Author: Nicky

Review – Time’s Anvil

Posted February 1, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Time's Anvil by Richard MorrisTime’s Anvil: England, Archaeology and the Imagination, Richard Morris

I really need more books on archaeology; it’s a relaxing thing to read about, somehow, and I prefer it to biography because it can be so varied. Time’s Anvil certainly delivered on the ‘varied’ front, though it is very varied in a way that does feel odd at times: one moment it reflects on the personal life of Morris’ forebears, the next on the historical landscape of Britain, and the two are rather mingled. It meanders, is the best way I can think of to put it. It’s not uninteresting, but some chapters feel immensely dense while others just don’t go into the depth I’d like.

Stuff I did find interesting: the battlefield archaeology stuff, particularly on placing battle sites like that of Bosworth more precisely; the attention to that moment of thrill in holding an artefact that links you somehow to someone hundreds or thousands of years before you; examining the role of metal detecting; examining problems with excavation vs preservation, and in addition, what should be preserved and how we should do that…

There’s a lot of interesting stuff touched on, but it’s not really a book about any one thing, save for the development of English archaeology in general. A book like Seahenge is much more satisfying to me: it sets out a problem, a mystery, and seeks to solve it — knowing always that we can’t have that final scene where the culprit is decisively named. I like the chains of evidence, comparisons between sites, the surprises that crop up during excavations… In that sense, this book isn’t specific enough for me.

So, all in all, enjoyable enough, but not what I really wanted.

Rating: 3/5

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Unpopular Opinions Tag

Posted January 31, 2016 by Nicky in General / 18 Comments

I got tagged by Kaja @ Of Dragons and Hearts to do the Unpopular Opinions tag, which I’ve been tagged for and tempted to do before, so clearly it’s about time…

Cover of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. RowlingA popular book or series you didn’t like: Uh, Harry Potter? Sorry, sorry, I just really don’t get on with the books, even when I tried to reread them!

A popular book/series everybody hates but you love: Well, everyone loves to rag on David Eddings’ work, but I do still enjoy The Diamond Throne. It was funnier Cover of Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugothan I remembered, and I really should finish my reread.

A love triangle where you didn’t like who the main character ended up with: Mal/Alina/Nikolai in Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha books. I liked the idea of Mal and Alina at first (friends to lovers is one of those tropes I like!), but Mal ended up being so jealous and unsupportive and just… no. Nikolai was much more charming.

A popular genre you hardly read: Hmm, this is a difficult one, because I read a bit of everything. I guess contemporary fiction that doesn’t contain any magic anywhere!

Cover of The Winter King by Bernard CornwellA popular/beloved character you dislike: Well, I don’t get it when people like Lancelot, 99.999% of the time? Mind you, I was pretty much trained to dislike him by Bernard Cornwell’s books. I also don’t get it when people like characters like Draco or Snape. Not so much my thing.

Cover of The White Queen, by Philippa GregoryA popular author you can’t seem to get into: Philippa Gregory. I have bounced so hard off every single one of her books that I tried.

A popular trope you’re tired of reading: Love triangles… who isn’t?

A popular series you have no interest in reading: Divergent et al, I guess. I do actually have Divergent somewhere on my Kindle, and my partner quite enjoyed the series, but it’s not really speaking to me.

A movie you liked better than the book: I don’t watch that many movies, honestly. Captain America: The Winter Soldier? Does that count? I thought the adaptation was absolutely amazing.

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Review – Queen of the Flowers

Posted January 31, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Queen of the Flowers by Kerry GreenwoodQueen of the Flowers, Kerry Greenwood

Queen of the Flowers is one of the better Phryne books, to my mind. It features pretty much all of the main cast, albeit some of them briefly: Dot, the girls, Jack, Hugh, Lin Chung and his wife, Bert, Cec, the Butlers… There are some new characters, but there’s a very personal element to this book. It explores Ruth and Jane a little more — mostly Ruth — and shows us Ruth’s roots, finally following up on her love of romances to put her in one of her own — the long lost child finding her father. Maybe.

