Category: Reviews

Review – The Annotated Hobbit

Posted October 9, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Annotated Hobbit by J.R.R. TolkienThe Annotated Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien, Douglas A. Anderson
Originally reviewed 11th October, 2011

The Annotated Hobbit is a really great edition of the book for fans of Tolkien, or anyone studying Tolkien’s work. It’s full of useful annotations, including the references to Tolkien’s sources and inspiration, and the history of corrections to the book (particularly the ones bringing it in line with The Lord of the Rings geography and canon). It also contains a lot of illustrations from different editions of the book, including Tolkien’s own — most in black and white, but with an insert in full colour. I didn’t realise Tolkien originally did his own illustrations.

For a casual reader, though, it’d be more distracting than not. There’s notes on practically every page, many of them lengthy — you might have to turn two or three pages to find the relevant note, as they don’t all fit in beside the text — and they aren’t all of interest to the casual reader. I wouldn’t recommend it for a first-time reader of The Hobbit. For me, as a fan and as a scholar, though, it was really fascinating. I especially loved the notes on the language — e.g. Tolkien’s wordplay in the chapter with the spiders, fully intelligible only to people with an enormous knowledge of different languages, including ancient ones.

The story itself, well. For me it’s an old favourite, warm and comforting, like eating Werther’s Originals in a warm corner, inside, on a windy night. Even reading it for a class didn’t get in the way of that. There’s no way for me to be objective about it, and I won’t try.

Rating: 5/5

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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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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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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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Review – The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Posted October 1, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver SacksThe Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks

The title makes this sound… odd. It made me worry that we were going to end up laughing at the plight of people with neurological disorders and defects, the first time I heard of it. But I was assured that Sacks was, overall, a decent guy, so I decided I probably should give it a try — especially since it’s one of those books that everyone seems to associate with neurology. Some of Sacks’ language is horribly out of date now (it’s jarring to read about ‘retardeds’, etc, even if the word was more acceptable then and had a medical meaning), and I can sympathise with people who felt that some of the language was too technical — it wasn’t to me, but I’ve had plenty of exposure.

I think it mostly avoided the ‘freak circus’ effect, with a kind of tenderness about most of the cases described. One or two points I disliked were when Sacks tries to decide whether or not amnesiac people are ‘de-souled’ — so dehumanising and just… not appealing — and one where he made a kind of connection with a patient, or thought he had, and then immediately pulled back to avoid… what? Communicating honestly with a patient, getting into their world a little bit? Maybe I would see that differently as a doctor, but reading it, I couldn’t help but think what an opportunity was missed.

Not all of the cases are fully described here, with the ins and outs and whys and wherefores; sometimes a diagnosis is assumed. But it is an interesting account of the many ways the human brain can go wrong, and the unexpected effects it can have.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – The Martian

Posted September 30, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Cover of The Martian by Andy WeirThe Martian, Andy Weir

Oh dear, I’ve been meaning to read this book for so long! But fortuitously, now that I have, the next book club read is going to be The Martian, and the film adaptation is coming out soon. Now I just need to get my mother to read it… I found it a lot of fun, though sometimes a bit too juvenile in the style and humour — coming right after reading An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, I was very aware that astronauts are, for example, trained in public relations. Watney’s “look, boobs!” comment and so on… mmm. That didn’t ring true of the kind of professionalism you expect from an astronaut, even bearing in mind that they’re human too and Watney’s in an awful position.

Despite that, I did get hooked on the survival aspects, working out ways and means and timings, finessing budgets, launch times and politics. It’s a formula that works pretty well, and one of the reasons I find Apollo 13 (the real event, not the movie) more interesting than, say, Apollo 12. Apollo 11 put the first men on the moon, and Apollo 13 brought astronauts home despite immense odds, but Apollo 12 didn’t have the emotional engagement of being a first or of being a disaster. The situation for Mark Watney and his crew is very similar: people have been to Mars before, interest is even waning in the program, but then the mission’s scrubbed, NASA have to scramble to bring the astronauts home safely… and the world’s eyes are back on spaceflight.

Even with the sometimes juvenile humour, I couldn’t help but smile at some of Watney’s shenanigans, and I enjoyed trying to follow the chemistry and so on. Given that this was originally self-published as a serial and there was no contact with NASA, I didn’t really look too hard for any defects in the science — and I forgave it the NASA fanboyism, since it was full of the wonder of exploring space in an obvious way that reminded me of my mum’s enthusiasm for space.

The ending is pretty abrupt, since there’s actually plenty of time to go before the mission is really over, but that did leave the moment of attempted rescue as the climax of the story, and avoided taking away any of the significance of that moment with worries about re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere and the like.

Rating: 4/5

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