Category: Reviews

Review – Winter Rose

Posted March 14, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Winter Rose by Patricia McKillipWinter Rose, Patricia A. McKillip

I’ve actually reviewed this here before, and in fact read it twice before. I wanted to give it another go, because I’ve been reading a couple of other Tam Lin based stories (The Perilous Gard; An Earthly Knight; just starting Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin) and because I want to read the sequel to this, Solstice Wood. And because I’m stubborn as heck and I didn’t ‘get it’, and I don’t like that feeling.

Well, I still didn’t really ‘get’ it, though I was more content to go with the dreamlike logic and just enjoy the lyrical writing and the scent-touch-taste of the way McKillip writes. It still reminds me of ‘Goblin Market’ as much as ‘Tam Lin’, given the inclusion of the character of Laurel, who wastes away waiting for Tam Lin. There’s so much to love in this book — the way Perrin is portrayed, solid and real and true; Laurel and Rois’ love for each other and their father, and his for them; the beautiful, beautiful writing.

But I still don’t get it. I feel like I should be rating it more highly, liking it better, and obviously there’s something that keeps me trying to come back to it. But nope. Still not the right time, perhaps?

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days

Posted March 13, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Cover of Ex-Machina: The First Hundred DaysEx Machina: The First Hundred Days, Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris, Tom Feister, JD Mettler

This is an interesting take on the superhero genre, with a man randomly granted powers and first attempting to use them as a superhero, ‘The Great Machine’, before giving up on that and turning to politics in order to make a real difference. I’m not a huge fan of the art, but it’s not bad or distracting; there’s just something about it I don’t quite get on with, especially when it comes to faces.

There’s really a lot more to this story than can be packed into one volume, and in a way I wanted to skip the preliminaries and learn more. The last section was more engaging, because it really brought feelings into it — the Three Musketeers, split apart by not believing in the same things anymore — whereas the rest I didn’t feel that engaged with.

I’m intrigued by the story, but not enough to rush to get the next volume. Maybe if the library has it.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home

Posted March 12, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home by Catherynne ValenteThe Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home, Catherynne M. Valente

Nooo, I don’t want it to be the end! That said, it isn’t as bad as I’d feared: it doesn’t end like Narnia, with all the magic going away in favour of allegory. Fairyland remains as real and wild and strange, and the ending as bitter-and-sweetly magical as the other books. I was a little disappointed not to see more of Hawthorn and Tam’s adventures; The Boy Who Lost Fairyland is really a one-off in going so far from September, and I’m not sure I like that I never got my answers to questions about Hawthorn and Tam and how they feel about leaving behind their human families.

The weird wonders of Fairyland continue, as beautiful and strangely perfect as ever. I want to meet most of the characters (or hide from the nastier ones). And sometimes I can’t help but feel that the narrator looks into my heart just as much as she does September’s. Especially when the hippos named after bottles from the liquor cabinet come in (if you know me, you probably know about Helen, and if you know Helen, you know my heart).

Also, Blunderbuss! I love that at least we get Blunderbuss in this one, and A-Through-L being awesome and the whole bit with the main library and the book bears and…

No, I’m probably not capable of writing a coherent review of these books. This one is just as charming as the rest, though perhaps a bit sadder, because you know it’s the last, and because various things that happen during the race to be ruler of Fairyland make you worry about the characters and whether things can ever be the same.

Oh, and some things that some characters have been waiting for since the first book finally come to pass. So all in all, it’s a very satisfying end to the series, except for the fact that nobody wants it to end. The whole series might be marketed as young adult, but I think perhaps it has more for the adult who can still dream.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Before I Go To Sleep

Posted March 11, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. WatsonBefore I Go To Sleep, S.J. Watson

Originally reviewed 19th January 2012

I picked this up somewhat on a whim. A couple of people had been talking about it, and I saw it in the Kindle store, and I just thought… fine, okay. I’ll go for it. I read it in about four chunks. It’s pretty riveting, actually. The unreliable narrator is reasonably well handled and as long as you’re prepared to go along for the ride, it works reasonably well. I guessed the big twist fairly swiftly, then thought I’d got it wrong, and then it turned out my first guess was right. That was pretty fun, I suppose: the guessing game.