The other plot, with the flower girls and the pageant, etc, is fairly typical and more or less unremarkable, and there are some odd moments here; for example, when Ruth is missing, presumed kidnapped, life goes on in a rather casual way. Which is rather surprising when you consider Phryne’s protectiveness of those she considers her own. It makes some sense in context (e.g. Phryne figures out that Ruth is embarrassed and staying away of her own accord after being a bit of an idiot), but it still feels wrong — especially when Phryne knows her adopted daughters have been targeted to get to her in the past, and are undoubtedly vulnerable.

And I must admit to a longing for Phryne to go after someone other than Lin Chung for once. It’s been books and books since she was with someone else — Death Before Wicket, I think? — and it feels odd. I know she loves Lin Chung, but after everything she’s said about not settling down… she seems remarkably settled. It doesn’t feel quite right, and it’s a shame whenever Phryne or another character calls her(self) a concubine. I do love the old Phryne too, much as I like Lin Chung…

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Kingfisher

Posted January 30, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Kingfisher by Patricia A. McKillipKingfisher, Patricia A. McKillip

Received to review via Netgalley

The formatting of this was less than ideal on my Kindle, since I think it’s a proofing copy and thus there were numbers all through the document, and bizarre sections with no paragraph breaks, and all sorts of fun things like that. I did read some of it on my computer, which was better in one way, but not the most comfortable way to read either. In a way, I wish I hadn’t read this now, despite my eagerness for it — there’s a thread of McKillip’s usual enchantment and strangeness here, but I’m pretty sure that some of the odd moments were just caused by the formatting. Not really experienced as the author intended, I think.

I don’t know to what extent I’m typical of the audience for this book. To me, the Arthurian influence was immediately apparent — the Fisher King, some of the names (Vivienne?), the relationship between Sir Leith and Queen Ginevra, the king Arden. The strange ceremony, the issue of someone outside the ritual needing to ask, the grail-like object. Pierce’s story is almost like that of Percival, and yet not always, not quite. At least, not a version I know. It felt all askew, because I know the Arthurian versions so well, and particularly because I really don’t like the Percival story, in general. I don’t like it when he’s Welsh and ignorant, and yet at the same time I don’t like his Welsh background being ignored either. The grail story just loses me entirely, in general, even when it’s closer to the Welsh sources than to Chrétien’s.

On the other hand, I love McKillip’s work a lot. She does magic and enchantment so well, and writes so beautifully. That is certainly in evidence here as much as ever. She makes something interesting and different of the old stories, of the grail-seeking. I felt like the Severluna/Calluna stuff never quite worked itself out fully — it seemed a fairly typical god/goddess dichotomy/conflict, complete with god-obsessed young men making nuisances of themselves to older/feminine magics. I wanted more, something different. Stranger? Stranger is a good word for what McKillip usually manages.

The Stillwater character and what he did was interesting — very classically mythological, and yet fresh too. It took me some time to fit that into the plot, because it’s not an intrinsic part of the Arthurian story — perhaps one reason why someone less familiar with the legends might enjoy this more. I always find myself playing puzzle pieces with Arthurian stories, or even ones that’re just inspired by Arthuriana.

I don’t know how to assess it, at the end of all this. For holding me rapt despite misgivings, I think I’m going to go ahead and give it four stars, “really liked it”. In an ambivalent, intrigued sort of way.

Rating: 4/5

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted January 30, 2016 by Nicky in General / 30 Comments

Wait, it’s Saturday again already? Well, I haven’t bought any books this week (despite some temptation), so once again I get to showcase what I’ve been reading. It isn’t a true “Unstacking” week, though, because I did get a review copy… although technically, I got it last week and forgot to include it in the stack.

Cover of The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Hellig Cover of The Collectors by Philip Pullman Cover of Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood Cover of The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers Cover of Signal to Noise by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia

 Cover of Time's Anvil by Richard Morris Cover of Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart Cover of Kingfisher by Patricia A. McKillip Cover of Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey

It was a very good reading week, despite the struggle I had with the maths assignment that just wouldn’t die.

