Author: Nicky

Throwback Thursday

Posted August 7, 2014 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

It’s been a while since I did Throwback Thursday, which some book bloggers are using to highlight books they’ve had kicking around for a while and haven’t got round to yet. But there’s definitely tons and tons of books on the list for me. Each time I do this, I narrow it down to three… So far, it hasn’t got me to hurry up and read them yet, but I live in hope.

The Alchemist of Souls, Anne Lyle

When Tudor explorers returned from the New World, they brought back a name out of half-forgotten Viking legend: skraylings. Red-sailed ships followed in the explorers’ wake, bringing Native American goods–and a skrayling ambassador–to London. But what do these seemingly magical beings really want in Elizabeth I’s capital?

Mal Catlyn, a down-at-heel swordsman, is seconded to the ambassador’s bodyguard, but assassination attempts are the least of his problems. What he learns about the skraylings and their unholy powers could cost England her new ally–and Mal his soul.

It’s an Angry Robot book, so it’s pretty inevitable that I’ll get round to this in the end. And I do love alternate history scenarios, especially when they blend in magic. I’ve actually got the whole trilogy, so it’s really high time I got round to this.

River of Stars, Guy Gavriel Kay

Ren Daiyan was still just a boy when he took the lives of seven men while guarding an imperial magistrate of Kitai. That moment on a lonely road changed his life—in entirely unexpected ways, sending him into the forests of Kitai among the outlaws. From there he emerges years later—and his life changes again, dramatically, as he circles towards the court and emperor, while war approaches Kitai from the north.

Lin Shan is the daughter of a scholar, his beloved only child. Educated by him in ways young women never are, gifted as a songwriter and calligrapher, she finds herself living a life suspended between two worlds. Her intelligence captivates an emperor—and alienates women at the court. But when her father’s life is endangered by the savage politics of the day, Shan must act in ways no woman ever has.

In an empire divided by bitter factions circling an exquisitely cultured emperor who loves his gardens and his art far more than the burdens of governing, dramatic events on the northern steppe alter the balance of power in the world, leading to events no one could have foretold, under the river of stars.

I love pretty much everything GGK’s written, so I’m excited to get round to this. That’s a while away, though, because I have a plan to read through all of his work, chronological order by publication, to watch his skills and themes developing. I’m on A Song for Arbonne.

To Ride Hell’s Chasm, Janny Wurts

When Princess Anja fails to appear at her betrothal banquet, the tiny, peaceful kingdom of Sessalie is plunged into intrigue. Two warriors are charged with recovering the distraught king’s beloved daughter. Taskin, Commander of the Royal Guard, whose icy competence and impressive life-term as the Crown’s right-hand man command the kingdom’s deep-seated respect; and Mykkael, the rough-hewn newcomer who has won the post of Captain of the Garrison – a scarred veteran with a deadly record of field warfare, whose ‘interesting’ background and foreign breeding are held in contempt by court society.

As the princess’s trail vanishes outside the citadel’s gates, anxiety and tension escalate. Mykkael’s investigations lead him to a radical explanation for the mystery, but he finds himself under suspicion from the court factions. Will Commander Taskin’s famous fair-mindedness be enough to unravel the truth behind the garrison captain’s dramatic theory: that the resourceful, high-spirited princess was not taken by force, but fled the palace to escape a demonic evil?

I’ve been meaning to try Janny Wurts forever, ever since I was reading Raymond E. Feist’s books and she did work with him. I’ll probably get to That Way to Camelot first, but I’ve read the first few pages of this one and was very nearly sucked in…

Tags: Angry Robot, books, Guy Gavriel Kay, Janny Wurts, Throwback Thursday

Thursday Thoughts: Bookstores

Posted August 7, 2014 by Nicky in General / 5 Comments

This week’s theme for Thursday Thoughts, hosted by Ok, Let’s Read, is “bookstores”. Which is actually a suggestion I made, so hee. (P.S. Looks like we’re running out of themes, so do go and drop in some prompts.)

