Author: Nicky

Review – Bookburners: Badge, Book and Candle

Posted October 8, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 7 Comments

Cover of Badge, Book and Candle by Max GladstoneBookburners: Badge, Book and Candle, Max Gladstone
Received to review via Netgalley

I like the idea of this serialised novel business; I’ll be checking it out again when Ellen Kushner’s Tremontaine world gets a serialised outing. But Bookburners didn’t really grab me; it doesn’t help that the file that ended up on my Kindle was a mess, of course, with the formatting all over the place, but there was nothing special about the style or set-up, as far as I was concerned. It’s a fairly typical urban fantasy opening, and there’s just not enough to hook me and keep me following it through the serial format.

It’s cool that this isn’t a damsel in distress or ‘fridged’ woman plot, that the victim and motivating factor is in fact a female cop’s brother. And there were some pretty cool details about the world-building, like the idea that demons (essentially) can get into you through anything that links one person to another, like a book. But… not convinced to subscribe and follow this particular story.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – Pacific Fire

Posted October 7, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Pacific Fire by Greg van EekhoutPacific Fire, Greg van Eekhout
Received to review via Netgalley

Originally received to review, anyway, but I bought it as well after being a terrible person and not getting round to the ARC. Now I’m regretting that, because I liked this more than the first book — it takes all that background, and gives us some more emotional stuff. I’m always a sucker for loyalty stories, so the relationship between Daniel and Sam — gah. And the dilemma of them realising that Daniel’s actually harming him — double gah. And then the ending! Triple gah.

I know, I’m very coherent.

We see some characters from the previous book: we find out a touch more about Daniel’s mother and his golem; we see Otis again, Cassandra, Moth; there are parts featuring Gabriel and Max… I love that Moth is casually gay and has a guy; I love that Gabriel is really powerful but still doesn’t seem to want it, only to use it because he has to and no one else will do so responsibly. I want more of Max, really — I want to know what drives him, what’s going on in his head. It’s exactly as fast-paced as the first book: my Kindle started out by calculating I’d take three hours, and then quickly halved that as I raced on through.

And, after that ending? I want Dragon Coast right now.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Hawkeye: Little Hits

Posted October 6, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Hawkeye vol 2 by Fraction and AjaHawkeye: Little Hits, Matt Fraction, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth, Chris Eliopoulous

Clint Barton continues to be a trainwreck in everyday life. And Kate Bishop continues to care about him even though he’s really kind of a loser in many ways. And Clint has a really great dog. That pretty much sums up book two. And the whole run could probably summed up with, “Clint Barton makes poor life choices.”

I’m not 100% into this comic, but I do enjoy it, and Fraction and Aja are certainly very creative, funny, and willing to take risks. Sometimes I find that their style of storytelling doesn’t work for me — I’m not a visual person, so the 95% visuals issue “Pizza Is My Business” was difficult for me, and that’s not the only time they rely on very visual storytelling. So I think my reaction is a pretty idiosyncratic one; it’s a bit weird that I’m even into comics, since visual storytelling is hard for me, and the best comics really make use of that in combination with the words, instead of illustrating the words.

Still, reading it again helped somewhat with comprehension, and I’ll keep that in mind as I get onto LA Woman and Rio Bravo.

Rating: 3/5

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted October 6, 2015 by Nicky in General / 17 Comments

This week’s theme from The Broke and the Bookish is ‘Ten Bookish Things I Want to Quit’. Wait, there’s things about books that people might want to quit?!

Kidding, kidding, I totally have a list too.

  1. Getting caught up in my latest shiny. It’d be so nice if I could manage to keep my attention on one book or series at a time. Or maybe a couple at a time.
  2. Buying something and then not getting round to it. I’m sorry.
  3. My ridiculous backlist of ARCs. I’m actually behaving myself better now, so maybe this is an ‘I Have Quit’ one.
  4. Carrying like fifty books around the country when I travel. I have an ereader! I have no need to do this! Which leads to…
  5. …Wanting to read every book but the ones I’ve got with me. Just no, brain. Just no. Behave yourself.
  6. Being cranky about ebooks. I actually love my ereader! It is adorable and it can carry a lot of books. But lately, I don’t know, I’ve been cranky about reading in ebook and I’ve wanted to have something in my hands. (Except with my Kindle Voyage, because new shiny.)
  7. Skipping bedtime reading. What’s with that? Come on, brain, you know that reading before bed is good for you.
  8. Feeling guilty about ‘guilty pleasures’. You know what sort of book I’m talking about, probably. If you know me. But my guilty pleasure is another’s favourite book, and it’s silly to feel guilty about something that makes you happy, even if it’s a brief pleasure. (I actually wrote a whole post about this.)
  9. Rebuying books to reread. Somewhere, I have a copy. Patience, self. You can wait.
  10. Planning ridiculous reading lists… and consequently getting nothing read. Pressure works, sometimes, but not when I try and plan months ahead. Maybe plan the next book ahead, singular. But be flexible. Reading is meant to be fun, right?