And here’s a book I was sent by the author:

Cover of Chameleon Moon by RoAnna Sylver

Aaaand the weekly round-up…

Reviews this week:

City of Stairs, by Robert Jackson Bennett. Loved this one, really looking forward to City of Blades5/5 stars
Unnatural Death, adapted from the book by Dorothy L. Sayers. I think in previous readings I rated it higher, but I got a bit tired of the convolutions in this one. Still, 3/5 stars
Santa Olivia, Jacqueline Carey. Actually a reread for me, but it still had some surprises. Lots of fun! 4/5 stars
Phonogram: Rue Britannia, by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. I was toddling in the 90s, so a lot of the references were lost on me. The art’s great, though. 3/5 stars
How Not to Summon Your True Love, by Sasha L. Miller. Cute story, kinda fun, but the asexual relationship wasn’t as big of a feature as I’d have liked. 3/5 stars
The Girl from Everywhere, by Heidi Heilig. I read it in two sittings, so despite having some quibbles about characterisation later on, the setting and worldbuilding definitely worked for me. 4/5 stars
Flashback Friday: Camelot’s Shadow, by Sarah Zettel. An old review of a series that’s turned into comfort reading for me, and this is the book that features Sir Gawain the most! 4/5 stars

Other posts:

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Picked Up At Random and Loved. It was a freebie week, so it took me a while to think of a topic, but this one was fun.
On reading kinks (that one trope). Is there something in a story that will always make you love it? I had a go at dissecting mine here.

How is everyone? Eating up books as much as you’d like? Tempted by anything in particular? Update me!

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On reading kinks (that one trope)

Posted January 29, 2016 by Nicky in General / 21 Comments

This could probably be a Top Ten Tuesday post or something, but Kate Elliott has a giveaway running at the moment which asks about your favourite reading kink/trope, and it made me want to expand a little on my initial thoughts and post about it. The description is perhaps best borrowed from Elliott’s own post:

[A reading kink is] a trope or type of character or a plot thing or whatever that if it shows up in a book kind of hits all your buttons (in a good way). So for example I might write: “Arrogant dudes who fall in love and have to get humble to get the love interest, a la Mr. Darcy” or “the outsider who is kind of bullied or ignored and who ends up finding she has special powers and a super destiny,” because those are both tried and true (and often cliched) tropes that are reading kinks for me.

As someone who has been involved in fandom and fanfiction (mostly years ago; somehow I seem to have fallen out of the habit now), tropes are something I’m fairly aware of. Favourites of mine include:

  • The childhood friend. The kind of love story that grows from friendship and familiarity; often seen in Mary Stewart’s romances, for example. That trust and support, especially when it’s an easy transition — it just sounds lovely.
  • Flint and tinder. I’ve definitely talked about this before — characters who argue, snark and snipe at each other, and yet turn out to be in love all along. That kind of relationship that makes me think that Mal was better suited for Simon than Kaylee, in Firefly. People who get under one another’s skin. Lord Peter and Harriet Vane.
  • The political marriage. Or other forced marriage tropes, but mostly when it involves coming to an understanding. “I don’t love you, but we can be good to each other and achieve our aims this way.” And I wouldn’t mind if it grew into the kind of steady, familiar trusting love of the childhood friend type, over time, or if the two partners found love elsewhere but supported each other in it. I keep thinking about the example in Tanya Huff’s The Fire’s Stone — the three characters agreeing on a workaround which suits propriety but gets each what they want/need. Man, I need to reread that. Also features in Heyer’s The Convenient Marriage.
  • The second son. Not a romance trope! It doesn’t have to be the second son exactly, but that is a trope I’ve noticed: the quiet, sterner, dedicated younger son, like Raymond E. Feist’s Arutha, or Tad Williams’ Josua. Robin Hobb’s Verity, drawn into heroic sacrifice because he can’t be his brother. Faramir. The type of character who knows and relishes their place in support, not the spoilt and grasping ones (like Robin Hobb’s Regal).
  • The Protector. Joscelin from Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel books. He goes with Phèdre into any danger, for love of her. Loyalty, that’s the key.
  • Sacrifice. That would be the reason that Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Summer Tree and The Wandering Fire get to me so much.
  • Friendship. That unshakeable, unbreakable bond — without romance. Mal and Zoe. Simon and River, though that’s family. Paul and Kevin, in The Summer Tree.
  • Turns out you’re the hero. I’m just reading Mercedes Lackey’s Arrows of the Queen for the first time, and confess that I’m enjoying Talia slowly realising she’s been chosen. The kitchen boy who makes good; the kitchen girl who overturns the social order. The frail kid from Brooklyn who saves the world again and again.
  • The Paladin. That frail kid from Brooklyn. Mass Effect’s Shepard, if played as total Paragon. Someone with this complete goodness of heart, who enables others to be better, who is willing to strive and to sacrifice. Done wrong, they can be sanctimonious assholes. Done right, you get moments like in Captain America: Winter Soldier, when the SHIELD employee listens to Steve’s speech and refuses to “press the buzzer” (so to speak).
  • The shrouded past. The mysterious ruins, the old stories, the misunderstood relics. The “Prothean” technology which uplifts a species beyond their actual understanding. Old magic.
  • The heart of gold. The assassin or thief or space cowboy who actually cares about the good of others, sometimes against their will.
  • “You’re on my crew.” Found families, suddenly belonging… is anyone beginning to notice how many of these tropes Firefly can fill? I think I might need to rewatch it.
  • The bookworm. Immediately earmarks a character as a kindred spirit, from Anne of Green Gables to my meeting just now with Mercedes Lackey’s Talia.
  • The supporter. The character in the background who supports and enables, without putting themselves forward and without resentment. Leigh Bardugo’s Mal fails on this, for example, which was really disappointing to me. Mack and the other Santitos in Santa Olivia do it. This can, I realise, be part of the second son trope — Feist’s Arutha supporting Lyam, for example.

I could probably go on. And on. And on.

What about you guys? Have you got any reading kinks? Or how about anti-kinks? I’m trying to think, and right now I can’t think of anything that’s an automatic deal-breaker for me, if it’s done right. (E.g. Twilight’s Bella and Edward and their obsessive relationship, the “stalking is love” trope; contrast with Freda Warrington’s A Taste of Blood Wine — Karl and Charlotte are just as obsessed, but the book acknowledges that that is not really a good thing again and again and again.)

Go on, your turn!

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Review – Camelot’s Shadow

Posted January 29, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Camelot's Shadow by Sarah ZettelCamelot’s Shadow, Sarah Zettel

Originally reviewed in February 2010

Since I’m hoping that the module on King Arthur will run next year [note in 2016: it did], and reading widely in the tradition helped me with the Robin Hood module, I decided to revisit these books. As I said in my review almost two years ago, I’m not really one for romance books, generally, but these are Arthurian — which helps a lot, since it’s something I’m always interested in — and they’re not exactly bodice-rippers, and I do like Sarah Zettel’s writing. There’s genuinely a plot alongside the romance — at least in this first book of the four — and earlier elements of the tradition are woven into the story, while it’s also not quite a carbon copy. It could have deviated more from the tradition, easily, and perhaps been more engaging then, but this is interesting enough. I like the portrayal of Guinevere, very much in love with Arthur, and though she’s mischievous, she’s a good queen. If I remember rightly, the betrayal of Arthur with Lancelot isn’t re-enacted in this quartet, which I quite like. That’s something new. And I like this portrayal of Gawain, as compared to some quite loutish ones I’ve read before.

It’s interesting how close it sticks to the plot of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which I’m doing a module on at the moment. I hadn’t read that the first time I read this, so I didn’t really appreciate how it had taken that plot but also woven in the women, Rhian and Kerra, and how it’s also woven in the story of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell — which I haven’t read, but I know a decent amount about.

It’s nice that there’s an overarching plot to these four romances, with the figure of Morgaine, about whom we learn little in this book. It’s also nice that they’re romances in both the medieval sense and the modern sense. At least, it is for my inner geek.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Girl From Everywhere

Posted January 28, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Cover of The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi HelligThe Girl from Everywhere, Heidi Heilig

Received to review via Netgalley

I’d heard a little buzz around this book on Twitter, but didn’t know anything about it. Since it was ‘read now’ on Netgalley, and the blurb sounded interesting enough, I picked it up. It turned out to be a pretty quick read — I was surprised to find that it’s actually over 400 pages long — and there’s a lot of intriguing content. The whole concept of Navigating, and the limitations of it; the mythical aspects, especially those surrounding Honolulu; the interplay between the characters, particularly the bond between Nix and Kash.