My Favorite Bookstore – When it comes to buying books which store is your favorite? Do you prefer big chain stores or independent bookstores? Do you even have any independent bookstores near where you live? And, here’s the one that’s going to be the most revealing; How often would you say you go to the bookstore? Do you buy something every time you go there?

It really depends on what I’m looking for. For example, if I’m looking for comics, I avoid Forbidden Planet. I either go to Waterstones for TPBs, or my local indie for individual issues. It’s a tiny little place, I think the walls might be supported with comics/comics merchandise, and it looks like you can order online, so hey: Comic Guru.

Generally, the Waterstones stores in Leeds, Wakefield or Cardiff are where I do the bulk of my shopping. There is an indie bookshop in Cardiff, but it doesn’t have the biggest stock ever. If there’s something I want to order, they can do that, but if I just want to browse, I want to have a reasonably big store to wander around in. The indie is really friendly, but so are the staff in all the Waterstones stores I frequent, too. Some of them, I’ve been seeing working there for ten years. And yes, I recognise them and often they will also recognise me. Gulp. I might spend a bit too much time in bookshops. The reward system in Waterstones is good though…

There’s a secondhand bookshop in Cardiff that’s great, too. Generally I’d go there if I’m looking for something unusual, something I won’t come across as a glossy paperback. Lots of classic SF and fantasy there, as well as a big section for general fiction, etc. Some rare books too, I think, and a lot of individual issues of classic comics. All in all: you never know what you’ll be able to find there.

How often I go there, well — every few weeks, probably? Or whenever I’m close by. I don’t always buy something, but I quite often do, because I’m a fast reader and, more importantly, weak.

Mind you, at the moment, I don’t go at all. Book ban for me until WorldCon.

Tags: books, Thursday Thoughts

Review – Gloriana

Posted August 7, 2014 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Gloriana, or the Unfulfill’d Queen, Michael Moorcock

When I started reading Gloriana — maybe even before that, when I read about the premise — I was very doubtful about whether I’d like it. The way the plot revolves around the fact that Gloriana can’t have an orgasm just baffled me: it made it sound like that was the most important thing in life, which… it isn’t. Still, actually reading the book, and especially the ending, made me think that aspect of it is actually a metaphor. I understand people who find the ending abhorrent: there’s a rape scene which may seem to imply that someone who is anorgasmic just needs to be raped.

Reading both the original and revised endings, though, I don’t think that was where Moorcock was going with that. In both, he emphasises that what finally allows Gloriana to find fulfilment is not anything really to do with sex, but that for the first time in her life, she can focus solely and entirely on herself. For the rest of the book — the rest of Gloriana’s life — she’s too concerned with being a queen, with being a country. But here, in both scenarios, whether she takes control of it or not, she becomes an individual in her fear.

Now, why that had to be via sex and sexual violence is a question that’s definitely valid to ask, but it is important to read something carefully if you’re going to critique it. More immediate to me are the questions about consent concerning children and animals, which are not dealt with critically at all — rather the opposite.

In any case, all of that aside, I really liked Gloriana. Not so much for individual characters as for the whole idea, the plotting and scheming, the setting. Which is not to say that the individual characters weren’t of interest — they were, in their tangle of motivations and confusion of feelings. Montfallcon, particularly, was interesting because of the way his motivations were unveiled piece by piece, slowly. The labyrinthine world of the court as a whole, though; that, I really liked. I haven’t actually read Gormenghast, but from what I know of it, I think Moorcock made a worthy tribute to it in many ways here.

The writing itself was, to my mind, easy to read. He doesn’t go for any false archaisms, though the style isn’t contemporary, and while he piles on the adjectives and so on, I do feel that’s an intentional embarrassment of riches, like the court itself.

I can understand why people dislike this book, or never finish it, but I’m glad I did.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Michael Moorcock, SF/F

What are you reading Wednesday

Posted August 6, 2014 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

What have you recently finished reading?
Mindstar Rising, by Peter F. Hamilton. I think it was his first novel, according to the back of it, so I might try something from his later stuff, but this didn’t impress me that much. It was aaaaall about the male gaze, as well: the first thing we know about female characters is whether they’ve “let themselves go” or how young and nubile they are. Ugh. So in the end, not impressed.

