.

I’m interested to read the third book, and hopefully it’ll get more of the momentum back. This seems like a lot of criticisms, but I did enjoy Siege and Storm enough not to drop it another star.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Leigh Bardugo, SF/F

Review – The Dark Arts of Blood

Posted January 2, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

The Dark Arts of Blood, Freda Warrington

The Dark Arts of Blood is much like the other books in this series: lush, sexy, gothic, and unapologetic about that. The plot and such are more or less the same sort of fare: mythology shaping the world, the world shaping the mythology, the vampires trying to live in peace but being fundamentally at odds with the world because of their need for blood… For the most part, this belated addition to the series works seamlessly with the earlier books; it also doesn’t descend into any kind of nostalgia for the older books. There are consequences. Things happen to characters who we wished were safe. The mythology and magic of the world — and the tumultuous period of history the books are set in — continues to intensify.

One thing which didn’t work for me was the sub-plot with Charlotte and the lamia. It’s much the same kind of conflict she’s already faced, which was resolved in The Dark Blood of Poppies. I didn’t buy that it would resurface like this, especially when other vampires didn’t face similar problems at all with the same stimulus.

Still, the addition of more vampires to the world, going further afield and seeing other countries, is definitely welcome. And despite the fact that they got together in the first book, the relationship between Charlotte and Karl still has the same intensity now. It’s also good that despite the fact that they disagree, there is rarely high drama about it — the second book showed the biggest threat of that, but they worked on it. That is always great to see in romance fiction.

Bottom line? If you like morally ambiguous, often amoral vampires who are actually scary and otherworldly and not just humans with stick-on fangs and extra sex appeal, I do recommend this series. I’m thinking of acquiring the books for myself (I read them all from the library) for later rereading. I never expected to get so caught up, from reading the first book — there’s something so deliciously self-indulgent about them.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, romance, SF/F

Unstacking the Shelves

Posted January 2, 2016 by Nicky in General / 26 Comments

For the first time in a long time — or possibly the whole time I’ve been doing the Stacking the Shelves meme via Tynga’s Reviews — I don’t have any new books from any source to share this week! It helps that the library is closed and I have a firm resolution to stick to a budget (see my Shelf Love participation post). Technically, my book ban from December is over, but I do want to try and be mindful of buying books this year.

So to celebrate, I have a new feature for this blog. Sort of. I remember someone else once posting “Unstacking the Shelves” posts, while they were trying to catch up with their backlog, and I’m going to shamelessly steal their idea. Whenever I have no books to report buying, I get to do an Unstacking the Shelves post, showing what I’ve read in the last week!

Which is, this week, the following six books:

My favourite read this week was probably The Masked City, which I enjoyed more than I expected to based on my rating of the first book — I’m beginning to think I was overly cranky with that one! It was interesting to read Kowal and Mosse’s short stories, too; they’re very different collections. Lagoon, I’m still processing… So far, I still need to write reviews for the last four.

At the same time, I thought I might start highlighting my other posts this week for people who only come by on a Saturday via the link-up. That way, people just dropping by can get a better idea of my blog — and maybe some people will want to stick around!

Reviews this week:
–Greenwitch, by Susan Cooper. This was my reread for the TDIR Readathon; it’s a very familiar book for me, so it was like visiting with old friends. I did have some new thoughts about Jane Drew this time, though. 5/5 stars
–Charm, by Sarah Pinborough. Second in the series, this retells the story of Cinderella… with extra sex and links to all kinds of other fairytales. 3/5 stars
–Word Puppets, by Mary Robinette Kowal. Received to review via Netgalley, this introduced me to Kowal’s non-Regency work. There are some forgettable stories, but for the most part it’s a strong collection. 4/5 stars
–The Masked City, by Genevieve Cogman. So much fun! Magic and books and dragons and Fae… And did I mention that the main character is an operative for an organisation called the Library, and there’s an awesome magic system using the power of words? Sign me up! 4/5 stars
–The Cutting Room, ed. Ellen Datlow. Unfortunately not really my thing, though there are some very memorable stories in the collection. Probably a case of ‘it’s not you’… 2/5 stars
–The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie. This was another reread, albeit one I wasn’t as familiar with as Greenwitch. I enjoyed it a lot; memory, if anything, had downgraded this from the rating it deserved. 4/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: The House at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman. This feature reposts old reviews I wrote before I had this blog. Neil Gaiman’s work is solidly entertaining, but I thought maybe I was exactly the wrong age to appreciate this one. 3/5 stars

Other posts:
–Bout of Books Participation Post. For once, I’m on time to join in the Bout of Books readathon!
–Top Ten Tuesday: Repeat Gifts. This week I went off-script and picked a theme of my own, talking about the books that I’m always giving to new people.
–ShelfLove Participation Post. This challenge worked really well for me last year, and here’s my (rather ambitious) plan for 2016!