Anyone else resemble these remarks? Heh.

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Review – Wildfire at Midnight

Posted October 5, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Cover of Wildfire at Midnight by Mary StewartWildfire at Midnight, Mary Stewart

It was a grey and drizzly day, this morning — even if it brightened up later — so I felt like turning to one of my comfort reads. Wildfire at Midnight isn’t one of my favourite Stewart novels, and indeed the sense of dread and atmosphere in the book makes it perhaps a touch darker than the others, especially with the moral conflict in the last part where Gianetta thinks she knows who did the crime.

The crime itself is pretty chillingly awful; I can’t remember if any of Stewart’s other novels features a mentally ill antagonist, but that’s how it winds up in this one. And he is pretty unsettling, when you compare his later behaviour with all the rest of the book, and think about what lay under the surface… Not a comfortable thought, certainly. It’s also not the warmest in terms of romance, since that’s barely there — there’s one or two great scenes which establish something, but not enough to really make you root for the relationship to happen.

So overall, definitely still not my favourite. But it’s Mary Stewart: the writing is atmospheric, the heroine is self-sufficient, and the ending is, for the heroine at least, a happy one.

One thing I would like to know, from other readers — there’s a scene early on where Gianetta is talking to the actress, Marcia. They’re talking about the two schoolteachers who are there together: the rather sullen older one, Marion, and the younger one, Roberta. Marcia calls them “schwärmerinen”. That seems to mean something to Gianetta, and she treats it as something scandalous/libellous — what on earth’s the implication meant to be? I have the feeling I’m too young to know context.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – California Bones

Posted October 4, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of California Bones by Greg van EekhoutCalifornia Bones, Greg van Eekhout

I’ve been meaning to read this for a while, and then got out of the mood for it when I had started it. This time, I read it almost straight through! It’s basically a fantasy heist novel set against a really intriguing background of magic, politics and alternate history. The magic is really interesting, and mostly it’s introduced organically: it’s pretty much explained in the opening chapters, but that makes sense because Daniel is being taught osteomancy by his father. The rest, we need to pick up as we go along — there’s no major explanation of regeneration, shapeshifting, non-osteomantic skills, the way hounds track osteomancers…

While I liked the background, I didn’t get that involved with the characters. There was potential there, and if they appear in the other books, maybe I’ll be more invested. Also, there were a couple of things which were too well telegraphed. Buuut, I think this was a first book, so I’m inclined to be forgiving — especially because I found it pretty well paced.

There’s a recurring image of horror from the early chapters of the book which is really done well, too. Daniel witnesses the death of his father, and sees the Hierarch (an antagonist here, though a bit difficult to properly get a grip on because he appears in person at the start and end only) actually eating his father. And he remembers that image, the sound of the Hierarch chewing. Very vivid, really works.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Captain Marvel: Alis Volat Propriis

Posted October 3, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Captain Marvel vol 3Captain Marvel: Alis Volat Propriis, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Warren Ellis, David Lopez

There’s still some great banter in this book, and it’s a lot less silly than the previous volume felt. Unfortunately, the Black Vortex issue is pretty disconnected and random — I would’ve been interested to see more of Carol’s involvement in that storyline, and it is interesting to see her choosing not to go cosmic — but as it is, it feels clumsy, especially with all the exposition explaining what the Black Vortex even is.

The final issue is the most important, probably the most emotionally hard-hitting of this run. I love the people who support Carol in it — even if it took me a minute to realise that Steve was Steve — and the story is sweet (though I still don’t actually know much about Carol even knows Tracy). It’s a fitting return to Earth for Carol, in many ways.

I do wish Marvel wouldn’t run so many events, though. I’m not actually interested in the majority, definitely not as single issues, and it really disrupts ongoing stories with individual characters. The crossover events are going to stop being special if they keep happening all the time, and we’ve had so many lately, it seems.

Rating: 4/5

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted October 3, 2015 by Nicky in General / 20 Comments

Last Saturday I was at a convention, and there was a dealer’s room and a swap table, sooo… yeah, unsurprisingly, I have some new additions!

Bought

Cover of London Falling by Paul Cornell Cover of Shanghai Sparrow by Gaie Sebold Cover of The Pendragon Protocol by Philip Purser-Hallard

I’ve been meaning to read the first two for ages, and the latter involves Arthurian references, so I couldn’t resist.