What are you currently reading?
Some of the things I’ve been featuring on this list for a while are quite big books, so they don’t go on the bus with me, etc. So The Vanishing Witch (Karen Maitland) and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (Thomas Sweterlitsch) are still in progress…

My reading in the clinic is currently Gwenda Bond’s Blackwood, which works for the Strange Chem reading month, and which I’ve had for a while. Because of it, I ended up on Wikipedia last night reading up about Roanoke, Croatoan, and then all sorts of missing persons stuff — though I did also read about the genetic testing being done to see if the lost colonists actually assimilated with the local Native American tribes, which is more plausible than some theories, and quite interesting. I want to know what they find!

At home, for ARC August, along with the others I’ve also picked up Marcus Sedgwick’s A Love Like Blood. I’ve been slightly spoilered for the ending by an injudicious review, but I don’t have a great problem with spoilers, so I don’t mind too much. It’s interesting, though very similar in tone to other books in the genre in many ways.

Aaaand from my epic library clean-up, I’m reading Jurassic Mary: Mary Anning and the Primeval Monsters (Patricia Pierce), which is very interesting, although there’s a lot about the various men in the profession who overshadowed Mary Anning, which I regret a little in a book that wants to cast light on her.

What will you be reading next?
As usual, heaven knows, but Strange Chem-wise, I think I’m going to fiiiiinally read Stolen Songbird, and that also covers ARC August as well. Even if the “advance” part is kind of dead in the water, I still received it as an ARC and I feel obligated to get round to it.

Library-wise, I think it’ll be Sarah Canary (Karen Joy Fowler), which will also cover my ten-new-to-me SF Masterworks goal.

Tags: Angry Robot, books, non-fiction, readathon, reading meme, SF/F

Review – The Women of the Cousins’ War

Posted August 6, 2014 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

The Women of the Cousins’ War, Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin, Michael Jones

I don’t get on well with Philippa Gregory’s fiction, so I’m not terribly surprised that I wasn’t a great fan of this either. I do like David Baldwin’s work, though I think I’ve already read a full biography of Elizabeth Woodville by him; Michael Jones’ work here is strong enough and based solidly enough on actual research to intrigue me.

I actually quite liked Gregory’s introduction, ridiculously long as it is. She does actually raise valid points about the writers of history, and about how historical fiction and historical fact interact. I can at least relate to her powerful interest in the subject. On the other hand, there’s very little actually known about Jacquetta, the biography she writes, and it reads very much like the fiction books she’s already written, stripped of dialogue and sprinkled with “maybe”.

Overall, I can see this being interesting to people casually interested in the period, with enough experience of non-fiction not to complain too much about the equivocal statements (guys, if they stuck to the facts we know for absolute certain, we could say they were born, married, had children, and died — often, that’s about it; if we presented speculation as fact, that would be rather dishonest and not helpful at all to the field). I can’t really recommend it for people who’ve already delved into non-fiction on the period: this doesn’t offer much of anything new.

Tags: book reviews, books, non-fiction, Philippa Gregory

Review – Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985–2010

Posted August 5, 2014 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985 – 2010, Damien Broderick, Paul Di Philippo

This isn’t exactly filled with sparkling deathless prose, and if you’re expecting something definitive or unassailable, I think you’re a bit batty. If you think you’re going to agree with every choice, I think you’re more than a bit batty. It’s basically a list with some commentary, comprising of a number of novels which the authors found notable in one way or another — not necessarily literary merit, but sometimes just really cool ideas.