I am less interested in the love triangle the story plays with; Blake’s regard for Nix rang true enough, but her attraction to him just didn’t seem to measure up against the bond with Kash. Particularly since Kash is charming, confident, knows Nix and has history with her, and says some very sweet things. I thought the flirtation with Blake was a dead end, but the way the ending brings all three together again makes me think it’s more of a love triangle than I originally thought.

Still, even if you find love triangles annoying, there might be enough here to sell you on the book anyway. The idea of being able to sail to anywhere you have a map of and believe in is pretty enchanting, and life aboard ship sounds kind of fun. There could’ve been more by way of development of the other characters — now that I try to think about them, only Slate, Nix and Kash really feel fleshed out, and I’d have especially liked to see more about Bee and her wife.

The ending is definitely open for more books, though I don’t know anything about the plans (series, trilogy, etc) or where exactly it’s going to go, but I’m intrigued enough that I’ll look out for more by Heidi Heilig.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – How Not To Summon Your True Love

Posted January 27, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of How Not to Summon Your True Love by Sasha L. MillerHow Not To Summon Your True Love, Sasha L. Miller

Received to review via Netgalley

How Not To Summon Your True Love is apparently part of a project at Less Than Three Press to include more asexual and aromantic characters, which is awesome. It is under the title “Solitary Travelers“, which does raise my eyebrow a bit — why are ace/aro people associated once more with being alone, when it looks like these stories celebrate queerplatonic and asexual relationships too, if not in all of them? But still, it’s a nice idea for a project, and I was pleased to see Sasha L. Miller’s book on Netgalley, since I’ve enjoyed her work before (The Errant Prince).

The story itself is a pretty quick read, with a fairly generic magical world set-up — territories, official relationships between those, magical politics, etc. The main character uses a “true love” spell, which summons a naked, soapy, and rather irritated young man into his dorm room. Things go downhill from there, at least from the point of view of the status quo. Suddenly Cy’s on a roadtrip to Idaho, to take Dig (the guy he summoned) back home.

The romance is fairly incidental; there’s little by way of romantic feelings, and it didn’t feel like Cy was that interested in Dig, even in the sense of having a squish. The ending feels like an epilogue, where they decide to try dating. Still, their relationship is cute, their banter along the way is fun, and it’s nice to see an ace protagonist getting the guy and finding out that hey, turns out he’s ace too.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Phonogram: Rue Brittania

Posted January 26, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Phonogram: Rue Britannia by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelviePhonogram: Rue Brittania, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie

You can see in Phonogram the seeds of The Wicked + The Divine, I think, and an earlier stage of McKelvie’s art which isn’t quite the style he uses for The Wicked + The Divine or Young Avengers, but which is attractive and clean. The aesthetic is different, since it’s all black and white; it looks quite striking, but I think I do prefer comics in colour. It makes things easier to read, for me: I had a tendency to lose panels and not read in the right order, for some reason, with Phonogram.

The story itself, well… I know the glossary says that you don’t really need to know Britpop to get it, but I feel like you do need more knowledge than I have. I was toddling and learning to talk and think in the 90s, and even once I was at school and other kids were listening to music, I would still rather have been reading. So a lot of the references and the nostalgia stuff, the whole attitude, was just not in my frame of reference.

The magic system, the goddess and aspects of her, the links to music — it was a cool idea, but not elaborated enough. So lacking that, sympathetic characters or a nostalgic link, I felt like I didn’t really have a way into the comic. It was interesting, but not my thing. Worth a look, though, if you’re a fan of Gillen and McKelvie as a team, and especially The Wicked + The Divine.

Three stars from me mostly because: a) it involves a guy having periods as a punishment for being an asshole, and b) the art.

Rating: 3/5

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