One thing that annoyed me was a fairly big thing, though. The antagonist is a total cliché. The minute he starts talking about her being in a coffee shop, and how he scrutinised what she was eating and tried to figure out the “rules”, the ending was obvious. It’s every media stereotype. And seriously, I promise you. If you went out today, you passed a mentally ill person. Driving past you, walking along the pavement behind you, in front of you… And you were in no danger. They don’t care about whether you eat your snack before or after 2pm. They’re not going to rape you and try to kill you, then steal you from your care home and lie to you. They’re just going to buy some bread and milk, maybe some things for dinner. They’ve got a meeting later. Whatever. Most mentally ill people are perfectly normal people. And even the ones that you don’t understand, the ones that try to figure out weird “rules”, they’re probably harmless too. It’s not that there aren’t people who are dangerous and mentally ill, but mentally ill people are not automatically dangerous. In fact, mentally ill people are at a higher risk of being victims of violence, not perpetrators.

Still, clichés aside, if you’re interested in a mystery/thriller type thing that’s basically a sinister 50 First Dates (I can’t believe I’m admitting to ever having seen that), this might be up your street.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – Vicious

Posted March 10, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 8 Comments

Cover of Vicious by V.E. SchwabVicious, V.E. Schwab

I don’t know why it took me so long to get round to reading Vicious; I think it’s my favourite of Schwab’s books so far. I started with A Darker Shade of Magic, I think, which was very much hyped. With Vicious, I had heard some hype about it, but it’s been out a while, so I didn’t really feel a pressure to like it, and maybe that helped. Also, it’s a superhero novel — sort of. Maybe supervillains. But maybe it’s best to say it’s morally dubious superpeople, each of whom may have a point but none of whom are really doing the right thing, in a world where it’s difficult in the extreme to figure out the right thing.

Normally the multiple timelines in this story would annoy me, but it worked in Vicious, giving us glimpses of the past to fill in the story, while giving us bits of the ‘present’ to tantalise. Schwab handled it with assurance, and I was content to trust her that the things she was showing me were necessary for the story — it didn’t feel like an overfond author giving us unnecessary background. In fact, the narration feels very clean: every word necessary, every chapter honed to a sharp point.

The characters… well, you can’t quite like them, but I was intrigued by them. By their sharp edges and their inconsistencies, their beliefs. Both Vincent and Eli had reasons for their actions, and you can see exactly the point where they diverge — with the background story slowly being filled in, you actually get to see the difference it turns on, and catch it sneaking up on them. I found Sydney’s changes toward the end fascinating, and I think there’s a seed there for a potentially very interesting story about her and Victor, too. I wonder if that’s what the sequel will be about… either way, I’m very much looking forward to that.

Rating: 5/5

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Review – Murder in the Dark

Posted March 9, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Murder in the Dark by Kerry GreenwoodMurder in the Dark, Kerry Greenwood

Wait, what? The thing that really threw me with this book is that this is Phryne’s first Christmas in Australia?! This is the sixteenth book or so, and eventful as Phryne’s life is, it seems a little bizarre that everything that’s happened so far has taken less than twelve months. Especially given the time passing during Lin Chung’s trips and such in Death Before Wicket. And this would mean Dot’s courtship with Hugh Collins isn’t that long after all — which seems odd, having got the feeling they were going at a glacial pace!

Still. This was pretty fun, although the setting was bizarre. Not because it was Christmas-in-July-weather, though that is a weird thought, but the whole house party and the sex parties and the general sea of implied queerness; at times, I wondered if it was just going to degenerate into a story all about sex, though it never quite went there. (No more than the other books, anyway.) This time, Phryne has to deal with a serial killer, but weirdly that didn’t change the tone much.

Overall, I’d have to say I found this instalment a little uneven — it’s fun to read, but I know some of the other books are better.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – The Paper Menagerie

Posted March 8, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of The Paper Menagerie by Ken LiuThe Paper Menagerie, Ken Liu

Received to review via Netgalley

The Paper Menagerie is a collection of stories by Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award winner Ken Liu. Some of the stories deal with issues of Chinese-American heritage, and one in particular goes into a lot of detail, in a very interesting documentary format, about events in China during Japanese occupation, issues of experimentation, and then through the lens of spec-fic, history and who owns it, who controls it, how we can interact with it. Some of the stories are quite long, and come with footnotes about how they originated or further sources if you’re interested in the story.