It’s an interesting list, a little more diverse than I was expecting, and I’m planning to go through it reading all the books. Sometimes the commentary by the authors is useful, sometimes it amounts to little more than a plot summary, but either way it usually gives you a feel of what the book is about, at the very least.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, non-fiction, SF/F

Top Ten Tuesday

Posted August 5, 2014 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

This week’s theme from The Broke and the Bookish is “Top Ten Books I’d Give To Readers Who Have Never Read X”. This is kind of a tough one, because I’m not really sure what to go for. My taste is pretty broad, but I know most people’s isn’t, so… (On the other hand, if I picked comics, it’d be Batgirl, Captain America, Spider-man and Young Avengers, and then I’d be running out.) So instead I decided I’d go for ten different values of X.

Regency romance: The author is unquestionably Georgette Heyer, but which book…? Well, I started with The Talisman Ring, and adored it: I was a convert on the spot. I also enjoyed The Grand Sophy very much.
Superhero comics: Ultimate Spider-man. It’s fun, you don’t need to know any back story, and it does start to bring you into the Marvel universe, with appearances from other characters like Daredevil, the X-men, Human Torch, etc.
LGBT YA: David Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy. So bloody adorable.
Medieval-ish fantasy: While I love Tolkien, I think I have to award this spot to the more accessible Robin Hobb. She has a great narrative voice and a knack for characters you will love. Start with Assassin’s Apprentice; you may wish to skip the Liveships trilogy entirely, as I found that more uneven and full of characters I didn’t want to spend time with.
Renaissance fantasy: Yep, ha, a technicality. Scott Lynch is my recommendation here, especially if you like the loveable rogue. Main downside is how long it takes for us to even see the most important female character of the series: she isn’t in the first two books.
Golden Age crime fiction: Dorothy L. Sayers is my pick, without a doubt. I found that I needed to read a few books to get really into the character of her detective, Lord Peter Wimsey, which may be a problem. I might almost suggest beginning with a later book, perhaps Strong Poison. But if you’re willing to let a character grow on you, start at the beginning with Whose Body?
Alternate history: Jo Walton’s Small Change trilogy wins hands down. Farthing is, for bonus points, a loving pastiche of Sayers’ work, although it is also a serious and harrowing tale of appeasing the Nazis and the world that creates.
Speculative fiction: I’m going to go for something a little off the beaten path here. Try The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach. It completely enchanted me.
Cheesy space opera: Philip Palmer. Or at least, Debatable Space, Artemis and Version 43. High octane fun! I found a lot of fault with these, but I also had a whale of a time.
Non-fiction (science/history): The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. The ethical issues this raises are well worth grappling with.

Somewhat random list, I know…

Tags: books, David Levithan, Dorothy L. Sayers, Georgette Heyer, Jo Walton, Marvel, Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, Top Ten Tuesday

Review – Brain on Fire

Posted August 4, 2014 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Brain on Fire, Susannah Cahalan

I didn’t expect to connect so personally with this. On the surface, there’s not much to compare between me and Susannah Cahalan. There are a few correspondences: the start of her illness was marked with an intense fear, almost a belief, that she’d been infested by bedbugs; so was mine. On the other hand, I “just” had GAD: Susannah Cahalan had an autoimmune disorder in which her own immune system was attacking her brain. (She does mention some speculation that obsessive-compulsive behaviours and other psychiatric issues may actually be attributable to inflammation of the brain similar to what she experienced. The more I think about that, the more I want to become a doctor, maybe work in psychiatry, or maybe neurology, and push that research further. And research into epigenetic aspects of mental illness. Or at least get to the point where I can understand all of the existing research.)

(And sotto voce, I can almost hear my mother’s comment: “Well, you should be a doctor.”)

Anyway, despite the vast differences in the actual content of our diseases, I shared some of Cahalan’s feelings about it. I felt like I lost part of myself, the steady logical voice that refutes the brain’s wilder ideas about what’s going on, and though Susannah lost a lot more than that, I know something about the struggle to regain your own mind. I think people often believe that my anxiety was just an emotion like all my others. It wasn’t, though. It felt stronger than anything else, stronger than me. It felt like something from outside of me, subjugating the real me. It was like having another person physically holding me back, sometimes. The sheer courage it took me to step outside the front door, sometimes — it felt impossible, alien.