I’ve also just added a bunch of social media options to the blog, so you can now follow me on Google+ or Facebook. I have a Twitter as well, but it has more of a personal focus. Me being me, though, a personal focus still means a lot of book chatter.

Oh well, we’ll see! How’s everyone doing? Hope you’ve started 2016 as you mean to go on, with laughter and light and love and anything else your heart desires.

(Please please please do not comment telling me to enjoy my new books. It will make it obvious you haven’t read the text at all and will make me sad.)

Tags: books, Stacking the Shelves, weekly roundup

ShelfLove Participation Post

Posted January 1, 2016 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

ShelfLove challenge

So last year’s ShelfLove challenge went really well and I finished up the year by meeting pretty much all my goals on not buying books. In fact, this is the first year since 2011 that I kept the average under buying a book a day. I am seriously addicted to books — for one thing, when I’m sad, I want new books — so this was pretty good. And I kept it quite a ways under that average, too, with only around 240 books bought or acquired before my Christmas presents, vouchers, etc, joined the list.

My goals this year? Beat this year’s buying average, stick to the budget I maintained in 2015 (no more than 10% of my income on books in any given month), and read 200 books acquired before 2016. I know, I know — the actual highest number suggested by the challenge is 51+. But I’m ambitious. I have no idea how attainable this is as a goal, but I usually read 300+ books a year, so I think it’s doable if I can just keep focused.

Another side-goal is getting my Netgalley ratio to 100%, after finally reaching that coveted 80% juuust at the end of December. Obviously I’m okay with this being via finally reading and reviewing the books, or accepting that it’s not going to happen: that’s how I got to 80%, after all. I also want to finish series that I’m partway through — like Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher books — and get on top of my library addiction a bit. I currently have 30+ books out of the library and a special shelf to keep them on. I like having them there to look at, but I’m not keeping up with them properly. Time to fix that!

Ready? Let’s get reading!

Tags: #ShelfLove, challenge

Review – The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Posted January 1, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman
Originally reviewed 8th September, 2013

I don’t know how to review this. Skimming other people’s reviews there’s a lot of debate over whether it’s adult/young adult fiction (haven’t seen anyone advocating for “new adult”, or whatever the term is — that is one genre it certainly isn’t, even saying that as someone in my mid-twenties), or about the length. Or people just enthuse (or don’t). It’s certainly a very quick read. As for who it’s suitable for — there’s a quote somewhere in it about myths, about how they’re stories that just are. “I liked myths. They weren’t adult stories and they weren’t children’s stories. They were better than that. They just were.” That’s how this felt to me.

It certainly has points best appreciated by different audiences. I don’t know if Diana Wynne Jones was alive to read it in any form, but she would have been an ideal reader for it, I think. There’s something on the mythic level that would appeal to a child (at least one like the narrator, which I think I was — certainly you could say of me that “I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else”). And there’s an adult level, about memory, and forgetting, and nostalgia for childhood. Some of which I think Gaiman is very wise about. For example…:

I do not miss childhood, but I do miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from the things or people or moments that hurt, but I took joy in the things that made me happy.

A lot of people think they miss childhood, but they’re looking back at a utopian fantasy. But here Gaiman’s narrator (which people to some extent seem to identify with him himself) is picking out something about childhood that we really do lose: the ability to live in the moment. Or at least, he gets nearer the heart of it than many people do.

Despite that, just as a story… I don’t know how much I enjoyed this. I suspect I’m the wrong age for it, in a way. I’m still a bookish kid at heart in enough ways that I appreciated the mythic aspects, but I think the adult aspects, the question of memory… I think that’ll be more meaningful when I’m older. If it helps to pin down my reaction, I will certainly read this again someday. Right now I do resonate with the brief image we get of the narrator at twenty-four, uncertain and unhappy, searching for reassurance.

The mythic aspect of Gaiman’s world is fascinating: ultimately unknowable, somehow, even as it focuses on mundane things like broken child’s toys and mending clothes. That leaves you with little to get hold of — and, as with many things about this book, I’m ambivalent about that, too.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Flashback Friday, Neil Gaiman, SF/F