There was nothing I specifically didn’t like about the stories, in general; one or two were weaker, others stronger. I was surprised that I felt ‘The Paper Menagerie’ to be a little… trite, given the awards and praise it has received, but it does evoke the feelings well. There are some moments where that comes out very strongly in Liu’s stories: there’s one story which uses a lot of descriptions of Chinese food and culture, and I could almost taste the dumplings, the rice, the vegetables, when reading that one. For the most part, though, I felt like Liu’s voice was very even in tone; I didn’t feel passionately one way or the other about quite a few of these stories. I felt like there were a few obviously great stories, and others that were entertaining enough but definitely not as strong.

I’m interested to read The Grace of Kings, Liu’s novel, and his translation of Cixin Liu’s The Three Body Problem; I’d like to see how Liu’s voice comes across there and how it flavours a work in translation. I’m not put off Liu’s work, just not quite enthused about it.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – The Last Enchantment

Posted March 7, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Last Enchantment by Mary StewartThe Last Enchantment, Mary Stewart

The Last Enchantment really suffers the most from the fact that it’s written from the point of view of a supporting character. Merlin’s an epic, iconic figure, but he’s not Arthur — and this version emphasises this even more, with Arthur’s seemingly endless heroism, patience, temperance and sensitivity. I love the Arthurian story too, but it feels like Stewart shielded almost all the characters from harm — even, in this case, some of the female characters, despite the misogynistic to ambiguous treatment in the rest of the series. She has surprising sympathy for Guinevere, particularly, considering she had no mercy for Morgause.

Stewart weaves in an astonishing number of the disparate stories — the two Guineveres, Nimue/Niniane/Vivien, Melwas, etc — but, almost because of that, it lacks richness to me. It feels like everything-and-the-kitchen-sink, especially with the way she shields her characters from the consequences; we’ve got Nimue and Merlin in a love story, and Nimue does indeed bury Merlin alive, and yet she didn’t mean to. And Merlin is buried alive and ‘dies’ there, but… he doesn’t die.

The writing is still good, and it was entertaining enough, but… this series falls short of excellence.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – An Earthly Knight

Posted March 6, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of An Earthly Knight by Janet McNoughtonAn Earthly Knight, Janet McNoughton

This was another reread, basically to match The Perilous Gard, since they’re both Tam Lin themed. This one is a mite more traditional, and sticks pretty close to the ballad, rather than being based on the situation the ballad lays out and then growing in other directions. The interesting thing is that it brings in another ballad, one I’m less familiar with: ‘Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight‘. That and the medieval, historical setting ground the fairytale elements very well and make the whole thing feel more solid.

Unlike with The Perilous Gard, I didn’t love it much more this time than last, but all the same I did appreciate the cleverness more, I think. Because I knew it was there, I was watching and waiting for it, picking up on every hint.

Altogether, it’s a very satisfying story, though it doesn’t take many liberties with the story of Tam Lin — it only embroiders it, bringing in historical figures and contemporary politics. If you know the ballad, you know more or less how the story goes; unlike with The Perilous Gard, there’s no real wondering about how exactly things will come out. Still, the historical details make it more emotional, and the payoff more satisfying, I think.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Tolkien: An Illustrated Atlas

Posted March 5, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of An Atlas of Tolkien by David DayTolkien: An Illustrated Atlas, David Day

This isn’t quite an atlas in the sense of containing maps, unless you take it a bit more metaphorically to be a sort of field guide to Middle-Earth. If you’re a big fan of Tolkien, you probably don’t need to read this for itself, as it just summarises and teases info from the books, but if The Silmarillion is too heavy for you, it might help you through. It’s also just a gorgeous book: lots of illustrations, lovely binding, etc, etc.

Less of a book to read and more for reference — and a good taster of various artists who’ve done work in Tolkien’s universe. I’m going to have to look some of these up, and maybe even try and get a couple of prints.

Rating: 3/5

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