So I shared with Cahalan some of the feelings of getting my old self back. Self-hate at the things that still aren’t going right. Worry about what people will think of you. Celebration of tiny steps at the same time as feeling they’re not enough, you’re not there yet. Wonder at how far you’ve come. Worry that you’ll relapse. I very directly share that fear Cahalan feels when she thinks she sees a bug or something. My brain conjured ’em where there weren’t any, too.

I was expecting to find this interesting because of the medical content. That is interesting, though because it’s from Cahalan’s point of view, it’s more of a layman’s understanding of the disease, a memoir of dealing with it. I found it unexpectedly much more compelling than that, because Susannah Cahalan lost and regained her identity, and therefore has a lot to say about the whole idea of identity, and maybe some things to teach neuroscience, maybe even psychiatry.

The financial cost of treating a patient with Cahalan’s disease is staggering, eye-watering, jaw-dropping — there aren’t enough adjectives. But to bring someone back from that state, that’s beyond price.

Rating: 5/5

Tags: book reviews, books, mental health, non-fiction

Review – The King of Elfland’s Daughter

Posted August 3, 2014 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

The King of Elfland’s Daughter, Lord Dunsany

I can’t really understand people disliking this book. Well, no, I can: the language is olde worlde, the phrase ‘the fields we know’ is used far too many times, it’s more of a fairytale like story than modern fantasy, though it’s sold as being one of the defining moments for the genre, and if you’re looking at it from a modern point of view, the characters and their motivations are hopelessly unsatisfying.

I thought the language was beautiful, though: Dunsany struck just the right note for me, and for the most part I liked his turns of phrase. Even the repeated ‘the fields we know’ phrase and others like it hark back to ‘rosy-fingered Dawn’ and other such epithets in Greek epics. I love fairytales, and I think Dunsany’s mimesis here is pretty darn good. I can see how it influenced modern fantasy, and if you expect satisfying characters and development in a fairytale-esque story then… I’m not sure what you’re after. Modern updates of the stories often inject that kind of thing, but it’s not there originally.

Seriously, this book is just gorgeous, in my opinion. I wanted to wrap myself up in it, read some passages again and again, and I did actually genuinely feel the tension of how it would all be resolved. I loved the ending, the descriptions of Lirazel coming back to meet her son and husband. I loved the little asides, like the mischievous trolls.

So, so glad I finally read this.

Rating: 5/5

Tags: book reviews, books, SF/F

Stacking the Shelves

Posted August 2, 2014 by Nicky in General / 24 Comments

Yay! It’s time for Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Tynga’s Reviews. Like last week, I have actually not bought any books this week, which I know will come as a surprise. I’ve now been dared not to do so until Loncon, and not to get any books out of the library on any of my tickets until I’ve read all the ones I’ve got for at least one ticket.

Torture.

But I do still get ARCs, and here’s what I got this week!

Fiction ARCs/review copies

Venomoid and The Before Now and the After Then are both LGBT, though probably of rather different stripes. Zeus is Dead, I won from Librarything Early Reviewers. The first two are via Netgalley, and I couldn’t find any more inspiring covers for them. Thanks, all!

Non-fiction ARCs/review copies

Random stuff about words and language is very cool, and given Wales’ historical socialist/communist tendencies, I have an interest in something that is a bit more nuanced than “communism=bad” in my non-fiction. (In fiction, I recommend the Library of Wales books, especially Cwmardy and We Live.)

Freebies

Was given this one in the library I volunteer at because it’s been in the sales basket for as long as I’ve been volunteering there, and before that, hadn’t been taken out since 2007. They pretty much figured I’d be the only person in the world who’d give it a home.

Out of curiosity, the couple of times I put Goodreads URLs in so you could click through the book’s page by clicking on the cover, stats showed no clickthroughs using those links. Is that a thing people want/find useful, or not? It’s a faff for me, but if it’s useful, I’ll do it.

Tags: books, Stacking the Shelves