Swap table/freebies

Cover of Smiler's Fair by Rebecca Levene Cover of King's Dragon by Kate Elliott Cover of Black Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis

Cover of Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi Cover of The Straight-Razor Cure by Daniel Polansky Cover of The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley

Sadly, I didn’t really have anything to contribute to the swap table, since I didn’t know it was there in advance, so I am paying it forward by using Bookcrossing to send some books on a new journey.

ARCs

Cover of Armada by Ernest Cline Cover of An Apprentice to Elves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear

I’m surprised I was allowed access to Armada, since it’s definitely out and has plenty of buzz, but I’m not arguing! And I need to read the first two books in Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear’s series first, but I’m excited to do so!

Library

Cover of Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart Cover of The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart Cover of Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart

Cover of Thornyhold by Mary Stewart Cover of Unseemly Science by Rod Duncan Cover of Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald

Mostly a grab bag of my favourite comfort reads. My grandmother’s not very well, so I feel like I deserve it!

How’s everyone else doing?

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Review – The Grand Sophy

Posted October 2, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Grand Sophy by Georgette HeyerThe Grand Sophy, Georgette Heyer
Originally reviewed 8th August, 2013

Hah! This isn’t my favourite Georgette Heyer novel, but I think it might have made me laugh the most so far. God, what a cast of characters, and how ridiculous they all are — Sophy is fantastic, with her matchmaking and her provoking ways and her complete disregard for propriety. I loved the relationship between her and Charles — the last few chapters made me positively hoot with laughter.

I’m sure that people who would never like this genre won’t be convinced by this, but I think I’m being brought to get over my original feelings by Heyer’s work. It’s well written, well paced, and hilariously funny: Sophy’s matchmaking rather pokes fun at the genre, I think: she seems to consider people’s lives as though they’re in a novel and figures out what they would/could do if they were fictional. I half-wanted her to carry everything off, and half-wanted everything to end in a magnificent tangle that would teach her a lesson.

As with Mary Stewart’s work, I wrinkled my nose a little at the potential for cousin-marrying and all that sort of thing, but given the setting, it makes perfect sense.

Rating: 5/5

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October TBR

Posted October 1, 2015 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

I’ve been excited to get started on this — I think I’ve got a great line-up for this month. I’m enjoying switching the categories up a bit, and will probably do that every month, even if ‘ARCs’ and ‘library’ are probably gonna be a constant.

ARCs

  1. Made to Kill, Adam Christopher.
  2. The Grace of Kings, Ken Liu.
  3. Tower of Thorns, Juliet Marillier.
  4. The Palace Job, Patrick Weekes.
  5. Armada, Ernest Clines.

Library

  1. Ghost Hawk, Susan Cooper.
  2. Badgerland, Patrick Barkham.
  3. Ask a Policeman, The Detection Club.
  4. The Great Zoo of China, Matthew Riley.
  5. Garden Spells, Sarah Addison Allen.

Series

  1. The Boy Who Lost Fairyland, Catherynne M. Valente.
  2. Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie.
  3. Dreamer’s Pool, Juliet Marillier.
  4. Dragon Coast, Greg van Eekhout.
  5. The Dark Blood of Poppies, Freda Warrington.

Tor.com novellas

  1. The Witches of Lychford, Paul Cornell.
  2. Binti, Nnedi Okorafor.
  3. The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, Kai Ashante Wilson.
  4. Sunset Mantle, Alter S. Reiss.
  5. The Last Witness, K.J. Parker.

Comics

  1. Bitch Planet, vol 1, Kelly Sue DeConnick.
  2. Saga vol 3, Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples.
  3. Hawkeye: Rio Bravo, Matt Fraction.
  4. Guardians of the Galaxy: Angela, Brian Michael Bendis.
  5. Batgirl: Wanted, Gail Simone.

Challenge

  1. Hard to Be A God, Boris & Arkady Strugatsky.
  2. Burning Water, Mercedes Lackey.
  3. The Colour Purple, Alice Walker.
  4. The Enchantment Emporium, Tanya Huff.
  5. Rosemary & Rue, Seanan Mcguire.

Wildcards

  1. The Fox’s Tower & Other Stories, Yoon Ha Lee.
  2. Thornyhold, Mary Stewart.
  3. Timeless, Gail Carriger.
  4. Shadow and Bone, Leigh Bardugo.
  5. ?

It shouldn’t be too busy this month, so I’m hoping to really chew through the list. I think I’m gonna end up with a couple books left over from September, but I’ll stick them in wildcards if I get round to them.

ETA: I’ve gone wildly off-script because it’s a difficult month. Still hoping to finish a few more of these, though!

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